Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

The past week has been awesome - not only has summer finally arrived in the way of glorious unbroken sunshine and temperatures in the mid to high 20's or more, but I've also ran in two exceptional races that get the thumbs up from me big time. Last weekend was Canada Day - a celebration of the birth of the nation - and there were so many events going on ranging from parades and entertainment to various sporting events, that it was difficult to know what to do. Having missed the Millarville Half Marathon a few weeks ago, I'd entered the Canada Day 10km in high River which is about a half hour drive south of Calgary. The idea was to get  decent paced run in and then enjoy the post race celebrations before heading back to Calgary in time for the fireworks downtown later on in the evening. As with all the races here, it was another early start and by 7.15am we were already in High River ready for an 8am start. The Highwood River runs through the town  and in the day...

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...

Wednesday next week marks the start of my 7th week here in Canada, and despite a couple of wobbles over the past few weeks, since our things arrived from the UK, Lake Chaparral is starting to feel a bit more like home! The only drawback is still not finding work. I've applied for an endless list of jobs and have felt reassured by everybody here telling me there is ample employment with companies crying out for staff, and yet I've only had a response from just two of those I've gone for. Thankfully, one of these was an invitation to an interview which I'm pleased to say went exceptionally well and resulted in me having a provisional offer of employment pending a medical examination. I'm hoping by the end of this week, I will have a more concrete job offer and can finally look forward to actually working again and putting something back into the country I have chosen to live in. I suppose there are pros and cons to not working. Having so much time on my hands h...

It's now been a week since my arrival in Calgary, and although there are some folks that I am missing quite a lot, I'm already starting to settle into the Canadian way of life. Before I left the UK, I managed to squeeze in a couple of races including the Midland Road Relays and the Mow Cop Hill Race, both of which I enjoyed. The relays were held on the Saturday at Sutton Park and the Staffordshire Moorlands ladies had a strong team of 6 donning the pink and black vests for the Moorlands. Following strong runs by all of the team, we ended up finishing 6th team - a brilliant achievement and the best position ever by the Moorlands ladies. For me, it was quite emotional as it was my last outing for the team for a while. I wasn't expecting to run particularly quick over the 5km course, but got a confidence boost when I ran my leg in 18.56 by my watch but was unfortunately rounded up to 19 mins officially. On the Sunday, having been doing lots of off-road running recently, I e...

The past few weeks have been a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions, both in running terms and in my personal life. During February when I was meant to be getting excited about my emigrating, I found myself enjoying the company of my good friend Gareth as we did more  training runs and races together. With my passion for both the outdoors and running, and being able to share this with a like minded person, I began to panic about what my future would hold over in Canada. Andy would be working long hours, I wouldn't know anybody, and neither would I have a job which would help to build those social networks  that are often needed when relocating. During this uncertain time, I did try to focus on some running and I did do some races. The weather in early February was particularly chilly with heavy snow fall, and the cold spell lasted long enough to cause the cancellation of some races. Fortunately the Wyre Forest 8 mile trail race still went ahead - a lovely little undulating / h...

It's been a while since I posted on here, which is probably a very good indication as to how my running has been going. I did a few races towards the end of last year, but the results have been poor and somewhat disappointing, but then I like to think that I'm a realist and I guess I couldn't really expect anything better. Another season of the North Staffordshire Cross Country League has come to an end, and I'm pleased to say that Staffordshire Moorlands ladies team did absolutely brilliant to finish 2nd team in both the open and veteran ladies competition, behind my former club Trentham. The Moorlands men went one better and won the team award, whilst there were several individual wins across all the different age groups. For me, I'd wanted a good cross country season to set me up for the new year, but with training being a bit hit and miss, things didn't quite go to plan. My best run came at Stafford Common - not so much due to my position which once again ...