Ah, the Pan Am torch run.

It’s happening on Friday… Friday, June 19th, at 6:25pm.  

My segment starts at the Waterfront Trail, right below Spencer’s restaurant, and I run the torch into Spencer Smith Park (you can see the official Google Map here) for the official Torch Relay presentation, as Burlington is one of Pan Am’s “Major Celebration Cities.”  The Sound of Music festival will be happening too, so the park will be a focal point, chalk full of people and activity.

I was nominated to carry the flame by my great friend and neighbour, Marnie, unbeknownst to me until the list of twelve finalists was released in December 2014.  The City of Burlington then issued an online voting system to determine the city’s Pan Am Community Torchbearer, and the results of this vote were made public in March.  It’s been a few long months of waiting for this exciting moment, and it’s finally here.

People keep asking me “what does this experience mean to you?”, and that’s a hard question for me to answer.

It means community.  It means sport.  It means friendship.  It means honour.  It means goosebumps and family and support and passion.  It means my kids get to watch me do this.  It means I get to do this.

These are the visions that race through my mind when I think about my 200m with the torch:

And it really does give me goosebumps.  See you Friday!