Rundle Ramblings

I know! I know! I should be running. But Mount Rundle was flirting with me. She demanded I stop and take photographs. My new camera is pretty sweet.

Enjoy the view!

**Today's run: 3h30min. 3 hours of running and a half hour of photo taking!**

Me, Myself and I

Me, Myself and I on Tunnel Mountain

This weekend I have been blissfully greedy. It seems to have been a whirlwind of social engagements since Christmas, with not enough Leslie time. So this weekend, I found myself alone on the home front, with perfect weather in the forecast and absolutely no plans. It was going to be all about me.

After a healthy sleep in, a big cup of coffee and some quality computer time I finally set out for my run. I decided on Tunnel Mountain and some hill repeats, just to see if I was up for it. Well, I think I was solar powered or something, with the clear blue sky and warm temperatures. I ran up Tunnel Mountain 3 times, every step of the way, without a problem. I even enjoyed it! A quick jaunt through town and past the Banff Train Station followed, with a flat and easy couple kilometres to stretch out the legs on Fenland Trail. Me. Me. Me.

Today, I enjoyed a repeat edition of sleep in and coffee, followed by a side of cheezy novel and computer. I finally, finally dragged myself off to Sunshine for a solo backcountry ski and was stomping through the snow by noon. Not even an hour in, I decided it was already lunch time and settled myself in a sunny place with a view. Me. Me. Me.

I had ambitions of a big, challenging, hardcore ski tour today. As the day unfolded, I decided that today was a day to be enjoyed at a much slower pace. The sun was actually warm, there was no wind and I communed with the mountains. I stopped on top of yet another ridge to enjoy a hot bevvie out of my thermos and take in the views in every direction. Me! Me! Me!

Sweeeet Skoki (and Leslies 40th birthday....)

For my 40th birthday, I pondered doing a whole lot of things. It felt like a milestone and I thought, maybe I should do something milestone-ish. I thought about doing a special race, maybe travelling to a special place, running for 40 hours, running for 40 kilometres, doing some crazy-ass adventure out in the woods for 40 hours... You know, something special, something memorable, something big!

Instead, I realized that I didn't need to do any of those things because in reality, my life is already one big on going adventure. I actually do a lot of those things daily, weekly, monthly! How exciting is that?! My life and my lifestyle are pretty frickin' fantastic. I'm the fittest I have ever been in my whole life. I get out there and enjoy, like nobody's business. Life is good. No need for an epic adventure for my 40th birthday, because every day these days feels like an adventure! It's exciting. It's fun. It's awesome. I can't wait for whatever lurks around the next corner. And I love being 40. It is pretty darn cool.

That being said, I still wanted to go and have a little adventure in one of my favorite places, with some of my favorite people. A trip to Skoki Lodge was in order, to celebrate. Holly, Anna and Stu joined Keith and I for a couple of fun days of skiing, relaxing and enjoying the backcountry bliss of the Skoki area.

The Birthday Girl on her sunset-birthday-bonus ski loop!

Big Smiles

Big Fun

Big Cookies

Big Ass

Big Birthday!

Big Mountains, Little People


Big Pack, Little Girl

Big Ski

Big Friends


Big Stud


Big Views


Big Mountain Pass

Big Sky

Big Effort!
(pheeeew...we're all done.)

It's Skoki Time!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I made sure to get my long run in today, as we are off to Skoki Lodge for a few days of skiing, relaxing and celebrating. Sort of an extended weekend! One of the great things about Skoki is that there is no cell service, computer access, or any of that stuff. Just a nice opportunity to relax, sit around and chat and enjoy a beautiful place with some friends. And it's my birthday! I couldn't imagine a more enjoyable way to spend it.

See you in a few days,

Leslie

The Weekend Report

Although my long run was solo, the rest of my weekend was full of some quality girl-time with two lovelies: Ms. Iris and Ms. Holly. It was cold on Friday, but Iris and I went out and did what seems to have become a regular weekend exursion: an out and back up Sulphur Mountain. It seems to be the default place for me to go when it's cold because it is inevitable that you are going to generate heat when you go up for 7km and gain 900m of elevation! And hey, all of my friends love it because it is so pretty. Unfortunately, I didn't have my photo mojo working, but I did snap a few photos. The cold had settled into the valley and it was clear, cold and sunny up top!We both got c-c-c-cold on the way down and we had to work hard to re-heat our frozen toes and hands. Aaaaaaah - winter, sigh.

Mmmm, warm sunbeam!

Iris and I hit the hot tub when we got home and just when I was about to settle into my comfy clothes in front of the fireplace, Ms. Holly arrived. And she wanted to run. We headed up Tunnel Mountain for a quick sunset run, which yielded this great photo:

We stayed in and hibernated, cooked some dinner, drank some wine and played some Scrabble. I need to get myself a Scrabble dictionary so I can learn all those quirky little words that start with "Q" and "X". Iris had NEVER played Scrabble before!! Next time, I suspect she will slay me with words like "Xanadu" and "Quip"...


On Saturday, we awoke to temperatures of -31c, so we chilled out and relaxed in the kitchen for a few hours drinking too much coffee and waiting for the temperatures to rise. We decided to go for a snowshoe up on Stoney Squaw, in the Mount Norquay area where would be more protected in the forest. Keith, Holly, Stu and Anna joined in for the fun and it wasn't nearly as cold as we had anticipated! It was fun. Don't I look like I am having fun?!?

On the way back down to town, we stopped at the Mount Norquay Viewpoint, put on our down puffy coats and had a tea party. It turned out to be a nice outing and a lovely day with the friends! Thanks for a great weekend ladies!

....and now for something completely diffferent....

Welcome to today's long run!! Yes, it's a loooong and windy road. For those of you who know me, you know that I seldom venture onto the road. Think - NEVER. But in winter, sometimes a girl has got to do, what a girl has got to do.....




In winter, there seems to be a lot of repetition in the places that I can run! So sometimes, you need to mix it up a little. Today, I skipped a day of ski touring and instead caught a lift with my hubby and the ski crew, out to Johnson Canyon. I got to do two things I never do: go for a run in the canyon and run the 25km road back home.
See? A completely different change of scenery! This place is the busiest trail in the whole national park in summer and probably in winter, too. It's because people like waterfalls. Hey, I like waterfalls but you still won't catch me anywhere near this trail in summer! In winter, it is much calmer and I had an early start. It was frickin' cold and it took me a long time to warm up. My poor little foot that got frost bite a few weeks back, now seems to be cold all of the time. There was a handfull of people on the trail and a few ice climbers had an early start.

After my 6km warm up, I hit the secondary highway for the 25km back to Banff. I dusted off my IPod (first time I have used it on a run since last winter) and enjoyed my first road run in about 5 months!

Getting started....

The tunes were awesome, I had the road to myself and this put a smile on my face! Ha! To round up a great weekend, tonight we are going for ALL-U-CAN-EAT SUSHI!! Mmmmmm......can't wait.

New Year's Eve in Banff

Yes, that's me in a silly hat! We had a mellow evening followed by what has become some what of a tradition: a walk up Tunnel Mountain to see the fireworks here in Banff. Keith and I had a frosty walk up and enjoyed a cup of herbal tea. Geeks!

Happy New Year!