Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

The Banff Marathon last weekend was pretty spectacular, and that's despite a change of course having received the following message from Parks Canada just the day before: "Staff had to temporarily close the Vermilion Lakes Road to the public last night due to the presence of two competing male grizzly bears that were both dominating the roadway and preventing safe passage by visitors. Both animals are in the height of breeding season and actively searching for females. One of them also travelled the length of the road yesterday, not yielding to people. Although both are ear-tagged, neither of these large males (500-600 lb range) are id radio-collared, so we are unable to monitor their whereabouts other than through visual observations. There is also another very large unmarked grizzly bear in the immediate area that appears more reclusive, but has been popping up in surprising places over the last week. Recent events in Jasper underscore the unpredictable nature of large...

With 5 races already under my belt in the past month, I suppose I couldn’t really have expected anything better at The 5 Peaks Trail Race last weekend. I wasn't particularly tired prior to the race and although I knew I wouldn’t be at my best, I felt that I was recovering well considering I’d recently ran a marathon, a 50km and 2 legs of the Banff to Jasper Relay totalling around 38km. I was looking forward to the run in Canmore – another couple of hours in the mountains doing what I love best – and because the race would only be around 12km it almost felt like I could treat it as a recovery run. I’m realistic enough to know that I will never win any of these races – there are far too many outstanding trail runners out here that are far superior to me – but I headed to Canmore with the mindset that if I could win my age group, I would still be a happy camper. The race was taking place at the Canmore Nordic Centre and as we entered the town, things looked a little ...

Last weekend was truly amazing - lots of running, lots of mountains, quality time with family and friends, and of course, lots of beer :-) What more could a girl ask for?! It all started Friday afternoon when straight after work, we headed west towards the mountains and our overnight stay at Lake Louise. I was taking part in the Banff to Jasper Relay as a member of the Calgary Road Runners Team, and along with the majority of the other teams, Andy and I had opted to stay at the Lake Louise Inn with the dogs. Lake Louise is renowned around the world for its beautifully dramatic location although it is generally far too crowded for me personally due to all the tourists that flock to its shores pretty much every day of the year! Thankfully we were staying in Lake Louise Village, but the views were still spectacular, so much so that being rudely awoken by the alarm clock at 5.30am Saturday morning didn’t seem so bad when opening the curtains and seeing snow capped peaks against ...

A month or so ago, I was racing in the snow, 2 weeks ago, I raced a marathon in the pouring rain, and after yesterday’s 50k, I’m now sporting some fabulous sun burnt shoulders and a red nose! On reflection, maybe the heat affected me more than I realized yesterday, maybe I didn’t drink enough, or maybe I simply hadn’t recovered enough from the Red Deer Marathon 2 weeks earlier – whatever the reason, I felt a little frustrated by how I performed at the 50km, and I am now seeking redemption! That being said, I still had a fantastic weekend, and it all started with the arrival of our guest elite athlete on Thursday evening, who would be staying with us until Sunday. Dee is from the Democratic Republic of Congo and what a wonderful person he is – mild mannered, easy going, and with such a great outlook on life, especially when considering the troubles and strives still affecting his homeland. The civil war in Congo forced his family to flee to America when he was young boy, and th...

Life is a funny old game. Sometimes we plod along, following the same old routine day in, day out, and whilst happy and content with life, we don't feel the need to shout about it. Then other times, there is so much excitement and so much news to share, that it becomes difficult to restrain ourselves, and we feel the urge to tell the whole work, particularly if it's good news. The past couple of weeks have been like that for me - lots of things happening that have given me a buzz and I've felt like shouting from the mountain tops how happy I am. A couple of weeks ago, I did the Red Deer Marathon, and I was absolutely delighted to have won my first Canadian marathon. I'm not going to harp on about PRs and what pace I ran, but I was so chuffed to have ran yet another evenly paced marathon. My goal on the day was to run sub 3.15, aiming to go through half way in 1.35 to allow for some slippage in the second half. Yet despite the hills, despite the relentless rain,...

May has finally arrived, and what a beautiful, warm and sunny day it is :-) It really is one of those days where I could burst into song and “Sing a Song of May Time”, but I’m sure all the frogs that have settled in the nearby wetlands nature reserve would feel threatened by a voice such as mine! Yes, it really does feel like spring is here, and last weekend, I even spotted spring flowers starting to poke their heads out of the ground, catkins on some of the trees alongside the river, and endless varieties of birds that have returned home ready to breed. Even our lawn is starting to turn green now that all the snow has melted   and things have started to warm up (I won’t mention the forecast for the weekend for fear of spoiling things!)   It’s been a long, hard slog running wise this winter, but with just over 2 weeks until the Red Deer Marathon, I’m getting excited about racing again, especially as May 18 th sparks the start of the unintentional “Run a Race a We...