I look exactly like an Ottawa-area celebrity. I do not know who this celebrity is nor have I ever met him, but whoever he is, I look exactly like him.

Recently I was tapped on the shoulder in the Ottawa airport by someone who mistook me for someone else. And while running this weekend, I was twice recognised by people who I do not even know.

I stepped out onto the Rideau Canal pathway on a sunny and cold Saturday. Actually, it was not even that cold - somewhere in the -10 degrees range. The Canal was packed with skaters.

After rounding Dow's Lake, the Canal pathway heads north to Bank Street very close to the level of the ice, and very close to the skaters. And this is where my 16 km run started to get strange. All those skaters were all staring at me. It was like they had never seen someone in running shoes before! I felt like I was in the middle of an M. Night Shamalayan movie. Every time I glanced at the ice, there they were - families, students, couples, all staring back at me like I was some long-lost acquaintance of theirs who they couldn't quite place.

Of course, the was nothing I could do about it. If the Winterlude skaters want to stare slack-jawed at me, then I have little choice but to let them. And besides, unless you were on the receiving end of Superman's laser eyes, then staring has never hurt anyone. But it was on the return leg of my run that things started to get really strange.

I crossed the Mackenzie King Bridge, and ran south along the Colonel By side of the Canal. This portion of the Canal was not well ploughed, and it was tough going as I slogged through the deadly combination of ice and slush. I had to concentrate very hard on my stride and making sure that my feet landed in the right place, to avoid slipping. It was in this precipitious situation, with my feet threatening to give out beneath me at any moment, that a car on Colonel By Drive honked at me! I looked to my left to see the occupants of a white Lexus waving at me!

Let me be perfectly clear: I do not know anyone who owns a white Lexus. What is more, I did not recognise those people in the car. Yet for some reason, they thought they recognised me.

Now, this is not so weird in and of itself, but what is truly uncanny is what happened only 10 minutes later. The scenario repeated itself! Running by the Bank Street Bridge, honked at by a Red Toyota Corolla, waved at by a car-ful of college-aged people, not one of whom I knew. Honestly, it was way too eerie.

I am not sure who it is I look like, but that person clearly has a lot of people on their facebook. It's not so bad to have yourself mistakenly recognised while you are out running - just so long as they don't stop me and ask for an autograph.