Around the Bay

We took a family vacation this weekend - a far cry from the vacations Chad and I used to take (and vow to one day take again), but a getaway nonetheless. Chad decided, as a rather spur of the moment thing, to run Around the Bay in Hamilton. It's the oldest race in North America and at 30 km, it's shorter than a marathon, but some would say harder owing to (a) the wind (the runners cross beside the Skyway) and (b) the hills. Coming from southwestern Ontario, with nary a hill to be found, this is a challenge that Hamilton natives don't quite understand.

We left early Saturday morning, in order to truly make a getaway of things. We stayed at the Jackson Square Sheraton, the official race hotel, which was cool because (a) the starting line was right outside, (b) the finishing line was next door inside Copps Coliseum and (c) the hotel is attached to Jackson Square and the Eaton Centre, meaning we could get around indoors between locations without fussing with coats. Upon arriving we had a quick food court lunch, which Liam loved: Then we strolled around for a while, checking things out. Chad went to school in Hamilton and I used to go visit him there all the time, so it was cool revisiting some of our old haunts. Liam enjoyed the sights too: you can always tell he's having fun taking things in when he refuses to sit back in his seat...
After a tour of the mall, farmer's market, runner's expo and general vicinity, we went for a swim...
...and a hot tub (mind you, the water wasn't that hot; not too hot for Liam, anyway):
Dinner at a local restaurant - Liam checks out the menu. On this trip Liam ate mostly the same restaurant food that we ate - a huge stride forward in terms of convenience...
Sunday morning, bright and early, Chad and Liam check out the race course from our room on the 14th floor...
We had a pretty good view of the entire bay area and could even see the CN Tower in the distance... Race start (oh yeah, that's why we went in the first place, right? :P) Seven thousand people trying to line up at the same time. Mass hysteria. Liam and I whiled away the time until Chad completed the circuit - here Liam is, trying to catch a glimpse of dad coming into the finish... The cutest part of the trip - when the crowd started cheering the runners on, Liam started clapping his hands, too... Do you think I got a good photo of Chad finishing? Of course not. Might need to buy one from The Official Race Photographer. Suffice it to say that he did extremely well though, finishing in 2:50. We had an enjoyable drive home, Liam sleeping most of the way... here he is waking up as the vehicle came to a stop: Huh? Are we there yet?