Trail Races and Ulti Tourneys

Last weekend was the K-100 Relay as well as an ultimate frisbee tournament here in Calgary. Like the keener I am, I felt like I should be participating in both!

Saturday I did my part for the K-100 team and ran leg 9 of the 10 leg relay. I thought I had a great run, I was faster than I thought I'd be and well, I survived. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I finished which was a good thing - had I been more aware of what was going one I might have been more concerned when I turned the corner before the last 300 m to find 4 rangers with large guns. Apparently they had scared a bear from the finish line into the bush on the trail - and then they lost it. More motivation to have a good finishing kick I guess!

I finished off the day with 4 cups of Gatorade and a veggie burger before driving home.

Sunday I played two games of ultimate (we lost both). My legs were definitely a little lead filled but I still had a great time and the weather was fantastic.

I was hoping for some photos of the race but alas, I didn't lug the large camera around so I am photoless. I will definitely have LOTS of photos of our up coming hiking weekend for my next blog!

Lazy Rainy Sunday

Exhausted, Jon and I did very little today, which was very nice. Patches napped and Jon napped and I nearly napped. Jon is off to the field tomorrow for the rest of the week, so I baked him a few little treats... I tried a new recipe from a book Kate gave me years ago and they are pretty good!
And, we tried out the new game that Mike and Mic gave Jon for his birthday - Settlers of Catan, the Travel Edition. Its fun, unless you have huge hands. It should keep us occupied on our away from home adventures.

Running Fools

This morning Jon and I got up early (early enough to walk the dog at 6:30 on a Saturday), loaded Shred into the car and headed to Jumping Pound Ridge for our 5.6 km 5 Peaks Race. It was cool and cloudy and none of us were thrilled to be standing in the rain in our spandex. However, run we did and after racers got spread out over the two courses, things were quite nice. I'd never been to Jumping Pound and even in the mist and rain it was pretty. I enjoyed myself and finished in less time that I thought.

While Mairi finished off her longer race, Jon and I enjoyed the race freebies (bagels, PB, oranges, juice and cookies) and admired our swag (t-shirts, Kicking Horse Coffee Beans and exotic power bars). Much to our surprise, when it came to handing out finish medals, both Jon and I were on the podium for our age categories: Jon came 3rd and I took first. We thought it was quite silly, as we haven't been training much but its possible that all the serious runners were busy with the longer distance leaving us our moment of glory.

Sadly, we did not bring our camera to document the moment, but once pictures appear on the website, I will be passing them on.

Cat Attack!

Patches got attacked by a cat on our morning walk today. We all know this cat is crazy, every time we see it comes after us with fangs bared. Usually I just run. This morning I didn't see it in time and Patches went to sniff it. In a flurry of fluffed fur and claws, it attacked! Patches started to yelp and lay down on the sidewalk. I dropped my coffee and using my full body weight I was able to drag my dog along the sidewalk out of the cat's reach. I then grabbed my mug and dragged my dog another block before he gave up on trying to get back to the cat.

Patches is fine, I'm embarrassed that my dog got whupped by a cat and the cat is probably still hiding under that SUV waiting for us to pass by tomorrow morning.

Things have been slow...

... around here lately.

Jon is home for the week for the monthly scan and stab (x-ray and bloodwork) and things are going really well there. No change is a good thing at this point!

We haven't been up to much. Playing ultimate twice a week really takes up week day free time and last weekend we just didn't do anything. We did look at buying a new camera lense but since it may have to come from Japan it could be a while before we get to try it out.

School stuff is just boring and since that is 50% of my life right now it leaves little room for exciting things. Soon though we will have lots of excitment (or at least things to keep us busy). Next weekend we're running a cross-country race and then the weekend after that I'm joining the family to run in the K100. The weekend after that is our first backpacking trip of the season, and of course it will require several well prepared backpacking meals (and all that dehydrating will keep me busy!).

Oooh, So You Think You Can Dance is on....

Moose Mountain

This weekend was our first real hike of the season (it had a goal, and we achieved it). Ali sucessfully booked us onto the West Coast Trail (WCT) for the end of August, so we plan on spending the summer training with day hikes and backpacking trips. This was our first training exercise - an easy 14km round trip to the summit of Moose Mountain.

The weather was supposed to be hot hot hot, but thankfully it wasn't a scorcher on the mountain. The first part of the hike was realitivly easy - not much elevation change and a nice wide trail.

The trail to the first summit is a little steeper, but easily do-able. I was able to test out my new treking poles (very cool) as well as put a few uphill miles in my recently purchased boots. It wasn't that tough, but at some points I certainly felt like this!

The summit was much easier to hike this time 'round. There was a lot less snow than when we did it last October and we didn't need to drag Patches up - Brinkley and him led the charge up the hill. We signed the log book after climbing the last 400 m from the first summit to the true summit.And then enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and great view from the firewatch heli pad while eating lunch.

After lunch we headed back down (always much easier) and made it back to the Volvo just as the rain started to fall.