May 3 - Canada: Vancouver, British Columbia

Of course, we slept in today.  I wonder how we'll be able to handle waking up daily to an alarm.  I'm sure we'll figure it all out.

Packet Pick-up at the Plaza of Nations

The goal for the day was to go to the marathon packet pickup and get Jon's race number and computer chip (the computer chip is tied to the shoe laces and registers each runner's time for the race as they pass over special computer mats along the course) for the Vancouver International Marathon.  The only problem was that we didn't know where that would take place.  We knew where the start and finish of the race was, and figured the packet pickup would take place somewhere around there.  So we drove across the Cambie Bridge and near the Plaza of Nations.  There, we saw some people walking with "Adidas" bags coming out of the building.  So we figured we were in the right place and parked the car.

Registration Inside the The Plaza of Nations

Because today is Friday, registration wasn't very crowded.  Tomorrow it will be packed.  But today we have the entire exhibition to ourselves.  Registration for a big race like this includes booths and freebies run by the sponsors of the race, and so we spent time walking around.  There was a booth run by a Canadian Grocery Store that was doing free blood pressure and cholesterol checks.  We stood in line for about thirty to forty minutes before we finally got through.  We're both looking very healthy, which is always a good thing to hear.  Sam the cholesterol-checker was shocked when my cholesterol level was so low that the little computer couldn't even display it.  He said that readings below 2.0 showed up as only "Low".  Jon was annoyed with me, because his was higher.  But it all comes down to genes anyway.

We also did the Adidas foot response system or something like that.  Basically, this was a running test to see where the pressure is placed on the feet when running.  So we ran down a little pad that registered the pressure points on our feet and displayed them on a computer.  From there, the Adidas girl recommended the types of support we needed in our running shoes and - of course - what Adidas shoes would fit that support level.  Jon puts a great deal of pressure on his heal and big toe, mostly because he has very high arches, and should wear a shoe with either support of stability; either way, the Adidas girl told him that his Asics shoes he's been running in are ideal especially since his feet are too big for Adidas shoes!  I put pressure on my whole foot and, because of my arches, and I need a shoe with a great deal of support.  I'll keep this in mind next time I'm in the market for a new running shoe.

Lunch On the Pier

We left the Plaza and decided to have lunch at a nearby restaurant on the pier.  Jon had the chicken wrap and I had the chicken caesar salad.  We sat in the sun and enjoyed a leisurely lunch before heading back to the hotel for the afternoon.

Lunch at The Pier

We got back to the hotel later in the afternoon and ran a few errands.  We stopped by an art store and got supplies for my marathon sign, which I'll work on tomorrow.  We also spent some time in a huge grocery store/KMart/Costco type-thing.  Even though we only needed one or two things, we wandered around for a good while.

For dinner, we went to Quizno's for subs.  Quizno's is better than Subway because they toast their sandwiches.  So we ran across the parking lot and ordered our subs and brought them back to the hotel to enjoy them.