Opening Ceremonies and A New Skating Goal

The Vancouver Opening Ceremonies confirmed why I like the Winter Games more than the summer. The ceremony is shorter and they allow the athletes to parade through earlier. I spotted a few skaters marching through BC Place and several were flag bearers: Stephane Lambiel for Switzerland, Alexandra Zaretsky for Israel, Kevin Van Der Perren for Belgium, and Song Choi Ri for North Korea. Also noticed Cheltzie Lee in the Australian delegation and Tugba Karademir in the Turkish delegation.

Didn't spot Elene Gedevanishvilli with the Georgian delegation. Since her event is last, she may not have made it to Vancouver yet. I'm so glad they walked despite the tragic turn on the luge track Friday and I hope they come together to find some meaning in these Games.

While the Dutch walked through, the commentators tauted the Dutch love of speedskating. Either Matt or Bob mentioned the Dutch have a winter race on the canals between a few cities. The Dutch essentially have an ice marathon. I would love to do an ice marathon!

I hate running with a passion, it's not so good on my knees and I find it boring. I'll jog or run on a treadmill for 10 minutes max as a warm-up, but I've just never been able to really go for a run as part of a healthy routine. I've also never understood marathon runners. All that training just to run for miles. I do admire the part about runners training for a marathon in Hawaii. Setting a healthy goal and getting rewarded with a vacation trip has always sounded fun, it just involves running great distances.

However, with the knowledge that there are ice marathons in this world, I'm all about training for a marathon and going to a distant although cold land. I could set a little training plan similar to those runners and do endless laps around the rink and build up my stamina. I would expand my knowledge of skating sports and equipment into speedskating. I'll learn some Dutch and pick up some tulip bulbs coming home from the race.

I googled ice skating marathon and marathons on ice. Unfortunately, several doomsday global-warming sites pop up. The big race through 11 Dutch towns hasn't been held since 1997. Darn! However, there are some in Finland and Canada now. They are also not annually scheduled, they need to make sure the ice is thick enough before those events are scheduled. This really throws a wrench in the training plan I was developing in my head. Now I may need to know Finnish and ending sentences with, "eh?"

Someday....