Serendipitous Day

The Grouse Grind has been on my "to do" list for three summers now. Yesterday I finally got my butt to Grouse Mtn. I do the Chief in Squamish quite often, but the Grind is 1km longer and I found it steeper than the Chief. The Chief has a few "breaks", the Grind is just straight up the entire way. It was busy as I heard it would be, but everyones going the same direction so it doesn't seem so bad. People smell nicer on The Grind vs. The Chief. A lot of cologne wearing. The last 1/4 of the climb was busy with mozzies! Sure made you climb that last bit faster-I literally ran into the lodge to escape them! Final time: 55mins. Now I have a time to beat-I'll be back.

The Grind actually became a very small part of my day that I had totally forgot about when I discovered that the top of Grouse has tons going on! I went over to the Grizzly habit, and got there for the breakfast feeding (apples).

Then I headed up the free chairlift towards the wind turbine. Great views of the city. Ziptrecks and paragliders taking off all the time. I slog back down the hill and go to the loggers show. Yup at this point I'm wondering A)"Where the heck am I?" and B) "How did I not know about all this?" So the loggers show was absolutely hilarious. I was laughing out loud the whole time. The tourists were eating it up. So different from the big Squamish show. Then I went to the pub for a beer while I waited for the bird show to start. This beer is the first money I've spent all day. Gotta like that. The bird show had this beautiful owl. We all know how fascinated I am with owls since the owl attacked me, saving me from the bear. (see older blog entry about that one) I start to head to the lodge when I hear a helicopter and there you have it, my top three favorite things: Wind turbines, helicopters, and owls. The gondola (sky ride) trip down was fun! That was a crazy ride. Saw some white wolves from the gondola, yes apparently there are white wolves, so I went to see those guys before heading home! So in total I spent 15$(beer+gondola). Thought I would do the hike and go home, and in the end I was up there for 8 hours. What a pleasant and unexpected day!

Warrior Dash 2011

Everyone knows what a firm believer I am in signs. That's how I ended up running across Costa Rica for 6 days, to many signs led me in that direction. A few months ago I had two friends post the Warrior Dash link on my facebook wall stating that I should do it. Then I was at a trail race and someone handed me a Warrior Dash race flier. Well that's three signs....so I signed up. Tammy said if I did she would, and she did. That Saturday morning I woke up not so excited for today. Had no idea what to expect. I put a little baileys in my extra strong coffee, and decided I should dress up! Most people do dress up for this race. I got my pirate kit on, met Tammy and Jose who put together costumes last minute as well.

WHAT A DAY! It was like Pemberton Fest meets Halloween! 4,500 racers, wave starts of 500 leaving every half hour. Good looking dressed up people everywhere. Very happy we picked the first race wave as we never knew what was next. The Warrior website hinted about certain obstacles been in the race, but they weren't. Surprise! Race started up Blackcomb Mtn. Big climb. Then we proceeded to hurdle walls, crawl under barb wire-REPEAT. Ran down grassy mountain as snow blowers sprayed ice cold water on us. Then crawled through a pitch black tunnel over rocks. Slid down a giant slip n' slide. Laughing all the way-ha ha ha ha. Then horizontal cargo net climb thing, cargo net climb(which was high), balance beams, fire jumping, and the forced mud crawl. Forced as you had to crawl under barbwire, through the mud towards the finish. 37min was my time, 5ish km was the distance. For 50$ we got a t-shirt, finishers medal, furry hat with horns, and a beer. Plus a concert, the atmosphere and a crazy fun obstacle course! Pictures were priceless, we were covered in mud, drinking beer, eating turkey legs, wearing furry horn hats! Hilarious. Costumes were fantastic, mood was amazing! Worst part was the ice cold fire hose spray down to get clean. Torture! In the end I can't wait to do this again next year!

Sport Beans. A.K.A. Crack beans.

Iron Knee 25+K

Grouse to Deep Cove. I love this race because it finishes in Deep Cove. Its always nice and hot. You chill on the grass afterwards, facing the ocean, sipping coffee, chatting to runners. In past years all I have ever remember of this race is the Powerline Hill-then its a roller coaster ride to the finish. All I remember of powerline is its a grind! Up, up,up! So with that in mind I head into Sundays race, I had run maybe twice since BMO on May1st, but I hit tons of C3 classes at http://www.challengebychoice.ca/, and get up the Chief at least 1x week. All I can think about race day is Powerline, powerline, powerline. Just hit it. Just do it. Just get it freaking over with and enjoy the ride afterwards. Well this year there was an addition 10min climb to start off race. Then I forgot all about the switchbacks, up, up, up. So I'm just running along dreading powerline, visualizing powerline, looking for powerline. Its all powerline. Along the way, I grab a wee little mini package of these jelly beans. Not sure why as I've never tried them. I gobble them up. Delicious! Sweet! A bit salty! Well, I'll tell you I finally hit powerline and I powerhoused up that hill! Just get it done, just do it, just get it freaking over with. Because I had already built it up as the longest hardest thing ever, I was so pleasantly surprised to hit the top so quickly! Ya! This aid station had a BOWL of these jelly beans. I needed more. I grabbed a massive handful and couldn't get them in my mouth quick enough. Well that roller coaster bit I mentioned? Well man it was fun! I was like Harry freaking Potter gliding through that trail! I even wiped out, rolled it out, and was back on my feet in seconds! Bee bobbin all around. Stoked to get to the finish with tons of energy to spare! Again a great race, and beautiful weather. Plus Tammy had a great race too, and we got to drive home with the top down!

Too bad those jelly beans still had me buzzing at 11pm! Shaking at 12, and going through withdrawal by 1!

BMO 2011

I ran the Vancouver Marathon on May 1st. Beautiful day it was. I drove down day off, with an hour to spare. Spent most of that hour in the bathroom line up. At 7:29(race start 7:30), I rushed to bag check ditched my bag, and raced off to race start(that had already started), so I felt panicky. I had so much energy! I started off way to fast, trying to find my place in the race. I just felt so great. I kept telling myself to slow down! I did slow down 20km-42! But still finished. My best BMO time is 3:51, so I was slightly disappointed in my 4:07 time, but also had a great day, and was proud to finish! The Canucks shirt: I wore it during race. It was so fun int he beginning. People cheering " Ya little Canuck!" and " Go Canucks!" By km 30 when people cheering out something Canuck related I just felt like crying " But, but, I'm Shannon MacLeod!" Not Canuck this and that. Funny nevertheless and was fantastic day!

Road Running Rule#1. Don't finger a red neck.

Today was a planned 3hr road run in preparation for the May 1st Vancouver Marathon. I was actually looking forward to the tedious out and back workout. No cougars, no snow, can start at an early hour, and no hills! I also forgot how much distance you can cover in 3hrs! (27k in my case) I live in downtown Squamish and ran out to the Paradise Valley. That's regarded as a far drive let alone run. I kept waiting for the watch to hit 1:30 so I could run home! But no, just kept running farther and farther from it. Not sure I actually knew everyone who honked and waved, but I smiled and waved back. I fingered one guy. He drove so close to me even though both lanes were free. Not surprising the truck was missing its muffler and the driver was smoking. I know he's just jealous that I'm all athletic, fit, and healthy(kidding, but kinda not) but that gives him no reason to scare me off the road. So I fingered him. Not really the smartest move for a Blondie on her lonesome, early in the morning on a less than busy road. I waiting for the sound of screeching breaks...but he didn't come back for my head, so I live to tell the tale. So in the end I didn't see any cougars, just a hungover bitter redneck. *judgemental pants coming off*

#70 "Because it motivates others to be more active."

Local athlete and author Margreet Dietz just completed her book "A Hundred Reasons to Run 100km" I'm reason # 70 "Because it motivates others to be more active."

Excerpt of A Hundred Reasons to Run 100km

Shannon MacLeod has inspired the entire daycare centre where she works. A relatively novice runner, she boldly signed up for the six-day 226-km Coastal Challenge footrace in Costa Rica and trained hard for seven months. When she registered for the race, she'd yet to run her first marathon. Six months later she ran her second marathon as a training day for her multi-day event. Many people told her she was nuts. Others, especially her colleagues at the daycare, thought she was amazing. And the little kids thought it was pretty cool, too. She organized a special Costa Rica-themed week during which the daycare's children learned more about the country bordered by Nicaragua and Panama, particularly about its animals as it's one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world. Many kids drew her good-luck pictures and there was a party when she came home to celebrate her successful finish. Because all the children at the daycare followed her progress, many have told their parents they want to run in Costa Rica too when they grow up. Maya Teleki, a friend and former colleague from Bloomberg News who's recently begun running with her 10-year-old son, told me how enthusiastic she was about my 100km race because it reminded her of the ultrarunning teacher she had as a youngster. “I remember having a substitute teacher in either high school or junior high who had done a century run—he had this massive belt buckle on that said 100. It made a big impression then, and still does.”

The books blog:
http://ahundredreasonstorun100km.blogspot.com/

Back on the Grid

Well I must say I've been away from blogging for far too long! Partly because I have no Internet, and partly because I had taken a break from serious running and training. In January I signed up with Jen Segger again. For personal training, and as a member of her new Challenge by Choice studio, located here in Squamish BC. http://www.challengebychoice.ca/ I think part of the reason I've been keen to run again is the studio. 3-4x a week I'm doing a spin, or C3(Strength/Endurance) class there. Keeping me on track, and giving me a chance to be social. I'm also excited about racing again and have jumped back into it. Goals for 2011 are:
March 12-Dirty Duo 25k(done-blog to come)
May 1st-Vancouver Marathon
June 4th-Whistler 1/2
June 26th- Comfortably Numb
August 6th- Stormy 50 miler.

Big list of fall races too-but I'll get to that in the fall.
Other than that I'm so ready for some clear, rain free trails!