Sunday, March 30, 2008

Barrier Lookout and Ultra-geek Lecture

Today, I enjoyed a great day with my friends Tannis and Myles. Thanks friends! The plan was to start the day with a run and then attend a running clinic in Calgary for Ultra geeks. Well, we woke up to fresh snow in Banff and as we pulled into the trailhead on Barrier Lake we realised there was much more snow than we thought!!



Knee-deep with Myles!

The run was an out and back up Prairie View trail to the Barrier Lake lookout. It is a great uphill of about 3.5k? 4k? Either way, it's always lovely and it's always a challenging but achievable uphill climb. It is a really popular mountain bike trail in summer and I always get a kick out of beating the cyclists to the top when I am running.

On this glorious snowy morning, with 15 cm of fresh snow waiting for us, it was even more challenging than usual! Just for entertainment value, the fresh snow was covering a fair amount of smooth black ice. You never knew when you would hit a patch and end up on your butt. Sorry Tannis, but I think you won the award for most times on your butt!




The snow was the most perfect powder I have seen all year - so incredibly light and dry that each foot step would send a cloud of dusty snow in the air. Poof-poof-poof. We had to do a little sketchy scramble to get us to the viewpoint and it even cleared up a little bit and gave us little glimpses down the valley.





After the AWESOME run, we drove into the city, had some breakfast, grabbed a coffee and made it to the clinic just in time. The clinic was given by Jack Cook who is a coach and accomplished ultra runner himself and was on "training and nutrition for ultra runners". Jack is the current course record holder for the Death Race and is one speedy guy on and off trail. Well, the ultra geeks were out in full force and it was great to see friends Jen, Doone and Tim, Grace and Phil, Ken, Helen and others! By the time the clinic was done I was again voraciously hungry and half delirious, so we went for Vietnamese food and hit the highway.

A great run, fun with friends and learned a little something. Hey, that's a good day! As a bonus, I spent a fun night with Keith and friends at a local Japanese restaurant and went on a Sushi and Sukiyaki bender! Did I mention that I love food?

6 comments:

Dave - Atlanta Trails said...

That looks like a ton of fun!

Leslie said...

Yes, it was!
Notice, unlike you in Atlanta, I am still not wearing my shorts!

I did however get myself a bubble gum pink running skirts in the mail today from:

www.runningskirts.com

You should pick your up one for your sweetie! My husband laughed his ass off at the idea of ME wearing PINK, but after he got over it he said it was dead sexy.

Ha.

Meghan said...

Wait, wait, wait, you know Doone and Tim? Do you have any contact info for them, or a way of shooing them over to my blog? I ran with them in Costa Rica last year and would love to get in contact with them again.

Oh, and sweet run. Way to embrace the snow. The pictures are sweet!

Leslie said...

Small world:}

Just yesterday, Doone confessed to be reading all of this trash I am posting on-line!! I suspect she will find you!

(and if she isn't I can still shoo her your way...)

Leslie

CoyoteGirl said...

Again, Gorgeous Pics!

My new job is going along fine. It's a way different culture than my previous place, but I'm coping.

Hittin' the trails this weekend! Woohoo. (and of course, updating my blog).

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