It's a Brand New Year.

What are you going to do?

New Year. New Trails. New friends. New Adventures!

Past year. Quality time on my favorite trails. Good Friends. Family. New Adventures. Inspiring places. Good people. Life Is Good.

I started sifting through my photographs for this post, to do a retrospective of the year in photographs. I'm off for a hot weather escape this week and I thought I could do the post quickly before I left town for the week. What I quickly realized after being sucked in for hours looking at my photographs of the year is this:

Holy shit. It's been a good year!

Pretty profound, huh? I won't rehash it all for you and I barely touched the surface with the photographs. I had a lot of great adventures this year on the trails of Banff, Jasper, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks. I saw a lot of new places and new trails. Adventures by myself, adventures with my hubby, adventures with old friends and adventures with new friends. I'm going to borrow a quote from Meghan, who borrowed it from Edward Abbey:

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. ~Edward Abbey

Hardrock Dreamin'

It's that time of year.

Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's 'Tis The Season and all that....but for me? Me, I'm dreamin' of Hardrock. It's the time of year to plot, obsess, dream and scheme about future races, adventures and holidays. I've been obsessing for months on end. Am I the only crazed Ultra runner out there with this particular disease?

The dream list is growing weekly. It's mostly a list of random places and trails all over the world, but there's certainly a few dream races in there as well. I'd like to run another 100 Miler this upcoming year, either Bighorn 100 in Wyoming or Hardrock in Colorado. I seem to be drawn to the big, challenging and scenic runs because that's what I really enjoy. I sure do love mountain towns and mountain places. Truthfully, I'm O.K if I don't get into Hardrock, I would love to go and volunteer, pace and mark the trail just to get a taste of the event. You know, a little reality vs. fantasy. But I'm realistic, I know how crazy tough it is but I think I'm up for the task. You never know until you try, right? At least that what my mom always said. So many races, so much to see!

I've got a lot of adventure runs that I'd like to do locally and abroad. Locally, I'd like to do a multi-day adventure run in Waterton National Park or Jasper National Park this year. I'd love to have a go at the John Muir Trail. I need to do further explorations of Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia! Bryce, Zion...Canyonlands and Death Valley....oh America. You're too big. The Wonderland Trail. Circumnavigate Rainier! Mount Saint Helens....the Tetons! Don't get me started on Europe. In France, I'm obsessed with the Grand Randonee Trails. They criss-cross the whole damn country. The Pyrenees. Italy and the Dolomites. Circumnavigate Mont Blanc! Why not? I ran the Dublin Marathon a few years back and discovered the the Dingle Penninsula. Loved it. I've got to go back and do the Dingle Way. Plus, it makes me laugh ever time I say the word "Dingle" out loud. Dingle. Tee-hee. So many trails....

Last year, I checked a few things off the list: pacing someone at a 100 mile run (check), running an epic 5 day run in my own backyard (check), running the Grand Canyon (check), exploring trails in Point Reyes(check) and running a 100 Miler(check!) Throw in some great races in beautiful places and it was a great year.

I've put a few things on the calendar to escape from winter and keep me motivated. I'm looking forward to exploring some new trails in either Death Valley or the Mojave Desert in early February. I'm also excited to explore a different corner of California and meet friends old and new at Coyote Two Moon in March. We'll see what 100 miler comes my way for the year, but I'm dreamin' of some new mountain adventures in beautiful mountain paces. How about you?

The Big Chill

It's been a challenging week to be a runner. I missed a few midweek runs with the cold weather descending on the valley and dipping into dangerously cold. By Friday, things had warmed up to a balmy -19c and I was desparate to get outside. I ran up Sulfur Mountain and then headed back down to the Fenland Trail. By that time the wind had picked up and it was c-c-cold again. I hid in the forest, resurrected the IPod which I haven't used since last winter and did laps of the 2km forest trail. In summertime, this would be the most boring of boring runs, but in wintertime everything gets transformed into a magical winter wonderland! That's good because I did 6 laps. I ran for 5 hours and felt pretty good about it.



For the weekend, we were looking forward to skiing in to Egypt Lake Shelter, but when the weather was forecast to be below -30c we thought it was best and safest to NOT wake up in a little cabin in the woods. Instead, we skiied up Healy Pass and then returned to the comfort of home. It was a cold day and I was having difficulty staying warm despite a ski that climbed for 8km!! It was the right decision for us. It was a beautiful day and you could see and feel the cold all around us. Stu and Anna continued up and over the pass and enjoyed a night at the shelter, while we scurried home to the hot tub. :)




On Sunday morning it was -30c in town and Keith and I were glad to enjoy a lazy morning. By mid-afternoon it was -25C, practically tropical so we headed into the forest behind our house and up the hill to try and get warm! We did a kick-ass short but sweet run of 1 hour with some tough climbing and I couldn't believe how strong Keith is. He hasn't lost any of his fitness and he's so excited to be back running. He was giddy to be ripping around in the woods, even in the -25C.



Last night, things had warmed up to a most enjoyable -10c, which was aaaaawesome so we jumped back on the Tuesday night program, the Sulfur Mountain night run. There were big smiles and sounds of "Weeeeeeeee!" in the woods. Yay for a week of normal temperatures in the forecast!

Time Flys....

Sometimes, I actually pay attention.

My spidey-senses were tingling today! That little sixth sense in the back of your brain that says....there's something you should be aware of. I was browsing my blog to see what I was doing at this time last year and I realized a few things:

#1: I HAVE A GREAT LIFE! I'm shouting that one at the top of my lungs. Let me repeat. I HAVE A GREAT LIFE!!!

#2: At this time last year I was doing the same thing(s) with the same peep(s). Running, ski touring, complaining about the weather...but smiling while complaining. And finally.....

#3: It's my Blogaversary!

I almost forgot all about it. While birthdays, anniversaries, holidays are typically not things I pay much attention to, the Banff Trail Trash blog has been a little surprise joy in my life. It's been the inspiration to capture some images of this amazing place that I live, to share some stories of time well spent on the trails and most surprisingly to network, connect with and meet some pretty cool people. Who knew? So, thanks y'all. I really enjoy sharing my place with you and I really do love to hear from you! And for those of you that I have never heard from, please don't be shy: I'd love to hear from you. That's an open invite. And you don't even have to pretend you like running really, really, really far!

Happy Blogaversary to Me!!

The Arrival of Winter

So this morning in Banff....

Current Conditions: Banff National Park

-30 °C

Observed at: Banff

Date: 10:00 AM MST

Monday 7 December 2009

Temperature: -29.9°C

Dewpoint: -32.9°C

Humidity: 75 %

Wind: SSW 9 km/h

Wind Chill: -39

Needless to say, it was a little frosty for my run yesterday. I had forgotten how much more challenging running is when it is cold outside. It's still enjoyable and it's still achievable but it just feels like a bit more work! Hard work. I ran up Tunnel Mountain because it's a good choice on a cold day. It's quite sheltered and you generate a heck of a lot of heat with 300m of elevation gain. But then I got too sweaty and then I got cold. I ended up on a 2km trail flat loop trail in the woods, running around in circles going really, really fast to try and warm myself back up. It was kind of funny and it definitely wasn't the right pace for a long run! After I got warm, I headed back up the mountain for another sweaty lap and then charged back home before I got cold again. So I carry extra layers in case that happens...and a dry toque and gloves....and hand warmers just in case....

And, and...AND it's a lot of work! I felt super tired when all was done, but I managed 3 hours and change. Fortunately, the scenery made up for the effort and it was the kind of perfect blue sky day that made it all worthwhile.

It's been a gorgeous week in Banff, with lots of sunshine. The full moon ski on Wednesday night was soooo much fun and spectacular! There were 7 of us who headed out to howl at the moon, but mostly it was just me doing the howling. It was clear and cold and so bright that we didn't need headlamps. We took the last gondola up to Sunshine Village, had us some dinner and then headed out. With the light of the full moon, we climbed out of the resort and above treeline and made 3 short, sweet, enjoyable runs. It was pretty magical to see the mountains and all of that high alpine scenery all lit up by moonlight. The visibility was incredible.

On Friday, I went for a run with Keith for the first time since TransRockies and Post Stress Fracture. It was awesome to be running with my honey again! He is pretty happy to be back at it and it was fun to see the joy back. We did a half hour and then I headed out for a couple of hours along the Spray River by my lonesome. It was a grey day and it snowed lightly the whole time I was out. Again, I had forgotten how much more effort it takes to run in loose snow! It's like running in sand.

Grey Day on the Spray

On Saturday, Keith, Anna and myself went for a gorgeous ski tour and spent 4 hours stomping around in the snow. It was cold and the snow was crusty and wind blown, so we mostly hid in the forest and got some exercise. After our ski day, Anna, myself and Oscar The Dog got in a sweet little 45 minute run in the forest behind my house. Oscar thought it was great! It was a fun day.

We planned our wardrobe.

Heeeey! See that? The big mountain? Over there? That's The Monarch!

Making a few turns...

Super-Keith breaking trail for the ladies

So, the Arrival of Winter brings new adventures and new challenges. I'm embracing it with a celebratory hot tub for a weekend well spent.

Full Moon Fever

I had a busy and fun weekend this past weekend and stayed close to home. I'm embracing winter and all things wintery. It feels good to be back in the flow of things and getting out there and enjoying my weekends. I work Monday to Thursday, so every weekend is a long weekend! This past weekend I did the solo ski tour on Friday, went for a fantastic 4 hour long run on the Minnewanka shoreline on Saturday and had a long day ski touring on Sunday. It was a most enjoyable weekend! The shoreline on Lake Minnewanka was incredible and while it had icy sections, it was mostly bare and dry. The trail is on a South facing shoreline at a lower elevation, so it's a bit of an anomaly to find a dry trail in November!

Lake Minnewanka shoreline trail - Saturday's Run

But this week I'm excited for something else this week: it's a FULL MOON! With a forecast of clear, sunny and cold this should be a great week for enjoying the moon outside in all of its' winter glory. Tonight, a few of us are heading up Sulfur Mountain to howl at the moon and tomorrow, we are going up to Sunshine Village to have dinner and head out for a full moon ski tour. Should be fun! The weather is forecast to be clear, sunny and cold all week: -10c to -20c all week with no snow in the forecast. It has been snowing at the higher elevations pretty much non-stop for the last couple of weeks, so I'm ready for the sunshine, as well as the full moon!

Our town: from the Top of Sulfur Mountain - Wednesday Eve's Run