I was off work today and from waking spent most of the morning and early-afternoon working on the gala and found it hard to tear myself away.  I had gala related meetings at 11 a.m. and then 6 p.m. and ended up leaving my run to the mid-afternoon.  Due to the 6 p.m. meeting I was unable to attend the U of T track workout.  So I did short, very fast sections on the treadmill at up to the 10.1 setting.  After that I did some of the circuit training including the hopping upstairs from same leg to same leg.  That got my heart beating faster than the short sprints.

The committee member I met with in the evening works 7 evenings a week, 5 days a week, has been taking courses and had started a business as an event planner.   She has offered to help with the decor for our event.  Wow!

We met at C-5 to discuss the floor plan and add a bit of colour to the black and ivory colour scheme.  I enjoyed finding out more about my friend and her ambitions and amazing work ethic.  She came to Canada via France and has only been here a couple of years.  We enjoyed exotic non-alcoholic beverages, fries with blueberry ketchup and mango and coconut ice cream, coffee and tea.  It was a quiet night, ideal for getting to know someone better.

At my earlier meeting I also found out more about another committee member who has just finished writing a first draft of a novel which chronicles the political upheaval and turmoil that began in Ethiopia in the late 70’s.   This woman, I discovered spent over eight years in an Ethiopian prison.

The more I find out about the orphan sponsorship program the gala is supporting and the country itself, the more I’m beginning to feel that a trip to Africa may occur in the next couple of year.  I have already mentioned the Great Ethiopian Run which is a 10K, I did however forget to mention that it is at an altitude of 2500 feet.  That could be really challenging.  I think Chung-Yee and I are serious about this.

One of the things I love about being a volunteer is that you meet great people who like to get involved.  Hat’s off to the committee!  This fundraising adventure is raising friends too.