Trying to squeeze a weekend of fun into one day!

1. 20km run race
2. picnic
3. Hike to Crown Mountain (7hr adventure)
4. Sushi
5. Movie

The North Shore Adventure

Sunday morning I participated in my first trail run race in awhile.. well... since knee knacker. I have definitely been on down time training while trying to figure out my mess with Worlds etc. I have lost a little bit of my inspiration and motivation and my mind has been so focused on this crazy big decision that I have neglected a lot of my usual fun training time. This race reminded me of my passion and why I do what I do.

Sunday proved to be a gorgeous day and the Iron Lung was such a fun race. I love small local races! The important thing is that I had tons of fun and remembered how much I truly love trail running and racing. I managed to pull off a decent time/placing as well (bonus).





Following my race I got to enjoy a picnic ( I love picnics) down in Deep Cove before heading up high into the local North Shore mountains. Andrew and I climbed up the BCMC (I was hurting a little here…kind of wondering if I was going to make it but just persevered and as per usual the higher we moved and the longer we moved the better I started to feel). After making it to the lodge and checking out the bears we kept walking past Dam Mountain, past Little Goat Mountain and onto Crown Mountain (our final destination). We honestly could not have asked for a better day! The view was gorgeous and I definitely could have spent all day up there. I love that feeling of looking down towards the city from up above in the mountains... like an angel! I was feeling surprisingly strong until about 10pm when exhaustion filled my body... ahhh the feeling of a day of fun filled adventure...its one of my favorite feelings at the end of the day.



live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

The 62nd Birthday Party, rainy Sat and Whitewater discovery on Sunday...

Wow,

When the dream world mixes with reality something unique happens... Some of my favorite moments in life occur when I think I have planned something and something totally different takes place...

Friday night I had the pleasure of celebrating two of my lovely friends turning 31....hence the 62nd birthday party! We enjoyed a fabulous potluck dinner (the food was incredible... we need more potluck fun!)...some good chatter amongst incredible people and later found ourselves closing down the Roxy with all the other crazy downtown folks...Its been a serious while since I've 1: closed down a bar and 2. partied downtown... I'm not sure I enjoy the late night streets of downtown scene...lots of cops, lots of wild folk, dirty streets and baracades everywhere...hmmm.... thank god for the mountains!!!!! but dancing to live music with good friends was (as my irish friends would say) "deadly"....

Something I rarely rarely do is sleep-in on the weekend....there is just so much to do in this amazing area that it kills me to sleep when you could be running in the woods or ridin in the mountains etc etc....but Saturday morning, my first sleep-in in a long long while was just perfect,.. I won't go into details but I thoroughly took pleasure in chillin all day long

Chilliwack river:

I tend to hold the adrenaline buzz for awhile following a fantastic string of adventure....

I went whitewater kayaking for the first time today and it was sooo much fun! It was less initmidating than I envisioned and my ability to stay calm, react and think quickly sort of surprised me as well... I went with good friends Kala and Andrew (two fab kayakings)..... they did a fantastic job of making me feel safe and confident...



We kayaked down the CHilliwack River: a beautiful area, with a picturesque background of mountains... We hit up some class III rapids.... I fell in twice and got rescued successfully! Just what I needed: a new sport! ha..... Looking forward to some more paddling trips!

another weekend for the memory bank!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!

lina

Lake Lovely Water

This weekend I had the pleasure of sharing adventures with two amazing ladies: Meg and Kala. We weren't sure of our plans until about 9pm Friday night but neither of us seemed worried as we were all excited for some sort of adventure together.

Saturday morning we headed down the Squamish Valley Road to check out the possibilities of crossing the Squamish River to get to our destination: Lake Lovely Water. I had wanted to check out this hike for a number of years but general life adventures just haven't lead me to it until now. We managed to park Kala's car in front of some enormous puddles, grabbed our gear and began our trek to the cable crossing.



Upon arriving at our destination #1 (cable crossing) another group in front of us were already on their way across... This is the point where we met 'Marty' and all of a sudden found ourselves in a canoe paddling down the Squamish River...A pleasant surprise.



3 hrs later after what turned out to be a beautiful hike we were sitting on a little crooked wooden dock staring at Lake Lovely Water and its surrounding beautiness... We explored the sandspit, relaxed, cooked a wonderful meal and chatted into the night.



I really truly love the mountains. I'm not exactly sure what it is about it: the feeling of freedom? the grandness? the beauty?... whatever it is they definitely put a smile on my face, aid in my relaxation and allow me to clear my head. I seem to lose track of time and the rest of the world...

Sunday morning proved to be just as gorgeous as the evening. Unfortunately our trip had to run short due to some life circumstances: we were forced to abandon our plans for the day and head down. Not to worry....



Going down, made me realize just how steep this climb really is...whoa...

After an enjoyable ride home and a stop for gelato in Squamish I managed to squeeze in a fine paddle out in Deep Cove. A fab weekend for the memory bank!



Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!
Lina

Choices

My mom, a very insightful woman told me many important things as a child that I believed were lies or false at the time or simply her way of convincing me to make certain choices: let me tell you most of the time she was right. I had it easy then.

Many people have told me that life keeps getting better the older you get: noone ever told me it gets easier...

Choices: we make them almost every moment of our conscious self. Some are so minor we don't even realize we are making them and some are so grand that they affect the path our life may take in a very significant way. One of the most difficult aspect of "choices" is that as you grow older they become more and more your own choices, that only you can make (can be scary stuff). When we are children many people make many choices for us, mostly because we lack the experience and or knowledge to choose for ourselves.

Today, in my "adult life" I find myself in a situation where I have to make a certain significant choice: I just sure hope it is the right one...

Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Whistler-Biking and the Lions-Hiking

WOW, another fab weekend on the West Coast! I am blown away by the beauty and terrain almost everyday! I love it here!

This weekend I had the pleasure of getting myself to Whistler for a variety of reasons. I went up on the fly with no plan at all (as per usual) and had the most fabulous time. I rode with two awesome lady riders, hung out with some old buddies, got to chill at my fav bike shop in whistler (Bike Co), met some fabulous new folk, went hot tub poaching, got invited to a huge spaghetti dinner, slept on a balcony, raced in the West Side Wheel Up ( a local race from Function to Rainbow Park), and finally enjoyed lost lake chillin'. I never tire of my favorite playground!

Sunday: The Lions



I've been meaning to get up the Lions for about 4 years now and it finally happened this weekend. My good friend Chloe invited me along. We cruised up (its always fun to find someone with similar fitness and keeness) enjoying good chats and snacks on the go. The sun was shining, and I was feeling great. It is so pleasantly amazing up there. We also had enough energy to run up Unnecessary Mountain as well. My Helly Hansen Lifa tank kept me comfortable and cool throughout my hike. I managed to sneak in two hours of riding as well (gotta love commuting by bike!)....

All in all a weekend full of adventure, surprises, beautiful weather, good food and fantastic company! I feel refreshed and ready for the week of work ahead of me!




I love my weekends!



Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!

Coast Raid U Tube Video

Sam, fellow yogalsacker created this fun little clip! Thanks SAM! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NE0d_l4HHI

Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!

Coast Raid Race Report

August 21-24 2008
4.5 Stages
4 days, 300km
Lower North Shore of Quebec, CAN
Team Yogaslackers: 1st place mixed team of 4



Getting There:
Left Vancouver BC 8am August 18: Arrive Blanc Sablon August 20 4pm
12 hrs of flying (2 planes)
2 ferries: 9 hrs
approx 30 hrs of driving: 1 state and 4 provinces
8 hrs sleeping in a park in Sidney Nova Scotia
Lots of Nuun/U, PB and J, wheat thin crackers and tim hortons
Music, sleeping, movies and random ramblings



Race:
I will only touch the surface of these stages as it is difficult to put into words what exactly happens throughout a race...its personal, unique to each team and just so amazing and touching that words just can;t capture the true essence of it all...so enjoy what words I do provide along with pics and imagination.....

The Towns of the Lower North Shore out did themselves by opening their doors for us racers. We were welcomed into their schools every night. As well as fed some amazing home cooked meals each night! It was amazing to hear their stories, and the lives they are able to live in this very secluded part of Canada...

Stage 1


This day began with a kayak and was filled with amazing terrain, tough trekking, unique biking and beautiful kayaking. We managed to pull into the lead following the first trekking section. My teammates are amazing at coasteering and boulder hoping so they pushed me along and we quickly made ground on the beautiful coasteering section of the course. The extreme section proved to include a tough but grand trek covering a lot of open terrain. I have never run on squishy mossy/swamp like ground for so long before....It is tough on the legs!



Stage 2



Beginning on bikes we again covered alot of ground,...We had a long portage with our kayaks and yet another ropes section but the highlight of this course was the adventure swim! We pulled on our wetsuits and literally swam across to an island for about 25 minutes....it was cold... I believe we one of if not the only team that truly swam this section. Most teams brought inflatable mattresses or even mini inflatable rafts with paddles...I felt pretty hard core to just use my body as propulsion without another piece of equipment...We were able to increase our lead at the end of day 2! We celebrated with Pringles, Wheat Thins and jelly beans! Woohoo!



A seafood buffet awaited us at the local museum.... What a wonderful community!

Stage 3


This day proved to be a day of chasing the other teams and somehow through perseverance, team work and great navigation we managed to pull ahead of the competition in the last trek section...It is a different type of race when chasing rather than being chased. I'm not sure which I enjoy better. Also, the pressure was starting to build to keep our lead...Sometimes its nice to be the underdog and beable to sneak out on top in the last push with noone really watching...on the other side of things its pretty neat to be the team that everyone is watching it gives you an added feel of confidence and hence energy... I must say the highlight of the day was swimming across the bay with my teammates. We chose to swim across about 600meters of cold atlantic ocean with no lifejackets, no wetsuits, packs and shoes and all...now most might say this was not a wise choice (quite stupid actually) but it not only saved us time but increased the trust between us...it was the slackers against the atlantic and I must say we won!....

Before the night stage we got to enjoy a wonderful home cooked buffet, drinks and desserts, Mill Bay also made t shirts for us as well as beautiful posters all over the town...

Night Stage
We began at 10pm and had 3 hours to finish the course...we could choose our mode of transport (bike or run) and get the points in any order...We started off doing really well..I personally love racing in the night (when in posession of a quality set of lights) it is just so different than the day with added difficulties which means working as a team is that much more important...we were moving well until the four of us failed to acknowedge a glow stick and just walked right on passed it to only turn around 15 minutes later to realize it was the check point all along....it cost us about 15 minutes which in the whole scheme of things isn't much...

Stage 4


This day was tough,...lots of biking (in this particular race our weakest event), high winds, and our first encounter of the Lower North Shore Fog. The race started with a bike, kayak and trek where teams mostly stayed close together.....following the trek teams broke out to only encounter each other on the ropes section. What followed was lots and lots of biking, against high winds on long roads and some steep steep hills....The last trek proved to be the toughest but also the most exciting. We almost managed to lose our map as the winds swiped it from Jason's hands...I have never seen Daniel run so fast.... Rolling into the finish line was just awesome...the locals were a welcoming site....We managed to hold our lead and placed 1st in the mixed team of 4 division....What followed was well deserved beers and an unbelievable jome cooked buffet, awards, songs and laughter.



Despite our surprise of a stage race (rather than an expedition style race) this was just a fabulous experience. The race was so well organized, the communities so welcoming and my team just out of this world. Thank you to all who heled make this happen (Steed cycles, Nuun, Helly Hansen, Inov-8, Ibex, Ergon, Prana, Deep Cove Canoe and Kayaks)...



Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!

Chilcotin Stoke

A group of 12 of us headed out friday night and met up at the Pony for dinner and to re group before heading up the Hurley and eventually Tyax camping to set up camp. After a delicious pizza dinner and good laughter and chats the excitement was high and the next thing I remember was waking up Saturday morning...FREEZING!!!!!!!!!! Although cold, we were all in good spirits and excited for the day that lay ahead of us.

We essentially split into two groups. One group took their cars up about 10km parked and rode from there. Us lucky (or not so lucky.. depending on how you look at it) ones rode the entire loop. The first 10km or so was logging roads until we reached taylor something.

(I will apologize for the names of the route as I do not have a map on hand write now and my memory escapes me. )

We rode to the first little hut. Marg, Jane and I rode this part together and as we were climbing the weather kept shifting from rain to hail to eventually full on snow. At the cabin we re grouped with the other pack, ate and tried to warm up a little...Not long after we were out in the wild alpine up on the saddle SJ got a flat...She must have planned it perfectly as this happen to be the height of the storm and the windiest spot on the whole route...To keep ourselves warm while she changed her tube we scrambled up a little tiny peak...A wonderful idea by Marg.



We continued on our way and the weather kept surprising us with a mixture of sun, rain and snow but the hitch was you never knew which one would pop up at any one moment....



Following the ride we got to shower and hit the hot tub....glorious....brilliant...or as Marg would say it "deadly"...

Saturday night it poured...

Sunday morning we awoke to a low low snow line and a chilly fall type morning but gorgeous nonetheless...

One group headed up the float plane, another again packed the car and rode up to the alpine. Jane, Marg, Steve and I decided to bike from camp and head up towards Spruce Lake. The weather proved a little more pleasant than Saturday. The ride up to Spruce Lake is gorgeous. You ride along the river for awhile and then head up into the mountains...As we met up with the float place crew we decided to gun it down with them...Always fun to rip it with a big gang!



Sunday night was feast night! Lots of delicious meals were in the making...we finished off the evening singing along with Marg and her guitar by the camp fire....lovely...

Monday we all decided to head out. My car toke a little detour to the Hot springs on the way home....Perfect!

All in all an amazing weekend, good riding, amazing friends and beautiful terrain!



Live, Love, Laugh,...DREAM!