Day 7 Tip to Tip

David Gallant, Alex, Kensington Mayor Ivan Gallant, Elaine Burkholder, Const. Paul Durdle,
janet, Shelly Simmons MacLeod & Tyler

Alex & Tyler

(Read it here)

Day 7

Alex
8:00 morning at Summerside Waterfront. A hot day on trail. Highway, train station and factories along on trail. Meet Mayor of Kensington, member of PEI Roadrunners ran on road 2km to Kensington followed police. He honoured "Inspiration In Motion" frame from mayor. Ate cheeseburger and fries, drank shake at Frosty Treats. Ran view of train station, countryside, dirt roads and 150km of tip to tip PEI halfway mark. Found headbend for soaking head in bag. Ran first 7 days from North Cape.

jypsy
What an day! We left Summerside Shipyard Market at 8:00, greeted & sent off by Scott, Brian & friends. We hadn't gone far when we ran into 2 runners, aware we were leaving Summerside at 8:00 but not sure from where exactly we were leaving from. They joined us for a while, one had to go home but Shelly Simmons Macleod decided to run to Kensington with us, called home and got her husband to load up baby & stroller and meet us and just as we met up with them, Mayor Ivan Gallant and a couple of runners (Elaine's name I remember because she has her name on her RoadRunner track jacket and I've learned her face by now so I can usually put the 2 together, David Gallant was the other) met us. They had run from Kensington to meet us & return with us. We kept on the trail until just outside Kensington where we were met by the Kensington police (unmarked) car and Const Paul Durdle escorted the last 2K or so into Kensington to Town Hall. We went right through the red light at the main intersection, lights & siren & all.

At Town Hall we signed the guestbook and a most incredible presentation took place. Don Smeltzer (know his name because I have his card) read the framed certificate before giving it to Alex. It was a wonderful moment. It was so beautifully written, whoever wrote it truly understood what we are advocating. Alex, as you'll notice, is usually quite straight faced but started beaming as it was being read (Roger got it on video). I was probably beaming too, they say "Kensington has heart" being in the heart of PEI, we got a real demonstration of that today.

The town & runners had donations for us and many pictures were taken by Don Smeltzer & myself. Dr. MacKean, who has his office in the Town Hall building, had hoped to meet up with us and check Alex's foot out but was working in the Hospital and couldn't get away. Alex's foot went from "it's ok" the first couple of days it was sore to "better" yesterday and "almost there" today. His pace was good (still run 2K, walk 1K) until we started to feel the heat after lunch.

Mayor Gallant treated us to lunch at the Frosty Treat where we spent an hour or so before heading to the old train station, checking out the railway museum there (watched a bit of video of the trains here in the snow - busting through snowdrifts, getting stuck in them... the trail does not look so friendly in that weather! Back on the road we did the last 9K to Freetown. It was good & hot by then (11:20-1:00) but since we were now out of the woods and travelling through farm fields, we were catching the nice breeze that was blowing. The wind has been blowing mostly from the south this past week, blowing on our side mostly, rarely have I felt it right in our faces.

It was a real treat to be joined today by Tyler (pretty sure & hoping that's his name!). This beautiful little baby boy, happy as a clam out in his jogging stroller, has Down Syndrome. Having his support, and his mom Shelley's, was a highlight. Yesterday I had been talking to the reporter in Summerside about the "cure" for autism being abortion, about the genetic test and the hospital in London wanting to offer families with an autism history gender selection to avoid autistic babies (selecting only female embryos since the autism ratio is 41 boysgirls) and how the abortion rate is around 90% for Downs babies. She asked me if I thought that was a bad thing. My reply was (something along the lines) that diversity was what the world was all about, we accept it just fine in our environment; in plants & animals, it's about time society accepted it in it's members. Deputy Mayor MacDougall, who was nearby & listening, sort of finished that sentence with me. Tyler already has a great start, his parents love him to bits and while recognizing his "weaknesses", there focus (mom's at least, didn't meet dad) was on the wonderful little person he is and the bright future he can have. I wish him & his family all the very best and may you see many happy miles together out on the trail.

We are at or past the halfway point now having traveled 153.41Km. Tomorrow we’ll cross the County line from Prince County into Queens County and get into hilly terrain.

Day 7 Photos Here