Mrs VDoTs Olympic Torch Run

[VDoT]

Hello

A few of you have met Sandi, and a lot of you love the Torch Run. She carries the Torch tomorrow morning at approx 10AM MST.
We are pretty dam excited and can hardly wait. The Torch arrived in Calgary today and will hit all the 88 Olympic venues over the next few days!

She will have a camera to try capture her point of view, I will have the video camera, and my daughter will have another digital camera. Hopefully we can get some good shots!

I will report back after her run.

[Size5]

super exciting!!!

[eme]

Yes, pictures! We need pictures!

Have fun, it is an amazing experience (even if you are just the cheer team)!

[Mouse]

I will try and watch it on the webcam. That's exciting, can hardly wait for a report as well as the photo's. A friend of mine ex Olympian Ian Gorden carried it today, he's sending me pics later. He said he was so excited to see all the school children. ENJOY!!!!!
Mouse

[Hammie]

We live a little earlier on tomorrow's route - we'll be out bright and early to watch. Hope she has a fantastic time!

[Lazagna]

Just finished watching Mrs. Vdot carry the flame. What an awesome feeling knowing that it's being carried by someone I know (sort of)... lol still and awesome feeling to watch, and must be even move amazing to be actually there.

[VDoT]

Wow, what a fun, cool, amazing time.....

We got to Sandi's start point at 9:40, Sandi was dropped off about 10 minutes later. I have never seen my wife so excited about anything! The moment she got off the bus she was beaming ear to ear and dancing around. A lot of her family, friends and work associates were there. Everyone (even complete strangers) wanted their picture taken with Sandi and this was before the torch was even lit!

The procession approached and they cleared the street and took Sandi to the center. It was so amazing to watch her receive the flame! I can only imagine how she felt, but I imagine it was an a complete rush. She took off down the road, smiling and waving, jogging a lot faster than I thought she would. I ran hard to get a head of her and shot some more video. I ran hard again to get to the hand off area but she beat me there and I had to tape it from behind! I wish she had run a little slower! LOL. Then we had about 20 seconds to talk and take pictures and then the pickup bus took her away. The whole thing seemed to be over so fast!

We made our way over to the school that was the meeting spot for her group. We got there in time to watch the Torch run go by again. The school band was playing and all the school kids were on the street. There was a lot of positive energy there. We saw Sandi go by on the bus but we had to wait about 20 minutes before the bus came back to the school. When the bus unloaded everyone was all smiles. It was then we learned that Shawn Johnson (Olympic Gold Medalist and Dancing with the Stars) was in her group! There were also some amazing teens from the USA who started their own foundations to help other teens and kids, including a 14 yr old who raised over 10 million to help victims of Katrina! Lots of photo ops!

We went to Timmies for coffee and of course, had to talk to more people about the day! We were loving it! It's hard to believe its come and gone, but these memories will be cherished forever!

Here are some pictures for you!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1 ... 261bad9e58

[klc]

Awesome photos! Thanks for sharing your experience with us!

[Mouse]

I did watch her on the webcam. She's a beamer, thanks for sharing those photo's with us. Congrats on being chosen. Great job. Way to go. Woo Hoo.
Mouse

[purdy65]

Love the story and pictures!

But why was US citizen Shawn Johnson carrying the flame in Calgary?

Was there a reason for that?

Lisa

[garth]

Sounds like it was a fabulous time.

I will tell you from personal experience that those folks organizing that run are great in their job of getting you pumped up (not that it is a big stretch) and making you realize what a special time it is. Being in the same group as Shawn Johnson must have been neat. I like her attitude and think she is the real thing. I would think she likely had a real appreciation for being part of the run.

There are a lot of US folks on the torch run, they come from RBC branches in the US and Coke distributors and every day folks who applied. Sometimes it is the luck of the draw but my bet is that Shawn Johnson did not fit into that category.

[purdy65]

Don't get me wrong! I'm a former gymnast and Shawn Johnson fan. I was just curious how she ended up with the torch in Calgary!

Lisa

[CinC]

very cool Dan! I loved the pictures on FB - Sandi did look like she was having a blast!! (Did she buy the torch? do we need to do a tiki lighting ceremony or something at Ken's?)

[Sandra]

Thanks for sharing those photos!

[VDoT]

There were 6 US citizens in Sandi's group. Three of them were teens who run successful foundations helping other teens and kids. It was stated why Shawn was there, but the contest was open to any one. I wouldn't be surprised if she was simply asked to partake for promo reasons. Sandi was told there was a total of 20 US citizen carrying the torch at some point across Canada.

Unfortunately, they take apart the torch and remove the working bits before allowing it to leave the bus. We could still have a Torch meet and greet though!

[garth]

Unfortunately, they take apart the torch and remove the working bits before allowing it to leave the bus. We could still have a Torch meet and greet though!

Re-enabling the torch is easy. I opened mine up in a couple minutes and see all they did was remove the cylinder and cut one small gas line. I have a friend who says he can do it in a few minutes. But to what end. All you have is a torch that burns an incredible amount of fuel in a very short time. You would constantly be re-fueling it.

[ceileigh]

Great report. I love reading these. They make me excited all over again.

There were 20 US teens chosen by coke in a competition based on outstanding contribution to community. Many really contributed a lot to their communities and it was a huge honour for them to do this. I find that a lot easier to take then RBC who gave away more then that to their US based employees through company designations and company draws. We had five RBC employees on the van with me the night I ran and three more out of the 20 who ran in my community. Two said that all employees in their division were entered by the company and their name was drawn (as in no big deal), one was selected as he was the regional manager. RBC sent quite a few US representatives. Not sure what I think of it all but I do have to wonder, if the US hosts the olympics and has a torch relay, do you think they will reciprocate the offer?