Well what can I say!  This would have to be one of my most favourite fields trips!  A once in a lifetime opportunity! I am so thankful to the people at Canada Running Series for making this happen.  All the #STWM Digital Champions and Community Leaders were invited for an exclusive invite only run and tour of Twitter Canada HQ followed by a presentation from Chris Doyle the Director of Media leading Twitter’s partnerships for Canada in TV, sports, news, music, gov and more.

The evening started with me taking the GoTrain and man am I ever thankful I made that decision!  There were others that chose to drive and because of awful traffic and collisions on the highway they were not able to fully attend:(

The train got me real close to our secret destination downtown and it was only a short 10min power walk!  Turned out to be a nice warm up before the run!  Although have you ever tried to walk quickly in Birkenstocks?  Its no easy feet feat and I felt my shins start to tighten up a little!   Thankfully I got there early enough to stretch them and change into my runners!

Next up it was a brief welcome from Race Director Alan Brookes and a description of the run and route from Community Leader Willaim Chaupiz from Night Terrors Run. Then we were off!

Its not always easy to run through the busy streets of Toronto for a suburb runner like me but I was able to hold my own run ahead and snap this quick shot 🙂

The run went well at a nice pace (check out my Garmin data Garmin Connect)  with a few stops for traffic lights and most importantly photo ops!

When the run was complete and high fives given we moseyed on over to the uber secret location to meet with Chris Doyle.   Once inside, the perfect post run spread of food and snacks was waiting for us; bonus!  Many of us were meeting each other face to face for the first time so this was a great chance for us to introduce ourselves, mingle and, of course, snap some more pics!

Colour matched jelly beans and a branded toaster in their lunch room!

This looked like the perfect spot to lay down right after my run

Man did we ever press Chris to keep these mugs but alas they were for staff only and not to be removed 😦

If I worked here I would never eat breakfast at home again!

Then it was time for Chris’ presentation!

Chris did an amazing job of presenting some Twitter best practices, his involvement with Twitter Canada’s sports partnerships, and, an introduction to their new app Periscope.  Periscope is an app where you can live broadcast any event you like!  This is the next level of SM sharing.  So now instead of text or picture based post you can now bring people right into your world with sound and video!  I am very excited about the future possibilities of this!  I can foresee many people broadcasting parts of their #STWM  race or even the triumph and reunions at the finish line.  The possibilities of this really are endless and subject only to the limits of your imagination!

Next it was time to tour the rest of their office!

obligatory selfie with Chirs Doyle

Selfie of a Selfie with Dawn @inkdgirl55

Group shot on the Twitter couch

Some of you might recognize this controversial dress…… its blue and black! This adorns the wall in one of their break-out rooms

Twitter branded gumballs to keep the people in the lab happy 🙂

High fives for a great day and for a @Unicef #HighFiveIt campaign

Amazing day capped with a group shot in front of Twitter Canada’s signature hashtah sign

 Once again thank you to Twitter Canada for inviting us into your home!  Thank you Canada Running Series for orchestrating this and accepting me as a digital champion!  I’m really looking forward to sharing my first marathon journey and interacting with other #STWM runners!