Short Pain for Long Gains....

It runs true for many aspects in life and right now I am living it with school.....

I love my weekends for training, racing, playing and generally being outdoors with good friends. This weekend was my first of I believe several (until I finish my practicum of school work) of minimal outdoor adventures. On Saturday it was hard to see Andrew go off early morning with all of his backcountry ski gear knowing that I will be sitting in front of my computer working hard.... I managed a 1.5 hour run on the trans canada trail in the sunshine and worked for about 9 hours on my lessons... I was productive, mostly because I wasn't going to screw around with my work as I would have rather be out playing.... Sacrifices are hard sometimes and for me they seem hardest when it means no time for outdoor adventures...

Andrew being the fabulous partner that he is, organized a sea kayak at Deep Cove this morning with good friends Ben and Johnny... It was so nice to be back in the boat.. I have been missing our night paddles a lot... The clouds were low within the forest and the ocean calm....Indian Arm is mind boggling beautiful... It's been back at the book ever since...

It's tough sometimes but I know the payoff will be huge and really its a great thing teaching... I truly think I will love being a teacher..... YAY!

go play outside!

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

Rainy weekend in the mountains in JANUARY...

still had a wonderful weekend out in the mountains up on the Duffy. We still managed to get some turns in despite the not so perfect POW conditions... but you know these weekends away are not so much about shreddin' the most pow possible but about being with solid friends, in the beautiful BC mountains, breathing in fresh air, playing outside, living simply and for me at least getting some freggin awesome exercise/training.... backcountry skiing is one of the best cross trainers for just about anything...the bonus: it is really really FUN!

i love and value every chance I get to get away on the weekend and explore new areas in the coastal mountains!


Paul's PICS HERE

Andrew's PICS HERE

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

2010!

Well, 2009 was a pretty adventurous, chaotic, eventful, and beautiful year and I do not expect 2010 to be any less of any of those.

I suppose I am starting to think about some big events for 2010... any ideas are welcome as I brain storm and put together a plan... I believe there will be a little racing, some touring, more traveling, a really big fun party and many many adventures.

For now, I know I have to finish my teaching program at SFU, I want to kayak guide, I want to backcountry ski ALOT, run, mountain bike, nordic ski, snowshoe run, kayak ALOT.... and infect people with my motivational poison...haha...


If our new year plans prove to be a glimpse at what is to come than I better grab my seat belt and hold on as it's gonna be a fun ride! woohoo! The way I like it really,...

We skied in the Duffy...twice...with a little adventure on the first day and a lot of pow on the second....

New Years Skiing.... with turns and without! The Duffy, always good times.

PICS!
Andrew's pictures here
PAUL's Pictures here!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Comox Post Christmas Detox Adventures

We arrived back to BC Dec 26th early early morning and left for Comox Dec 26th in the afternoon after some cleaning unpacking and re packing and an awesome trail run on the shore.

We spent three days telemark skiing, mountain biking, nordic skiing and trail running with good friends Mark and Nikki.

Day one was lower cumberland trails on our mountain bikes and night telemark skiing on Mt Washington



Day two was a beautiful skate ski around Helen Mackenzie Lake in Strathcona park along with a second wind ski up and down Raven with their dog Matilda



Day three was Mountain biking around Nymph Falls and area....and I snuck in a trail run down twister trail.....



it was so nice to eat, sleep, and play outside all day everyday! I love BC!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Christmas, Family and Running in Ontario

For ten days Andrew and I partied, ate, drank, travelled throughout Ontario and ran in the cold.

We spent the first part of my holidays in Toronto, Ottawa, and London with the Augaitis clan. We celebrated many things such as engagements, birthdays and of course Christmas. We saw a show (Toxic Avengers) in Toronto with Rasa and Mike... a modern sarcastic take on pollution...funny.

We walked around the parliament buildings in Ottawa, as well as celebrated our engagement and the holiday season with 50 LIthuanians.... and without a doubt the party ended with "salta balta" and lots of drunken singing and smiles... Lithuanian style!



We had Christmas number one in Port Credit at Asta's little place before Rasa and Mike took off for the East.

I got to reunite with my ladies from Queen's and then celebrate Christmas number 2 in London at Mociute's house. Andrew got to experience mass, christmas eve dinner with different fish and other traditional Lithuanian/Augaitis Christmas events.



Despite, the travels, the food, the drinks and late nights we managed to run every day... sometimes in -20, sometimes in only -10 and sometimes even in the pouring rain....

I loved spending time with my amazing family...



Merry Christmas!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Cerise Creek... the Duffy Lake road surprises us once again!

Paul, Andrew and I headed back up the Duffey Lake Road area for some more backcountry skiiing on the weekend. Andrew and I were a little tired form hosting a Christmas get together the night before so we were glad Paul suggested a respectable time of departure of 8am.

After the regular stop at Galileo's coffee, etc we managed to get on the ski trail by about 1130am.... The tracks were icy through the start and Paul set off on a good pace (machine with those long legs.)

we managed to get into the hut just after one.. We stopped along the way to take some pics of the frozen creek etc... looked really pretty with the surface hoar on everything.



We were surprised to find hardly any sleeping bags set up in the usually busy hut... We headed out behind the hut for some skiing off the ridge. There was definitely some good snow in spots and then something would catch your ski and it was holding on time as best as you could.... i definitely had a couple of tumbles but all in good fun! (and so did Andrew!!! check this one out!)



It took awhile for pyro Andrew and these other two guys to get the fire going but eventually.... the hut warmed up... It was until after dark that a crew of 8 or 9 snowshoers rocked in... Apparently they were first timers and got lost and it took them 8 hours to find the hut..... ouch..... Needless to say the hut got cozy quickly... and we indeed had a very hot night..

Sunday we explored the area on the other side of the moraine.... and found some sweet powder indeed (along with some crunch etc...).... We made it back to the car just as it was getting dark... We skied lots and we all felt it in our legs...



I absolutely love ski touring....I think it is one of my favorite things to do for sure... just being out there in the mountains on your own power..... very cool.... I look forward to a winter full of it (I missed it last year)...

As always Paul has taken some fantastic pictures... check them out here!

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Sometimes low expectations lead to an unexpected wonderfulness...

not sure if that title made sense but I am going with it anyway....

Brilliant weekend (as my Irish friends would say...). Kala, Andrew and I headed out for a weekend of skiing up the Duffy Lake road. We weren't expecting much stellar skiing but I really wanted to get away to celebrate finishing up my first set of practicum teaching experiences. Also, I got some new skis from Andrew for an early Christmas present that I was dying to try out (G3, Viva....fab)

We didn't have the earliest of starts but early enough for a Saturday morning. After our traditional stop at Galileo coffee we drove through really not much snow at all.... I was getting a little worried that I hadn't brought my running shoes as I wasn't even sure there would be enough snow to ski on....luckily, I was happily wrong in my predictions and as we drove further on the Duffy Lake road the snow became whiter and deeper.

the sun was shining all weekend but the air and wind were very cold. It was that weird what do I wear dilemma?! I was sweating in the core on the uphills but sooo cold in the fingers, head and feet... but the second we stopped it was just cold all over. He hit up some awesome powder on a couple of laps before heading into the hut for tea, warmth (mostly) and food. We were riding a high since we expected to being skiing on ice yet were shreddin' it (haha) in beautiful powder...



We shared our living space with the infamous Traslin brothers. They were a riot. We couldn't believe how we lucked out with only another two in the hut. We had a wonderful evening and were rested up for a Sunday ski. It was great powder again but unfortunately the wind took its toll on our little bodies and we decided to ski out after lunch.



All in all a fabulous weekend of powder, skiing (on my new christmas present from Andrew, G3 Viva skis.....love them!), good friends, good chats and the wonderful outdoors.... I am so looking forward to many more backcountry weekend ski tours!

more pics from Andrew here

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina