Thomas Hall

Thank you for all your support. I’m not sure what’s going to happen now, but judging by the support I’ve received, what I am sure of, is that whatever happens I won’t be alone.

Anyone who has read this blog will be familiar with Coach Mike. Once again, I get to thank him. He’s not only one of my best friends, he is someone I trust implicitly. Mike’s wife, Nadia, and son, Ryan, temporarily emigrated to Florida to help me be my best and I owe them so much for letting me steal Mike away. Mike’s brother, Marc, head coach at Pointe-Claire Canoe Club, was there every step of the way to ensure Mike and I had what we needed and ready to help in anyway. Nothing I’ve accomplished with Mike would have been possible without the Pointe-Claire Canoe Club, Marc and the city of Pointe-Claire (a community that understands sport as no other community does).  Over the last week PCCC put out an amazing video to offer support to all their athletes racing at trials; it’s awesome.

In these thank you letters rarely do associations get mentioned. Without Canoe Kayak Canada’s awesome volunteers and dedicated staff, nothing that I, or any of my teammates have done, would be possible. Speaking of teammates…Our Olympic selection process is all but over and those few athletes that are moving on to the next step of the process are awesome. I can’t wait to see how they do at world cups and ultimately in London (no pressure team, but three medals is the minimum I’m expecting, and frankly, with the bodies in the running for the spots, that is more than doable).

I’m driving home tomorrow with a few good audio books and ample time to reflect. I know that the short term holds some time with family and friends; whom I haven’t seen in far too long, and who also deserve a thank you for putting up with my inflexible schedule and occasionally, but only occasionally, moody disposition.

That’s it for now. Stay Tuned.

I just heard the terrible news about Randy; The Toronto Star has this brief note about his passing; I’m sure more will come shortly.  Randy was a favorite of Canada’s amateur athletes. He was a gentlemen in his reporting style, and it was a joy to be interviewed by him. I’ve never laughed as much during an interview, as I have with Randy. And I still laugh, four years later, about his article likening me to Frodo and Sam in The Lord of the Rings.

Many times in media training we hear things like, “there is no off the record”..etc; every time someone has told me to beware of reporters I think of interviews and conversations with Randy and how, with him, it just wasn’t true. He respected the focus and space athletes needed, and in doing so, earned our trust and produced honest interviews and meaningful articles.

Randy was a passionate champion of amateur sports in Canada, and his voice will be sorely missed. His passing has left a huge void in the world of amateur sports reporting.

My deepest sympathies to his family and loved ones.

It’s not every Saturday that chance is so kind and that one stumbles upon something like this video. Not only are The Beatles easily my favorite band (for those interested, a specific era of the Stones’ discography (think Exile) comes in second and third place goes to….about a dozen bands), George also happens to be my favorite Beatle (probably thanks to my brothers influence). What makes this video even more great is that after watching hours of the anthology and other videos and reading a shelf load of biographies, George Martin has to be one of the classiest people on the planet. Furthermore, I found out about this gem via a favorite author’s, Salman Rushdie, twitter feed. Good Karma.

My friends, I think it’s going to be a good day and in the spirit of George here was my version of a homage from a few years ago…

It’s been a busy time since my last post; not busy enough to excuse the time between posts, but busy nonetheless. I’ve been to Florida, Halifax, Quebec City, Ottawa and, of course, home. I’m heading down to Florida again next week and I can’t wait to get back in my boat. I’m in a great space training wise and having coach Mike back has been a real help in terms of focus and consistency, two areas I believe are keys to success. This isn’t a journey one takes alone and apart from friends, family, coaches and loved ones (my girls in Florida I shall see shortly!) there are a few companies under the sponsorship tab above that I don’t thank enough, and I’m thrilled to be able to add Lasik MD to my list of sponsors.

Through a serendipitous meeting at a CTV function in the fall I met a team of professionals that were ready to help. I had the procedure yesterday, performed by The Dr. Cohen, and it was painless (I experienced only mild discomfort), speedy and well worth it. A day later I’m seeing 20/20 and feeling almost 100%. I’ll provide a few updates along the way but the improvement was almost instantaneous and should only progress from here. Thank you to Lasik MD for no more dry contacts while training and racing and brining me into your family.

I’ve also had a recent stint in the public health care world courtesy of the CHUM hospital network and I received excellent service and care.

This litany of thanks isn’t a regular feature on my blog, at least when it’s updated, but my inner cynic has been sorely tried in the past few months. Whether in the private or public health care system or simply in meeting and working with great people (I’m looking at you AthletesCAN) I’m in a great space leading up to this important summer and couldn’t ask for more.

I’ll be posting more often as I don’t have as much on my plate for the next few months, other than that three times a day hobby called training.

Once again thanks to everyone at Lasik MD.

Till next time!

Tomorrow I get turned into a human book….hence the Charlton Heston esque title of this post. If you get it you do, if not don’t worry.

I’ll be at the Pointe-Claire Public Library participating in the Human Library. A human Library is just like a normal library but with people. I’ll be signed out “read” and returned. The idea was formed in Denmark in the early 1990s by a group call “Stop the Violence” and they say what it’s all about better than I can, so head over to www.humanlibrary.org to find out more.

I’m not the only book available, you may have seen the article in the WI section of the Gazette this Wednesday but if not i’ll be joined by my Ma who is there talking about PCCC, a World War Two vet (who I will loan as soon as I get a chance) and a whole bunch of other amazing people with fascinating stories to tell about themselves and Pointe-Claire.

Anyway come check us out (that was to easy)!

Tom

Once again I get to start a blog with a mea culpa. I left my updates at a rather critical time and I’m sorry. I’ll briefly sum up the World Cup I neglected to finish writing about: It was good. Ben and I raced our first international C2 to a very strong fourth place, and had we not been as timid during the first half of the race I think we could have nailed down and bronze and been fighting for second. Nonetheless it was a good showing and we’re excited to be racing for the world championship spot later on this summer.

As i write this, I’m on my way home from a beautiful (seriously, it was nice) week in Dartmouth Nova Scotia having just finished a week of C2 work with Ben on lake Banook. Prior to this mini camp, for the two weeks in the middle of June, we (the canoe team en masse) were in a two week training camp in Ottawa sweating and working hard reestablishing a strong aerobic base from which we can build on later in the summer. This means hard work and suffering, but it’s also satisfying to finish a good hard training camp.

In Montreal Ben and I will be back at it in C2 once again enjoying the basin and training with Tamas and Mike. The goal for the next two weeks is simply fine tuning and prepping to race well at trials in July.

Check out my twitter @tomhallcanoe for more frequent updates!