A Weekend by the Numbers: 2 days, 3 runs, 1 Moose and 3 Moms

It's a good thing I like to run in the mountains. Training for a 100 Miler takes time, energy and motivation. It's crunch time: I'm squeezing in some back to back long runs and just getting time on my feet. For me, there is no program, no pace charts, no structure - I'm just running and recovering and repeating. That's it. I'm trying not to focus to much on the details, I'm just getting the miles in, on terrain specific to my race and enjoying the ride. If I had of given it some more thought, I wouldn't have changed a thing. How do you train for a 100 Miler? I don't know - it's a work in progress. I'll let you know in 4 weeks, but I think I've put in the miles and I know I can get it done.

My friend Kamren is training for his first Ultra and he's picked the 125km Death Race for his debut. He put together a wicked tough run on Saturday and got in 70km for the first time. He hurt a lot for the last 20km, and was asking the question: "if I hurt this much now, how on earth am I going to run 125km?!?" Naturally, the answer isn't straight forward and every day is different. But, he's getting his homework in - he's running long and his body is still getting used to that. Your body adapts, it changes, it gets stronger and it recovers more quickly. How you feel on any given day can depend on so much: did you sleep well the night before? did you eat enough during the run? did you take your electrolytes? did you pace yourself? what kind of terrain are you running? is your pace too fast? what about your head game? how are you feeling? what kind of mood? are you having fun? These are all things I'm still working on and it's an ongoing process. Everyone is different. And every run is different! That's the cool thing about ultras: the equation is always changing. What works, what doesn't, what you can change, how you can overcome. I'm still learning - but I've figured this out: an ultra is largely mental. While the physical stuff is really important, your brain game, your attitude, your mind can get you to the finish line.

Anyhow, enough of the rant - it's hard stuff to put into words and I've never been good at putting my thoughts into words. What about the run you say?

Run #1: the run was great! We started with a power-hike up Sulphur Mountain and then circumnavigated Mount Rundle for 56km. I felt pretty lousy for the tail end of this run - just plain old tired, but the mind was good. After the run, the same thing. Phew. Done. Me So Tired.

3 boys: Kamren, Mike and Clint

Kamren gets his Grrrr on.

This is how you suck it up.

Bighorn Sheep - far nimbler than us

Spray Lakes Road above Canmore

I got up early and made the drive from Banff to Kananaskis Country. I headed to Kananaskis Village so I could go for Run #2, before going for Sunday All-U-Can-Eat Mother's Day Brunch.

I love my Mummy and I love food. Happy Mother's Day special lady.

You mommy's out there continue to impress me - and you do something that I admire, even though I've never had any desire to do it: have kids and THEN put up with them. Go Mommy's! You have my utmost respect.

I'm a lucky girl because I have the best Mummy in the world. My mom was a runner as well, not a long distance girl, but a sprinter. Now her legs don't work so good and I think about her lots on my runs. I wish she could see all of the beautiful scenery that I get to see daily. At least I can share my pretty places with the help of the blog!

I've also got the bonus of another mom - my dad's been remarried for 25 years now and that patient and generous lady took us on as teenagers. Oh wait - there's a 3rd wonderful mom in my life, Keith's mom Rennie. These ladies are good people, giving, supportive, non-judgmental, loving and genuine. They sure are great Mom's.

So, Run #2. After spending Saturday enjoying completely dry trails all the way around Mount Rundle, I was surprised to find a whole lot of snow in Kananaskis Country. It was seriously bonkers.

There weren't ANY dry trails to be had. In fact, there wasn't any running either. I post-holed for 2 hours through crusty snow until my shins bled. Note to self: soft and fluffy goooood, hard and crusty baaad.


It was me and the bunnies out on the trail and the bunnies were definitely traveling faster, lighter and easier than me.

Silly Bunny.

There was an amazing amount of moose tracks, more moose footy prints than I've seen all winter! Actually, come to think of it I haven't seen ANY moose tracks all winter. In Banff, we have a healthy population of elk - but moose are not common in our area. Moose are frickin' huge and they scare the hell out of me. Shortly after I took this photo, I ran smack dab into a moose.

Needless to say, when this female moose came running out the woods, it scared the crap out of me! Trust me, she's bigger than the photo looks. I found myself a big tree to hide behind, pulled out my bear spray and pulled off the safety and held my breath.

Mama Moose - Happy Mother's Day lady and thanks for not charging me.

Eventually, she got off the trail and just disappeared into the woods. Moose are the color of the woods. I swear. You never see them with their 3 shades of brown. Eventually, I got brave, snuck out from behind the tree and continued post-holing, looking furtively over my shoulder, with bear spray still in hand.

There's humor where you least expect it.

I was almost late for brunch, because post-holing through shin deep snow always takes you longer than you think. I don't know how far I went, but I was tired and ready for some serious eating after my 2 hours. I did some damage to the buffet and it was delish.

It's not often that I get to Kananaskis, so I decided to do Run #3. A "bonus lap" on the shoreline of Barrier Lake, up to Jewel Pass and Barrier lookout and back down. Don't worry Mom - I left a note in my car on the dashboard with my destination and departure time "just in case." My mom has taught me well - you've always got to let somebody know where you're going. Either that, or I just let the criminals know how long they have to break in to my car before my impending return. I took my wallet just in case. :)

I'm so glad I did this bonus lap - I got half dry trail and half snowy trail, but it was significantly better than what I had earlier in the day. I ran the whole thing - but I lollygagged and took lots of photos. It was beautiful out there!

On the top of the mountain, I had a rare Canadian Wildlife sighting - even more special than the moose. Honestly, could this day get any better? There were 3 of them - music blaring and beers in hand, having a true Fubar wilderness moment. Head Bangers. They were true blue, Kenora-dinner-jacket-wearin', weed smokin', rock and roll listenin', Pilsner drinkin', Canadian Head Bangers. Rock on dudes. I salute you. Thank-you for making my day even that much better, eh? But no thanks, I don't need the beer - maybe another day. :)

When you least expect it, Fubar.

On that note, I hoped you enjoyed my pretty photos as well as the most significantly disjointed blog post, ever! And remember: there's humor where you least expect it.

Ciao Bella!

This expression always reminds me of a time in my life when I was a free moving, free living, roaming, traveling girl. I didn't do the normal backpacker thing, I spent almost 2 years traveling and working my way through Europe. The one time during my trip when I came close to running out of money, I headed to Greece. I figured it would be better to run out of money on an island, in a pretty place and I would find myself a job as soon as possible. It all worked out and I found employment and a great community of travelers in Rethymnon on the big island of Crete. I lived a few blocks away from the harbor and the beach and had just enough money to subsist on.


One of the memories I have of this wonderful city, was being verbally "checked-out" by the Italian men while walking the promenade on the beach. What they would say when they saw a pretty girl walking their way is "Ciao, bella!" I think it translates to: "Why hello, beautiful!"

I would hear this every day while strolling in town. Instead of this "compliment" having the intended effect of flirtation, this young Canadian girl would cringe inwardly and skulk nervously away every time. A little culture clash.

My time spent in Italy was a little more limited. I spent a couple of beautiful spring days in Torino, which was first time in Italy and a very accidental trip. I had gotten on the train in France and ended my day in Italy. I spontaneously got on the first train that pulled into the station and rolled into another world a few short hours later. I was overwhelmed to say the least, but it was all serendipitous - Torino was magical, the people warm and welcoming and the food divine.

There was also a short trip to Venice and a few days of getting lost in this one-of-a-kind place. My favorite cheap pastime was hanging out in the Piazza San Marco and people watching. As well as a not-so-good experience in the port town of Brindisi (known as Sleezy Brindisi in the backpacker world), these 4 experiences pretty much sum up my quality time with all things Italian.

Until now.

Naturally, I'm heading straight for the mountains, instead of the cultural centres of Rome, Florence and Naples. We'll have to save that for another trip. For this adventure, I'm heading to the Aosta Valley where I'm going to get the ultimate 330km mountain tour. I've signed up for the Tor des Geants a brand new race in the Italian Alps, starting and finishing in Courmayeur.

I've spent some time in Chamonix, which I think of as the "Banff" of France. Courmayeur is another mountain town on the Italian side at the base of Mont Blanc - only 30 minutes from Chamonix through the infamous Mont Blanc Tunnel.

The Tor des Geants is a one-of-a-kind format. Essentially, the race looks like it's a "supported fast-pack". There's aid stations, sleep stations, food stations, but you have to be self sufficient and carry all of your gear. It's one stage only, but you have 7 days to complete it. The winner will be the runner who completes the race in the shortest time, making his or her own decisions on when and how long to stop for rest and food.

The list of friends who have signed up is growing, so it's going to be a social extravaganza. The bottom line is: it's going to be awesome.

So, Ciao Bella Italia! I can hardly wait to meet your beautiful acquaintance and get to know you and your sweet mountain places just a little bit better.

Yamnuska!

When you leave Calgary and drive from the plains to the mountains, you've probably seen Mount Yamnuska.

"Yamnuska" is the popular name for the mountain guarding the Bow River's exit from the Rockies. This Stoney Indian word means 'flat faced mountain'. It is this 'flat face' that makes it so easy to recognize and a familiar sight if you are a Calgarian. Being born and raised in Calgary, Yamnuska has always been symbolic to me: it's the Gateway to the mountains. The Gateway to the Promiseland. Hallelujah, praise the Yam. When you've driven the Trans Canada highway as frequently as me, you know Yamnuska well. I love this mountain. But mostly, I like to look at this mountain.

I'm not the only one who has been enamored with Mount Yamnuska. Whether you're a climber or an artist, or a just a lover of great big mountains: Yamnuska is enchanting. There are books written about it. It's revered, respected and it's a playground for many.

The Yamnuska mountain range is even movie star famous, having been in numerous movies shot in Alberta including Legends of the Fall with Brad Pitt and Open Range with Kevin Costner. More recently, it was prominently featured in Brokeback Mountain in the "naked cliff jumping scene" - Yay for Yam - and Heath Ledger's butt!

There's a whole lot of obsessed local climbers that love the challenges of Yam - local climbing legend Sharon Wood climbed all 34 routes from the original Yamnuska climbing guide. Will Gadd completed a seven-year-old project to establish a new free climb up the most daunting buttress on Yamnuska, the Canadian Rockies’ famed adventure crag. He even made a movie about it: Yamabushi! However, we did not get to see Will Gadd's naked arse in this movie.

Though I've driven by a gazillion times, I haven't been up Yamnuska since I was a kid. It's a very achievable and a very popular scramble. I've met some new girly friends this past month and not only are these ladies fun and fantastic, they actually LIKE to run really, really, really far! Suzie and Monica also like to bag peaks, climb and scramble and I had been looking forward to taking a little "run" up Yamnuska all week.

We had a picture perfect spring day for our trip up Yam - fresh snow, blue sky and lovely. Spring has sprung on the front range - the leaves are coming out and there are crocuses and other flowers making their brief spring appearances. Suzie and Monica were awesome company and were gentle with me: they didn't force me to do anything I wasn't comfortable with while scrambling up the side of a mountain. We ended our day on a patio in Canmore, to cap off our perfect spring day.

The day after our scramble, I had a long run planned and I was also looking forward to spending some time with friend Petra Graen. This gal I met many years ago at the Death Race, see each other sporadically at races, but haven't spent any time together on the trails. Well, we got 6 hours of quality time and Mike joined us for 4 hours of runnin' and chattin'. Petra was gentle with us - this lady is capable of going reeeal fast, but I made her run Leslie speed instead. That's the perk of being the tour guide - I get to be the pacer!

I also managed to squeak out a quick trip to Calgary to visit my Mummy and Keith's Mom and ended up squeezing in a 2 hour run on the trails of North Glenmore. I love it that you can get lost in a city park. Soft trails, incredible scenery, wildlife, the Elbow River, the Glenmore Reservoir and silence - all in the city.

When I drove back to Banff in the early afternoon, I drove past Yamnuska - the unofficial portal to these great mountains I call home - and shouted out loud: Yamnuska! I also promised to not let 27 years go by between visits. I'll be back. Probably sooner, than later. In the meantime, Yamnuska will always make me smile as it welcomes me back to the mountains.

Undeniably Spring

Here in Banff, we try not to get to excited about spring for we know that the moment we allow ourselves this pleasure, mother nature will deal us another round of winter.

But I can't help it! The last couple months have been crazy with abnormally warm temps, I've been running dry trails in the valley and this morning, the world out my front window is all about spring. I can't hold back my excitement any longer - it's here! It's heeeere!

There's a thick coat of frost blanketing everything: the neighbors roofs, my car, the grass.

There's a fresh dusting of snow on the mountains.

There's a small herd of elk on my front lawn. Or what's left of my front lawn.


The sounds of robins, magpies and grey jays have been waking me up early as well as the sunshine which is peaking through my window earlier and earlier.

Too say I'm a little bit excited for this change of season is an understatement.

The word anticipation comes to mind. Anticipation of all the good things to come in the next week, month, 5 months. It's trail running season, baby. It's here, it's now and it's exciting. I got things to do and places to go. I got lists. I got adventures in the works.

On Saturday's run, clearly Simon had spring fever as well. He bust out the Vibram's and even the snow wasn't going to stop him and his 5 toed footies from running 28 kilometers on the Rundle Riverside trail. Damn, dude.

Bigfoot?

Simon joined myself, Monica, Nikki and a Suzy for a run which was admittedly a whole lot faster pace than I am used to. But it's all good. I can bust it out if I have to. But this one left me feeling like I had run a race! It's good to run faster than you are used to once in awhile and it's fun to go fast! Mother Nature did her spring thing - we got slammed by this storm on the way home and shortly after it was snowing hard and blowing harder. We put our heads down and headed back to civilization and the Canmore Nordic Centre as fast as we could. I think we were out for 3h30min in total.




The next day, I had a blind running date with a friend of a friend, named Leslie. We'd never met before, but being a Leslie - she was cool. This was the longest run she had ever done!

I dragged her out on a lovely rolling loop, with some lakes, some streams and some dead things. Hmmm. The signs and sights of spring. Time to keep running....


We also hit my favorite view point of Lake Minnewanka, where I was surprised to look down from above and see that the lake is breaking up quickly. Last year, it was late May when the ice broke. I was also surprised that the trail I was running, the C-Level Cirque trail had gotten a make-over. The trail work must have been done last fall and the result is awesome. The trail was rutted and nasty and now it's a smooth, runnable hill climb of about 10 minutes, complete with a bench at the top. It's a well used trail, so the trail work was needed and appreciated. It's still a lung buster though - the grade is steep, but the view is rewarding.








We were out running around the woods for 3h52min. I'm having loads of fun re-visiting these trails - trails that have been buried for the last 6 months. It's kind of like meeting up with old friends: comfortable, relaxing and fun.

Spring Fling Continues...

The Spring Fling continues.....

It was my first road ride of the season on Thursday night and it was a perfect evening for a ride. Cycling in April is usually a toe-numbing-blue-lipped-wind-chilling-experience. Instead, I got sunshine, warm evening temperatures, great views and big ol' Bighorns. What a great night, as you can tell by my chitter-chatter I was a happy, silly girl.

I *heart* my bike.

Grand-daddy Bighorn

NOW GO RIDE YER' BIKES!!

Spring Fever

Tunnel Mountain - Thursday, April 9th

Was this picture only taken last Thursday? Let's fast forward 8 short days. Here's a video clip from Saturday's run:

Tunnel Mountain - Saturday, April 17th AM

It's been glorious, sunny and downright hot for the past 4 days - and I've been reveling in every moment. On Wednesday evening, I bust out the short sleeves and went for a run on a muddy trail. On Thursday, I dusted off the road bike and put on the cycling shorts, a jersey and arm warmers for the first inaugural bike ride. On Friday, I found myself lunching outside in a tank top having a picnic. On Saturday, I put on the running skirt and sleeveless jersey and drained my 2L Camelback bladder in world record time.


Saturday's long run was all about playing in the woods with some friends just for pure F-U-N. Hugh, Monica, Katherine and Martin came to town to join me for 5 hours of good times, on Banff trails. It was the Ultimate Banff Tour with the bonus of getting lost and a river crossing! Really, what could be better than that? Hugh's photos here.

A Very Happy Man

My goal was to be out on my feet for 7 hours - so I bid farewell to the friends, refilled my water and kept going. I wanted to get some elevation and practice my "power-walking" so I marched myself uphill and tagged the top of Sulphur for another 1.5 hours. Phew. Sulphur is still snow bound, top to bottom. It was hard going - with the hot weather, the snow on Sulphur had turned into heavy, deep slush. My reward for all of the hard work, was a ridiculously fun, slippery, slidy, slightly out of control, reckless, kick-ass descent. 7.5 hours later, I rolled into home giddy, muddly, tired and hungry. As a bonus to an already great day, our friend Deb was in for a visit. Keith and Deb were equally giddy from a great day spent on the slopes.

Tunnel Mountain - Saturday, April 17th PM

It was such a beautiful evening, that we decided to go for an evening walk up Tunnel Mountain. I think the "bonus walk" was actually good for my legs - a nice way to wind down the day and stretch out my tired ass. We went to bed early and slept real good.

On Sunday, Deb and I headed to Cascade Ponds and ran a loop to Johnson Lake. It was my first time out here this season. Only a week ago these trails were ice bound and the lake was still frozen. This week, the trails were dry and the ice had disappeared! It was a wicked fun, twisty turny dance through the woods. I love this trail - it was dry and there were crocuses out on the South facing slopes. I haven't been here in months and I'd forgotten just how pretty Johnson Lake is in spring:

Deb and Cascade Falls

What is Spring, without The Swing?

Needless to say, after a weekend like this I got the fever. Spring Fever. I'm thinking the 20c in April makes up for the -20C we had in October. I'm going to enjoy it while it's here.

Check out this post from the same date, April 18, 2008.

So, keep your sunny side up, up!

Keep your sunny side up, up!
Hide the side that gets blue.
If you have nine sons in a row,
Baseball teams make money, you know!
Keep your funny side up, up!
Let your laughter come thru, do!
Stand upon your legs, be like two fried eggs,
Keep your sunny side up!