general

Congrats to Shay, Vanessa, Angus and John who kicked some serious butt and came home with the hardware in the 15th annual Marathon Shuffle in Powell River, BC this past weekend!

PS, Did anyone get a picture of the sponsors banners? Just a thought...

 ... the list of Vancouver 100 Registrants is now at:

http://www.clubfatass.com/calendar/Vancouver100/2008

  

Saw my first black bear of the season and thought it deserved an entry.  I was running on one of my favourite trails out of Pemberton and came across a young juvenile bear.  It (I didn't think it appropriate to determine gender)as walking up the trail as I was headed down.  We eyed each other up and he decided I was more imposing/impressive?!

Sometimes I get a tune in my head that I can't shake. I'm a big fan of Willie Nelson and today was one of those days... especially because I've been injured for a while and have been missing the trails. So with a tip of the hat to Willie, here's something to hum the next time you are on the trails!  (Yes, I do karoke at race finisher parties.  See my agent  =;-)

The morning started with a loud knocking waking me out of deep sleep.  "Oh shoot", I thought, "that is my running buddy... why did I not hear my alarm?"  Still half asleep I glanced at my watch (but being half blind I didn't realize that it was way too early for my running partner to be knocking at my door), jumped out of bed, raced downstairs, opened

Thought you'd all like to see the article in today's paper. Sorry they wouldn't print the club name or tee shirt. I tried to sneak it in the photo. Hope to see everyone next weekend. http://www.bellinghamherald.com/477/story/384791.html

I truly prefer to keep things upbeat and positive, but every now and then something happens that ticks me off so much I feel compelled to tell the world about it.

It happened to me today, in fact. Yup, 17 years down a rat-hole.

You see, I moved to British Columbia 17 years ago. My first home: Whistler, BC. It was a lifestyle choice... go to the biggest and best and ski 'till the snow is all gone.

Today was an epic day. But it started out on thin ice. Wader called late last night with a very tempting offer: "Tomorrow morning. I'll be at your place at 7:00 am. We're going back-country skiing at Cypress."

I immediately fell into the morass of analysis paralysis.

The cons: It's going to be icy. My ribs are broken. Wader will kick my ass. I don't know how to use the gear. I'll have to get up early. I'm out of shape. I'll get further behind at work. I just about froze in the fog up on Grouse last night, so I'll freeze for sure tomorrow morning. I'll fall down a tree well and die a cold, slow and miserable death.

The pros: I love Wader and I've not seen him in a while. I really, really want to try back-country skiing now that I've got the basic gear. It might have snowed on Cypress last night. I have to chat with Wader about the Western States 100-mile run soon anyway, so going back-country skiing with him is wayyyy cheaper than going drinking with him. It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow. I can work in the afternoon and all night. What if I get hit by a bus tomorrow morning, anyway?