Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

It's now been 3 months since I left the UK to start my new life over here in Canada, and after a few wobbles in the early days, I can finally say that Calgary is starting to feel more like home and I am at last "living the dream"  that started back in the year 2000, when Andy and I first visited this wonderful country. Since then,  we've had several adventures here during holidays spent in the nearby mountains, and I have a sense that there are more to come now that we are finding our feet and meeting more people. It seem like ages ago now that I did the Calgary Marathon, and yet it's only been about a month, but in that time, I've started my new job as a Documentation Specialist, which has really helped to ease those feelings of isolation and loneliness. I'm actually working in the same offices as Andy, but things are working out well as we have a firm belief that work and home life are two completely separate entities. I work with a small albei...

The past couple of weeks have certainly been eventful and as seems to  be the case these days, it's been a mixed bag of happiness and elation followed by stress, worry and tears. Back peddling to around about the middle of May, I took part in my first trail race over here in Calgary. It was only 10km and was a part of the 5 Peaks Trail Running Series. Held on the trails around the Canadian Olympic Park and with 1200 or so feet of climbs, I knew it was going to be tougher than the Bow River 10km race I had done a few weeks earlier. What I love about races over here is the atmosphere - no matter what the distance or type of race, it always feels like a party, and everybody is so friendly. What else I like is that different people turn up at each race so it's always new faces and you never know who or what your competition is going to be like. This 5 Peaks Trail Race was no different, and I found myself getting very excited if a little nervous about running. I wo...