We are all packed up, loaded into the truck and ready to head for the Island. It's pouring rain with 60 km winds, we can hardly keep straight on the road, the wind is so strong. I'm expecting to see ducks on the side of the road soon!! Still a few more days till race day so hopefully the rain and high winds will pass soon.
We will stop on the way to the Island to enjoy a big spaghetti dinner as it's carbo loading time and we need to fuel our body for the run.
Oh, I thought I'd tell you too that Dad and I may be featured in the Guardian, PEIs local newspaper tomorrow. Here is a copy of the article that was submitted.
Founding organizer of the PEI Marathon visits the Island to run her first marathon with her 67 year old father
Charlottetown, PEI, October 15, 2010 — Laura Booker one of the founding organizers of the PEI Marathon visits the Island this weekend to run her first marathon. Accompanying her is her running coach/father Phil Booker (age 67), former President of Run NB.
Laura grew up running with her father and participated in the Run NB road races series. ‘It’s hard not to take up the sport of running when your dad is running a 5/10km race or a marathon almost every weekend.’ says Laura.
While living in Stratford, PE, Laura was asked to be a member of the founding organizing committee that brought the PEI Marathon to life in 2005. Responsible for the water stations, Laura can remember getting up at 3 am to drive out to the start line of the marathon to set up the 14 water stations that would service the many runners that morning. ‘I will definitely be thanking all the volunteers along the race on Sunday, as I know it takes a lot of dedication and teamwork to put on an event such as a marathon.’ says Laura.
Earlier this year Laura’s husband Dan Amyot was diagnosed with a case of life threating melanoma skin cancer, which has since been removed. However, it got Laura thinking about how life is short and we have to take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities life has for us. Laura has always wanted to run a marathon with her dad and decided that she had better hurry up and get training or her 67 year old father Phil would not be in a position to so for much longer.
‘I jumped off the couch this past April, called my father and asked if he would like to run a marathon and coach me from a far. Of course he said yes, and that it would be perfect timing to run the Prince Edward Island Marathon in the middle of October.’ says Laura.
For the last six months Laura has been training for her first marathon in Ottawa, ON and blogging about her experiences each day on her blog A Daughter’s Running Journal http://adaughtersrunningjournal.blogspot.com/. On this blog you will find the trials and tribulations Laura experienced while training for her first marathon and the advice her father gave her along the way. Her coach/father Phil Booker has been running for over 20 years and has run 26 marathons including Boston 4 times. He has been coaching and guiding Laura throughout the process and answering any questions she had during her training. ‘I’m so proud of my daughter Laura for the time and dedication she has put into getting ready for this race and I’m happy to be accompanying her on her first marathon.’ says Phil.
Laura is excited to be back in PEI this weekend to take part in the race festivities and hopes to see many people out cheering on all the runners. Grateful for the support and encouragement she received from her family and friends over the last few months, Laura looks forward to crossing the finish line after taking in 26.2 miles of beautiful PEI scenery. One exciting thing about running a marathon is that no matter the age, training and/or conditioning one never knows what the outcome will be.
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