Submitted by Ean Jackson on 15 March, 2012 - 10:36
I knocked another one off my bucket list this week. Yes, I finally dug a snow cave and slept in it overnight.
This may seem like an odd thing for someone to want to do. But ever since my buddy Paul Quinn shared a story about the night he spent in a relatively comfy hole in the snow as a blizzard raged above his head, I've wanted to do the same.
It's beginning to look like a trend: Start the year with great expectations, injure myself, and hobble through the rest of the year. Although I didn't set any world records, or even set any personal best athletic accomplishments in 2011, I'm please to say I'm ending the year in one piece and happy with how things turned out.
Less than a week until the end of 2011. With the finish line in sight, I suppose it's OK to take score and see how I did relative to my friends and peers who were bold enough to share their fitness resolutions about this time last year...
Hoping to run for fun and try to dial up the speed a bit in 2011. Here are the specifics of how I propose to measure my athletic success in the new year:
The 7 "official" starters of the Fat Ass Fondo, Summer 2011 edition, on Saturday 13 August. From left to right: Rerza Ghazizadeh, Rob Jones, Ean Jackson, William Jans, Paul Burns, Eric Derbez and Ron Adams.
April 1st is the first day of the North Shore Bagger Challenge. It's also April Fools day.
I trust Environment Canada. So 'round about 11:00 last night when Conroy calls me to see if I am into earning some first bagging bragging rights, I consulted the most reliable weather website I know of before opting-in. I truly didn't suspect that Environment Canada would say it was going to be warm and sunny if it wasn't going to be warm and sunny.
Last night was the 9th annual MardiGras version of the Club Fat Ass Capilano Canyon Night Run. This run takes about 90 minutes and is a great way for trail and road runners to get a feel for what it's like to run in the night. It's a very low-key event: Nobody really cares how far or fast participants run. There are 12 and 17-kilometer run courses, but there's also a "roll-your-own" distance for those who want to run farther, shorter or to accommodate those who get lost.
The Squamish Scrambler has got to be my favorite winter running event. Held every February in the mountains above Squamish, BC, it's a magical half-marathon on snowshoes.
Mount Apodaca. A-po-da-ca. Sounds like some exotic peak in the Pyrenees or maybe the South American Andes, doesn't it?
April 1st is the first day of the North Shore Bagger Challenge. It's also April Fools day.
