Ah, September. One of my favourite months of the year.
I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend, I know I did. With my hip injury no longer bothering me, I was able to get outside, hit the pavement and run 5km on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to help prepare for the upcoming Terry Fox Run.
Including the 5k run I did on Thursday evening, I've logged approximately 20k on the roads around town so far and have managed to cut a couple of minutes off my time. Right now I'm running 5k in around 28 minutes, but I'm aiming to break my 27:30 time from last year's Terry Fox Run.
It's definitely possible. I've got my "day of the run" preparation dialed in, and I know with strongly conditioned lungs and fresh legs I'll be able to kick hard all the way to the finish line.
As I said last year, my dream would be to finish the run in under 25 minutes, but that's a tall task for me as I've never ran a 5k faster than 26 minutes before. But hey, there's a first time for everything, right?
I'm going to keep training as much as I can before Sept. 15, and I'm also fundraising again this year if anyone wants to go online and donate to my run. You can go to run.terryfox.ca/page/tysonwhitneyterryfoxrun if you'd like to donate and help me hit my goal.
If you don't want to donate to my page, you can always go and help Terry Fox Run organizer Janet Dorward reach her goal by donating to her page at https://run.terryfox.ca/page/janet-goes-bald.
Between the Terry Fox Run and Tour de Rock Cops for Cancer, Janet is aiming to raise over $18,000, which is a pretty remarkable achievement in itself.
Enough about running and fundraising. As I said in the headline, I also want to talk about the design plan for the Kyle Scow Memorial Skatepark that was recently unveiled to the public.
I have to say Jim Barnum and Radius Skateparks have really put together an outstanding looking park, and it's not just for skateboarders but also for bikes, scooters, rollerbladers, etc etc.
The street section and the flow section connecting together is pretty genius, and I for one can't wait to skate the park once it's finished. I haven't been skateboarding outdoors much lately due to a knee injury a couple years ago, but once the park is rebuilt and operational I'm going to go out and enjoy it as much as I can, weather permitting.
Anything I'd personally change about the KSM Skatepark design? Not really. While I do think they should put in a stair section as I think it's actually a really important aspect for a skatepark to have, if they don't have the budget to add one in then it's not a total deal breaker either.
Bottom line for me, I'm just thrilled to see a brand new skatepark built here in Port Hardy and I can't wait to skate it when it's done.
Tyson Whitney is an award-winning journalist who was born and raised in Port Hardy. His family has lived in Port Hardy for more than 40 years. He graduated with a degree in writing from Vancouver Island University in 2008. Email: editor@northislandgazette.com
