I've recently become an athlete ambassador for the Act Now BC campaign. My role as an ambassador will be to visit various schools and sporting/non-sporting events over the next two years, sharing my experiences as an athlete, as well as promoting active, healthy living. One of the main goals of the program is to make British Columbia one of the healthiest regions ever to host an Olympic Games. So, it's definitely a pretty cool thing to be a part of.  And, if you know me, I can never get tired of talking about healthy, tasty foods and cooking adventures. .... but high school kids will be texting and/or falling asleep as soon as they hear me get all fired up over quinoa or tofu pie. I will have to tone it down a little, I think.

Last week was training for the program and we were told to bring our Act Now polo shirts and jackets for a couple of headshots. What I didn't realize was that a professional photographer was coming along with about 6 make-up artists!! I often severely exaggerate, but I am not lying, there were at least six make-up artists for about 10 athletes. They were from one of the beauty schools in town so their supervisor was also there, critiquing the make-up as it was applied. I was not ready for this! My skin was gross from chlorine and my hair still wet from the pool! I often get a little uncomfortable when people are close to my face, so feeling this crusty made me especially antzy. And, the best part was that we were leaving immediately afterwards for bike hill repeats up Observatory. This was the day of the bee sting on the face so I looked like some crazy person out there, I'm sure, with make-up dripping off my sweaty face and a big red lump above my eye. Nice. 

Here is Kyle getting all made-up (now he was REALLY uncomfortable with this pre-training glamour ;)

And my model shot... oh dear, I can't believe I just posted this. If you know me, this is NOT the sort of picture I regularly pose for....

I did my first school visit today and was paired up with Ryan Cochrane (bronze medalist in Beijing, 1500m freestyle....aka fast FAST swimmer). We were a good team and had fun up there. I was a little (ok, very) nervous to talk to high schoolers as I remembered what I was like in high school...... oh dear... But, they were wonderful, welcoming and FUN students. Ryan and I compared our race suits (mine is actually BIGGER than his) and were asked some pretty funny questions ("Have you met Michael Phelps." Ryan responded with a calm, "yes" and my answer was a little more dramatic, "I WISH!!!!!!" Sorry, Adam, but he's somewhere around Andy Roddick on my list of must-meet cute athletes :)

Training has been going well since the sickness has passed. I will write more of an update soon!