Another year learned

Today marks the start of my 31st year.

A lot of people have trouble with aging and some seem to try and comfort themselves by calling themselves young at heart. Now, I know I am not old, but that is not me.

I have never thought of myself as a young at heart. I was always someone who people said was “wise beyond their years” when I was younger and that is something I have always identified with. Aging to me is a good thing. I may not get smarter as I get older (I think intelligence level is generally set since birth), but I hope I get wiser.

It also doesn’t mean I lack a sense of adventure, or think I am too old to do certain things. To me age has little to do with what you can or can’t do or what you are supposed to or not supposed to do. Or really with who you are. Who says a 50 or 60 year old who starts something new or likes something that is generally liked by younger people has to be a young at heart. Can it not just be something they like, regardless of age?

To me a birthday signifies another year of opportunity. Another year to try something new. Another year to learn. Whether about myself or about the world.

So what have I learned (or re-learned) this year?

• To not sell myself short. This is a work in progress, but I have definitely made positive strides. To a lot of people it is probably strange that I have this on a list at all. In some parts of my life this is not something I need work on, but in others it is.
• That just sitting on the sofa is not me (unless it follows a lot of activity!).
• That consistency pays off.
• That my husband’s belief in my abilities may be more accurate than my own.
• That I need to put myself out there more.
• That I have a waist!

I am looking forward to all of the adventures and learning that 31 will bring and hope it is as good as 30 was.

And the rainy running starts again

Since I have started this blog I have actually done surprisingly little running in the rain. And this isn't for a lack of running, but more the way the weather has worked out. But well, that has changed. As much as we have had great summer weather, living in Vancouver means the rain always comes back.

Before the last week I had shunned looking at or thinking about fall clothes, but the air in the past week has felt like fall and made me look at little closer at the sweaters and boots as I passed by the stores.

So yes, fall has arrived and while I am a summer girl at heart, on a recent run I recalled how I had made the best of weather we had last winter. 30 degree days and floating around in the ocean are always where my heart will be, but there is still fun to be had on rainy and snowy days in the months to come. So, to rainy running, muddy running, and eventually (at least more than likely) snowy running, I am, if not looking forward to all of them, at least embracing them the best I can.

Sunny Sunday Adventures

Sunday was the day for adventure. We got up bright and early and hit the road just after 6am for the Duffey Lake area, which is about 40km north of Pemberton, which itself is about 30km north of Whistler. The area is home to the Cayoosh Mountain Range. Graeme wanted to do some pre-winter recon on a backcountry skiing area. We hiked in to the hut, which took about an hour and a half (including running some of the decommissioned road). From there you get a really great view of the glacier. It was a relatively warm day, but at altitude it was still pretty chilly.

We had lunch and walked around the area a bit before heading back out. On the way out I managed to bail, not once, or twice, but three times. Luckily nothing more then a couple scrapes and a slightly wrenched muscle in my upper back. The few days of rain easlier this week had made the forest really damp and the wet logs were pretty unforgiving.

The only wildlife we ended up seeing the entire day was a bear on the road in Pemberton. I’d rather see one that way then when hiking!

With no plans for the rest of the day and as it was a beautiful day and just after noon when we finished off the hike, we decided to stop off in Whistler on the way home. We had lunch and beers on the patio in the sunshine while watching the Seahawks (who lost) game on one side, and people on their mountain bikes coming down to the base of the mountain on the other.

After a beautiful drive down the Sea to Sky, we finished off a great day with some homemade pizza (homemade pesto, mini farmers market tomatoes and boconcinni) and a great bottle of Therapy chardonnay we picked up while in Penticton. I wish all Sunday’s could be like this!

Birthday Boy

Somehow this is the 11th in a row of your birthdays we have spent together. One before we were dating, and 10 since.




I hope you have a wonderful day but you probably shouldn't drink as much as you did the first birthday we hung out. I don't think 21 shots of tequila is a good idea for a 32nd birthday. It suited the 21st more.

Cultus Lake Sprint Tri Race Report

We left home around 6am and got to the race site at 7:15. It was a beautiful morning and turned into a beautiful day. Got everything set up and had some time so hung out for a bit. It was nice to have Graeme as my race sherpa as when I did Shawnigan he was also racing so this was my first race with support. There were also lots of other people from the club racing and some of their spousal support as well. Eventually I got my wetsuit on and did a quick warm up before they called everyone out of the water for the pre race meeting. I had a slight moment of panic in my warm up but then was ok.

I started off toward the back and ended up having to swim around a bunch of people. My swim was consistent but not fast. I felt really good about my swim the whole time though. Coming back into transition we were swimming directly into the sun and siting was really hard. I went a bit off course but not too bad. I remember thinking about how much easier and more fun this was than my first race. The water was warm so there was no take your breathe away feeling when trying to breath.

Transition went ok. I had some issues with the wetsuit but not too bad. Then I was out on the bike. I felt SO MUCH BETTER on the bike this time then last. I felt like I could push more and was actually smiling and having a really good time. I passed a bunch of people on the bike and I think only a couple guys passed me. There were 2 other girls and I who were all passing back and forth but I beat them both off the bike.


Onto the run. I was sure that at least one of the 2 girls was going to pass me as she really looked like a runner. My legs were heavy and it took a while for them to come around, but they did. All of a sudden, the finish line was coming up. And I mean all of a sudden. It turns out one of the turn around was put in the wrong place and the run was only about 4100m instead of 5000m.


I ended up being 8th overall female in the sprint and third in my AG (out of 15), so podium which was a big surprise.

Swim
12:58 2:00 (swim was short - ended up being 650m)
T1
3:01
Bike
0:39:43 30.2 km/hr
T2
1:13
Run
0:19:14 4:49min/km (4km)
Total
1:16:07

I am happy with how I feel about the whole race. Overall it was just a great morning and day and I was happy being out there. Such a huge feeling of redemption after how I felt after Shawnigan (which really wasn't much worse but I didn't feel as good about it) And I am so glad I did this race at the end of the season. Now I feel energized to work hard this winter for next season!

Post race and awards was lunch and beers at a pub with a bunch of people from the club. Congratulations to everyone on their races and thanks to all for the support. I can't think of many better ways to spend a Sunday!

Penticton - The Race

Well they say all good things must come to an end and at least my vacations have to until I win the lottery or become independently wealthy. Of course before the Penticton vacation was over, there was a small matter of a race for Graeme. His race review can be found here on his new blog.

And here's race day from my view.

I was up at 4:15am with Graeme and out the door just after 5am to walk down to transition. Unlike how I would be if I was ever in this situation, Graeme was appeared to be very calm. He headed into transition and I waited by the gates with another tri club athlete's wife for the final good lucks.

I set up to watch the swim and then headed over to get a view of transition in what I thought was an appropriate time. Less than a minute after I arrived, Graeme was out of the water and I was not ready at all with the camera. I ran over to see him head out on the bike, where I heard a "you're a hard person to keep up to" and when I looked over my shoulder, it was my FIL who had found me in the crowd. Once Graeme went by, his parents and I set out in the car. We did a number of stop, let Graeme pass by, then re-pass and do the same. Each time we would pass him, his mom would roll down the window and give a big cheer.

We had decided ahead of time that we weren't going to drive the Yellow Lake section and instead would take the detour out towards Apex Mountain and back into town, as we had heard that you can get stuck in traffic for hours at Yellow Lake. It turned out that it would have been ok, but this way we did get to grab a sandwich and coffee before heading to the run course. We watched Graeme on the out and back portion in town and then drove further out on the run course to see him again. Unfortunately we ended up missing him at the second point.

Back into town and back to the motel to put the beer in the fridge - something that had to be done! We hung out at the motel for a while before heading back out to Lakeshore and to watch the finish. Graeme was done in 11:09 - pretty much exactly where he had hoped and great on a day which ended up having really smokey conditions for the run portion. We waited while he had his massage and got some pizza. He looked great at the finish! We then all headed back to the motel for more beer and more pizza before his parents took off. I had wanted to stay up until the end as we had done last year, but at around 10:30 I was falling asleep and headed to bed.

I was woken up a bit later by lots of loud cheering. I looked at the clock and it said 11:55. I thought it had to be Sister Madonna Buder finishing and so I ran out to the TV (the race shows on the local station) to try and catch her finish. I was too late to see it but it was her. After watching her come in just after the cutoff last year I was so glad she had made it this time!