Wake-up call: 5:55 am. Get dressed, walk out the door, meet a colleague at the edge of Stanley Park. Mission: To witness Arnold Schwarzenegger carrying the Olympic torch. Why the Governator would be carrying the Olympic torch in Vancouver on the last day of the relay was a mystery to me.

Sure, “The Austrian Oak” is a six-time Mr. Olympia, but he’s never participated in the Olympics. He’s not Canadian, he’s Austrian American with no special connection to Canada as far as I know.

But, run he would, and that had to be seen.

And that’s why I headed out into the darkness, and that’s why I was ordering a tall latte at 6:15 am. I had five minutes to kill – I was supposed to meet Lucas at 6:20 – and, well, Starbucks is never far in this city.

At 6:25, I try to keep up with Lucas’s long strides towards Stanley Park, sipping my latte, making small talk and small jokes about the Terminator. It is pitch black, the only lights being on the other side of the bay. But we still have time because Arnie was supposed to get the torch at 7:03, and if that’s what the Canadians say, then 7:03 it is.

6:35 am. Can it be getting darker? Grass, mud, gravel, more mud. We’re in the middle of a shortcut to the seawall where the torch will appear .. Soon. But it does seem strange that there aren’t any people here. I’m getting worried, and the look on my face must be like a deer’s in the headlights. I am looking at a jogger wearing a head light. She tells us we should go right. We do.

6:45 am. OK, Lucas is taking it up a notch. I can’t keep up with his long walking strides, so I start to jog. “Wanna run?” Lucas asks me. “No, no, I’m just trying to keep up.” Then he picks it up a bit, and I have to start lifting my knees.

6:46 am. Stop. A lot of people are standing around, walking, waiting. Lucas asks someone what is going on and that someone had heard that the torch (and Arnie) should be here in about, say, ten minutes. “The torch was here already, but they’ll be back when they’ve finished another loop,” he said.

6:47 am. I take off my jacket and glasses because, yes, I’m svery sweaty. My glasses steam up, so I hold them in my hand for a while. The mob looking for Arnie look more chaotic without the glasses so I put them back on. And off. And on. And off. I wipe them with my sweaty T-shirt. It’s time to go again because Lucas has heard somebody say that they’re actually running on the other side of the bay.

6:55 am. A man wearing a Canadian flag and holding a cowbell comes walking towards us. “He’s not here, they’ve already been here,” he says, and then points to the place we were eight minutes ago. The group over there has grown bigger. Lucas and I walk briskly back, and we see people line up on the side of the road. That’s a good sign. We stop. And then we decide to walk a little further up the road because – let’s face it – if they’re running towards us, we’ll meet them faster if we’re closer. Simple.

6:58 am. A group of kids run past us, yelling, mimicking Arnie, “Vitch vay yoo goh?”

7:03 am. Nothing has happened. Right now, Arnold Schwarzenegger should be receiving the torch. Somewhere. If things were going according to plan. Instead, a huge, red Coke truck does come honking, with all speakers blasting off Coke’s official Olympic song. “Everybody! Let’s make some noise!” Oh yeah? “VITCH VAY YOO GOH?”

7:15 am. Police cars, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and cops on bikes come down the hill, and then, behind them, a lone runner holding the torch. We snap photos, and as we walk down towards the knoll we were standing on earlier, we see another person in white meet the torchbearer. They bow, and they light the other person’s torch on the Olympic flame’s journey towards the GM Place and the opening ceremony.

8:20 am. I’ve walked around the entire city but am now almost back at the hotel. In fact, I can see it but can’t cross the street because the police has blocked it. And then I see why: It’s the Coke truck. The torch is on its way. Still without Arnie.