It was a beautiful evening down by the water.

How can you be expected tp choose a favourite on Dancing with the Stars? All three final contestants, Laila, Apollo and Joey are great and I want each of them to win.

Its very stressful.

I've just come from my first swim of the season at Kits pool. I had been watching the weather all day waiting for a break in the thick cloud cover and it came just over an hour ago. It took a bit of courage to get in the water for this first swim but I followed the lead of other swimmers and just jumped right in not taking any time to re-adjust my goggles. I can't lie, it was cold; but the tingly feeling of my skin and the beautiful sunshine was worth every shiver I had when I got out of the pool.

Yeah summer!

I wasn't the only one off to work early this morning.

I'll admit it, I love Dancing with the Stars.

What I hate is them having Joaquim Cortes, International Flemenco Sensation, on the show tonight. I remember going to see him about 10 years ago and hating the show as all he did was walk around the stage and pose. He didn't disappoint again tonight as there was lots of posing.

But back to Dancing with the Stars. I've tracked down who has the box for the show in Vancouver this July and put in a call for tickets. How fun would that be? To see them perform at GM Place...I can barely wait.

Sometimes I forget just how much I love oranges. I was just reminded after a particularly juicy and sweet one for my mid morning snack.

15 days 'til I'm in TO. The countdown is on!

I just returned from three days in Kelowna, starting off with a little business and ending with a lot of pleasure. Who knew Kelowna was such a great city? It's beautiful and green and perched right on the edge of Okanagan Lake surrounded by orchards and vineyards. From horse ranches to wake boarding, the city seems to have a little bit of everything. I think I could really like Kelowna.

Friday night I attended POSH, the opening night reception for the Kelowna Life and Arts Festival. What a fabulous event. I have never eaten so much or sampled so many great wines. After the POSH event we were invited to the After Party which was attended but the who's who of the Kelowna arts scene. Again...more great food and a killer martini. To top the event off they (the host Chris Sorenson and his lovely wife Michelle) had complimentary cab rides home lined up which we took advantage of after so much wine.

Saturday, after volunteering at the Festival for a few hours we headed out to Quails Gate Estate Winery where we had a great lunch and picked up some of the delicious Rose we had sampled the night before. After our lunch we headed over to the Mission Hill Family Estate. The view from Mission Hill was absolutely stunning, unfortunately my pictures just don't do it justice. We closed Saturday out with a BBQ held to celebrate the success of Sharon's running group the week before at the Marathon. I met a really nice couple there from Grosse Point MI and discovered that we share a favourite restaurant in Dearbourn MI. What a small world.

Sunday we took a long walk along the waterfront before heading out to the CEDARCREEK Estate Winery. I picked up my favourite white there, the 2006 Ehrenfelser which apparently is flying off the shelves.

I've set myself up with a nice little BC wine collection this weekend, bringing home a little bit of everything for Trent and I to enjoy together this summer. I wish I had time to get back up there before the fall but it doesn't seem likely.

Marathon week is over and thank god as I am exhausted. It was a great day despite the forecast for warm temps and a sun/cloud mix being more than a little off. At least we didn't have the pouring rain and strong winds like last year.

There was so much excitement watching the start/finish and seeing the winners and my friends cross the line that I hardly missed participating. Being a spectator also gave me the opportunity to capture some really great shots of all the action. It is so inspiring to see some of the participants out there. Congratulations to all who participated!

Winner Thomas Omwenga of Nairobi, Kenya
2:25:23


















Female winner and third place finisher over all Claudia Camargo of Argentina. Claudia set a course record for women finishing in 2:35:46.















My favourite moment of the race was seeing my friend Jim from my run club cross the finish line and the elation on his face at having qualified for Boston. It was awesome.

I won!

So its finally marathon week. I can't believe a full year has gone by since Diggs and I had our race off (I still stand behind the fact that I didn't know we were racing). I'm excited to be on the ground this year and getting to experience the marathon from the spectator side of things. I'm feeling good as my runners are outfitted, my volunteers trained and the forecast says its going to be sunny. I can confidently say that the city will be BMO blue on Sunday. I can't wait to see it.

I've just booked my trip home to TO. Coming in on Wed May 30th until Sun June 2nd. Its shaping up to be a busy trip as I will be juggling catching up with the HOF, rendezvousing with Trent, spending some quality time with my sister who is flying in too, plus working Thurs and Fri and paddling on Saturday.