Test flight...

To make my Kona journey just a little bit more challenging, Alice and I flew to Winnipeg early this morning. It was Thomas and Trista's Wedding. Thomas is Alice's sister Darlene's son.

Thankfully, I woke up with "no" runny nose. Getting to bed earlier last night, taking Cold-FX tablets and not training seemed to have helped. Other than my sore "butt" hurting even more when sitting on the plane seat, it was an uneventful flight.

We arrived in Winnipeg at 11 am and shortly after we got off the plane we saw my cousin Tim Lauren. He was working the Enterprise car rental counter where we picked up our car. Tim also wished me luck at Kona as we left. It caught me a little off guard, I didn't realize he knew I was going to Kona. Small world.

It's seems like running into relatives at the airport is possibly becoming a trend. The last time I was in Winnipeg, I ran into a different cousin Jason.

Before heading to the wedding, we had a spare hour and stopped by a couple of friends places and my brothers. By 1 pm we were at the ceremony. In impromptu fashion I helped by taking over the video camera recording responsibilities.

I almost had a heart attack when I thought I "forgot" to turn on the "record" button and missed the bride walking down the isle and the two of them saying their vows. My heart was in my stomach and I was shaking inside. I was thinking, "I just screwed up the recording of one of the most memorable days of their lives".

It was a sickening feeling and I was "incredibly" relieved when I found out the footage was okay. I'm sure the expensive HD video camera was recently purchased just for this occasion and before I knew the footage was okay, I kept thinking "I was the biggest idiot of all time and how could I screw up so bad, there's no do overs".

With that said, I couldn't be the "perfect cameraman". I had to give them some "Uncle Bryan" video entertainment. They don't know it yet, although they probably will tomorrow when they review the footage, but I slipped in a long close up of "Chesty Cleavage" of the maid of honour.

She had a major set of "air bags" and I thought it would be funny as they all sit around watching the footage and then see the video panning, and panning, and panning, and cropping out her head, and panning until the camera could zoom no more. Then it recorded directly focused on that area for some time. I don't know Trista the bride very well and I sure hope she has a sense of humour.

After the ceremony and before the reception, Alice and I went to Sorrento's restaurant, a Winnipeg landmark, they're famous for their big "Sorrento's Salads" and "Cheese Toast". It was worth flying into Winnipeg alone for that salad. It's Alice's favourite.

I was a "good boy" all night. NO DRINKING. Not only did I "not drink", we even left by 10:30 pm. We have a 9:20 am flight in the morning and I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. Originally, we were going to stay at my brothers, but then he figured he'd still be up and partying until past 1 am.

Then we were going to stay at my friend Rich's place, but his son Davis was having his Annual Beer Run and they'd be up late, so we had no choice but to get a hotel. Winnipeg is normally a "wholesale" City and prices are cheap. However, I've come to learn, when it comes to hotel rooms, Winnipeg is expensive. I couldn't find ANYTHING under $100 per night.

We ended up at the Greenwood Inn near the airport and were fast asleep by midnight. I couldn't believe it, I did it, we went to a wedding and actually got home and were in bed by midnight.

Rest, Recovery & Taper Day -

Sore left buttock/hamstring, sniffles.