Am I A Proud Canadian?

Of course I am! However, it doesn’t take a Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony for me to feel that pride.

Actually, other than the performance of KD Lang, I was not particularly blown away by those ceremonies. It was nice but it seemed to lack that special something for me.

I don’t mean to be negative but where was the acknowledgement of the Canada east of the prairies? How can they ignore Terry Fox (a B.C. native) the way they did? Sure they had his mother hang onto a flag with a bunch of other known Canadians but it seemed like a toss-inn to me. Then we had to watch Wayne Gretzky hang on for dear life at the back of a pickup truck for 30 minutes. Was it horrible? No! Could it have been done better? Yes! But maybe they are saving a little something for those closing ceremonies. At least I hope so.

So why am I proud to be Canadian? There are tons of reasons but most recently I am proud of how Canadians came to the aid of Haiti. Whenever people are in need we always seem to be the first to step up.

Don’t get me wrong though, I thoroughly love watching all the great TV coverage of the Olympics. There is nothing better than watching the best athletes in the world performing under pressure. The performances that were turned in during that tension filled pairs figure skating competition last night was incredible. And watching our flag being raised when a Canadian wins a gold medal gets my emotions going every time. I am seriously thinking of making a DVD that has an infinite loop of Alexandre Bilodeau’s ski run and medal presentation. If that can’t get me though a tough trainer ride then nothing else can.

I will admit to feeling an extreme sense of pride during that medal presentation when the entire crowd enthusiastically cheered for Alexandre, and sang “O Canada.” The atmosphere was electric and great to see Canadians pour out their emotions – something we tend to be more reserved about than our neighbours to the south. And if you caught Brian William’s interview with the Bilodeau family, you had to feel proud of having such a humble, confident and quality individual be the one to win Canada’s first gold medal.

Keep it coming Team Canada! While, I am already proud of being Canadian, and proud of you for representing our country, maybe I feel just a bit more pride when you show your mettle on the world’s stage.

By the way, please visit the new Triathlon Magazine Canada website. It is tons better than the last site, there will be lots of unique content, and it will be updated daily – that is where I come in. Check it out at http://triathlonmagazine.ca/ or connect with us on Facebook too if that is more your thing.

I hope you are all doing well with your fitness goals, as far as the 20 lb Challenge is concerned, I am now down to 178 lbs. Replacing candy with salad and staying away from all u can eat restaurants is certainly helping.

Have a great week!

Roger