Greetings from Grand Rapids

So we made it here from Ottawa yesterday, in a long drive, picking up two others along the way. Our navigator made a slight error in having us exit the I96 before we should have, resulting in another half hour delay in getting to the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. This meant it was too late for me to check out the proposed running trail I had got from some local runners, to use part of the Kent Trails system, before some conference duties, and the onset of darkness.

I checked the area later on, and decided it would be too dark early in the morning to run on safely, as the trails are not lit, and the starting point was not too inspiring. So I checked with the hotel, and found they had a three mile rectangle around the hotel mapped out. Not terribly exciting, but OK under the circumstances.

I made my appeal for runners and walkers at the evening reception, and got a few responses. The Association of Personal Historians is not composed of a large number of really physically fit people, (my not-politically-correct opinion) but I thought it was worth a try.

Six o’clock seemed to come pretty early today, and one lady showed up in the lobby, who really wanted to walk on the treadmill, and one other who was game to run. She runs ten minute miles; a little slower than me, but I was quite OK with that and off we went. We had a pleasant chat along the route, and when we returned to the hotel after some 32 minutes, she headed in and I did another loop, at a slightly faster pace, so I got in my six miles. The weather was very pleasant, and shorts and a long-sleeved technical shirt were fine. I did not bother with the Garmin today. It’s also much further west than Ottawa, so it was dark for most of the run. I will be out there the next three days, and we’ll see who else shows up. Two people who assured me they were coming today were no-shows, for whatever reasons.

I am paying $5 a day for a connection to supposed high-speed internet service, but if this is high speed, I’m Roger Bannister.

I could not get into my blog on Thursday, but made it in late Friday night, when I am posting this. Did another run repeat this morning, and it was great.