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

Skiing and Biking...

Saturday Andrew, Jacek and I headed up to Paul's Ridge to get some turns in. It was pretty horrid weather in the city and we didn't reach the snowline until very close to the parking lot to Red Heather but as we rolled into the lot snow was falling and there was fresh snow! We were stoked!

Jacek is a machine when it comes to going up and we hammered past everyone (i think) and reached the hut in record time. We decided to just keep skinning all the way to Paul's Ridge. We took a different route and Andrew broke trail to the top of one of the main runs... surprisingly no one had skied it yet. As we finished digging a pit and changing into down mode I looked down and there seemed to be a huge train coming up our tracks... We quickly changed over and ripped it down with some frenchies... Well, when I say rip it down....I mean Andrew did and I mostly tumbled down the slope. We did a couple other up and downs. Had some lunch at the hut and headed back out as the visibility was getting worse and Andrew and I had a date for the Vinyl Cafe Show Downtown (which was great by the way). It seems like backcountry skiing is becoming more and more popular which is great! it just means we need to be a little bit more creative with where we go to escape the mass crowds! I do love backcountry skiing though, there is something amazing about the feeling of deserving each downhill turn for working hard to get to the top!



Andrew and I were both pretty zonked from the week and Saturday that we slept through our intended Cyclocross race.... OOPS. Next year.... No worries though as I got to Spin for 3 hours at Lululemon Park Royal for a spinathon raising money for cancer.



Still havin' fun!

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

Playing in the SNOW!

A bunch of us headed to Mt Baker on Saturday. Now, I don't normally ski at resorts as I love love love backcountry skiing but as I acquired a pretty little telemark set up over the past year I figured I ought to learn to telemark. Apparently it is much easier to learn on groomers rather than heavy hip deep backcountry snow... Andrew was kind enough to give me some tips and others were keen to work on their turns as well... I think there was a total of 13 of us at Apres...

Baker is awesome! It had been only my second time on the hill. My first was about 5 years ago on a snowboard (yes, I used to be a snowboarder...until I discovered friends you were into backcountry skiing and I quickly changed my snowboard for skis and fell in love with the sport).

The snow was perfect, the crowds good and my friends can't be beat... we skied from opening to close and I managed to sort of look like a telemarker. I definitely alpined it on the steep stuff but really tried to tele up my turns. Thanks to crossfit and other things my thighs could handle the constant lunging required for this style of skiing.

I had a blast and look forward to my improvements... But don't get me wrong I will never give my AT skis....

This morning Andrew, Johnny and I headed up to Cypress Nordic. First skate ski in two years.... I impressed myself... my technique needs some help but my strength is there. It was a little soft but so fun to get out in the winter landscape and break some sweat. I love skate skiing. It is a killer workout and fun too! Hopefully we can sneak in some time before the Olympics hit... I think some trips to Manning and the interior are in the making.

and that's the end of the weekend....

life is good.....

go play outside

live, love, laugh,..DREAM!
lina

SNOW!!

I am busy..... so this will be short

Remembrance day: we took advantage of the day off and the recent snowfall and headed for the mountains. Not only did we find snow....we found thigh deep snow! We headed up the Coquihalla, to Needle Peak. Despite a pre organization to meet our Irish friends, the highway patrol, heavy snowfall, bad highway conditions and lack of phone service we failed to meet up. Dan, Paul, Andrew and I had a fantastic day anyways....

Paul took some amazing photos that you can check out here

Andrew took some pics as well here

Jack's photos here

I just skied....

This past weekend.... was our annual mud ride in comox valley..... well, we got more than mud....we got tons of snow as well... Saturday was a respectful couple hour ride in light powder snow with minimal rains while SUday turned out to be a little bit of an epic. The rain was rather torential and as we rode up frobidden the snow became deeper.
We pushed, we rode, I swore a little, we were cold and wet and yet I think I saw tons of smiles (I was too cold for smiling...hehe) it was fun but I think I am ready to hang up the bike for the skis now (for the most part)

during the week, its running, crossfit, yoga, circus, etc time.... all good things

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

EGMONT, a new special place...

This weekend, Andrew and I were going to Bike tour to Egmont.... the weather didn't cooperate and neither did my books and stress. Instead, we packed the car with mountain bikes and running gear. We were off to check out a potential wedding location..... it's beginning to feel real.. It's definitely a good thing.

We got off the ferry in Langdale and figured why not hit the mountain bike trails right here?!? The rain had temporarily taken a break so we quickly found ourselves changing in the parking lot of the Sproc Kids biking area.

We rode the Sidewinder trail and some... it was pretty cool, as the rain started to come down hard and we rode into the clouds... it had that spooky/haunted forest feel.



It was wet but the trail was in good condition... It was a great 2 hour ride and was the beginning of my destressing therapy.

We stopped in Roberts Creek for lunch, in Madeira Park for coffee and managed to make it to Egmont in the late afternoon but on the way found a cool log dock... Andrew almost fell in...haha




We were greeted with smiles at The Strong Water Camp site in the very small town of Egmont. One look around, a chat with Cheyenne and we were sold on the place. We took a little stroll to the community centre and the marina (about 2 minute walk)
and could picture our friends and family here partying and celebrating!



The cabins are cute and comfy too!



Sunday morning we were off (after our morning coffee) to run down the skookumchuck trail to watch the kayakers ride the world famous standing wave. Andrew checked the charts and we made sure we would get there at the peak of the wave's height. It was pretty impressive. The trail was great too....After some pics and checking out the paddler's tricks we ran back and made ourselves a hearty oatmeal breakfast.
We managed to run into Cheyenne and sealed the deal for the Wedding... YAY! It's gonna be awesome!



Cheyenne was worried about her duck Daisy that lived on Lake Klein so we told her we would go make sure she was okay and feed her. We found a little piece of heaven.... We borrowed her canoe and canoed around the lake alone looking for Daisy.
I really enjoyed the canoe...very relaxing and peaceful but to our despair we could not find Daisy. We docked the canoe a little sad that she might have died.... when there she was on the dock next to us.



So we managed to walk on some slippery logs and jump onto the sketchy but very cool dock with our multigrain bread(apparently she is a healthy duck, no white bread for this chick)... the docks around here are very rustic...generally it is pieces of logs tied together with rope with some random planks put randomly on top.



She eventually warmed to us and ate away...she felt like our little duck as well. I hope she is still there when we come back...



It was a fab multi sport weekend away... the sunshine coast is a special place... and I look forward to sharing it with friends and family.




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

Vampires...are they real?

Lots of lesson planning and school work for me but i did manage to take some breaks throughout the weekend. Andrew and I enjoyed a night before Hallowe'en watching "scary" movies with friends, and learning about zombies. If you ever come across one I think you need to shoot it in the head or cut off its head... good to know.

Andrew and I went for a long wonderful fall run in Lynn Valley. It was nice to get the legs moving for more than an hour. I missed those long runs. It turned out to be cool and sunny which was perfect for running. Although it was not raining at the time, it had been the night before and some parts of the trail looked more like a river rather than a trail. Andrew kept a good pace going, it was nice to have him push me on those long runs...

Saturday afternoon we carved our pumpkin and after some lesson planning got ourselves ready for some Hallowe'en fun. We were off to the Crossfit gym and Our Community Bikes for some dancing and good times. We made a good team costume this year. Andrew was a vampire and I was his most recent victim...in the process of turning into a vampire myself.




Following a night of fun we decided that a good way to release the toxins from our body would be a healthy, intense, hard cyclocross race. We drove over to Aldergrove in Langley to get a thorough thrashing. The course was 2.5km and we raced for 30 minutes. This race had an extra insentive... a 25$ prime on the second lap. First person across the line on the second lap would win the prize. I did not have many girls in my group but some nonetheless. I booked it from the start along with the others. Following the steep sand hill I managed to spring a lead half way through Lap 1.... and kept it for the rest of the race. I pushed hard to win the prime and definitely felt the remnants of last nights festivities. I pushed back the desire to quit right after lap 2 and continued to lead and work hard for another 3 laps to finish in 1st! Nice feeling! Hopefully there will be more cross races in the near future.



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

Flying High

...quite literally really...I made it to my first circus session and absolutely loved it. I got up on the swinging trapeze and scared myself, hung from another on the double trapeze, played on the silks, the trampoline, and learned some more acroyoga moves... its gonna be a fun winter swinging high.

I was scheduled to do some cyclocross races this weekend but I got a last minute spot at the crossfit gymnastics certification hosted at our crossfit vancouver gym. Jeff Tucker from Texas was great and I definitely learned some new things to add to my gymnastics bank.

It is different being back in full swing with school and crossfit and life. I wouldn't say my training has suffered it just took some different turns. Due to my lack of funds and time (back at school) international racing is a little tougher to do for now and I am taking this time to experiment with other things that I have been meaning to do such as circus, crossfit, yoga, and well there are tons more but alas only 24 hours in a day.

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

Thanksgiving weekend and UK weekend getaway

Winthrop Turkey Ridin’

It was the second annual Winthrop Thanksgiving riding weekend. A friend’s parents own a beautiful cabin/unbelievably gorgeous house in Winthrop WA. It is about a 5 hour drive with unpredictable border waits. There was a good crew of us out for the weekend. The weather was blue sky and sunny but the temperatures were brrrrr freezin’ (below freezing actually).



Saturday we rode the cutthroat trails. It is a there and back route through beautiful alpine mountains. We took our time and had lots of photo ops for the photo gurus of the group. I was feeling quite strong on the climb. The harder I pushed the warmer I got but then you have to find that fine balance of staying warm but trying not to sweat. It was about -6 so stopping for too long wasn’t all that pleasant in biking gear. The climb had a good mix of switchback, technical and smooth riding. It was a very rideable climb which sometimes makes it even more difficult. I think Crossfit has definitely helped me improve on my climbing power and strength. At the top we braved the cold and wind and scrambled to the top of the mountain and took some summit shots. The ride down was fun but very very cold. Even though I was wearing winter gloves my fingers froze.



The house is beautiful and an amazing place to come back to after ridin for several hours. We all cooked up a storm of a dinner.

Sunday was the BIG day. We rode Angels Staircase. I forget what the route we took is called but it was amazing and gigantic. We started off the day early and I think we were on our bikes by 10am. It was a huge climb through forest, meadows, sand, across frozen rivers and SNOW. All of our water tubes froze (which made drinkin even tougher than it already is for me). The backdrop was stunning and always changing. Again, I was feeling quite strong and good on the climb. The toughest part was descending Angels Staircase. I looked on in awe of my friends ridin down it all as I walked my bike down the tougher rocky, switchback sections. It didn’t matter though as smiles were all around. There was good sized hike a bike up the high point. We also hiked a bike to short cut through Horses pass as there were about 20 horses and 2 motorbikes at a stand still face to face…. We snuck away. Andrew had one of the scariest tumbles off his bike going UPHILL of all things. He did some acrobatics off his bike and his bike went flying down the hill and luckily into a bunch of trees. I also had a couple of silly falls clipping out of my wrong foot and the bike falling the other way down the rocky hill… but we all came out okay.
The descent was on the whole really fun despite the chilly weather but I think we were all pretty happy to get back to the toasty house for some turkey.

Monday a couple of us headed to the local cross country ski mountain and rode some fast smooth single track trails for about 2 hours. It was a perfect way to end of the weekend of riding. The riding was fab but winter is definitely on its way… it will be ski season in no time…

Andrew's photos here
Paul's photos here
Jacek's photos here


UK in a weekend....

Following my first week of obsevations at Kitsilano Secondary I headed to England for a super weekend. Andrew’s mom just got married. It was a beautiful little ceremony and so nice to meet his side of the family. They treated me well and despite I was only there for two days I feel like I got a lot done. I experienced an English pub, English beer, a couple fo runs in the new forest, I walked the old walls of South Hampton, went to a wedding, ate lots of food and took the foot passenger ferry from Hythe to South Hampton. I am now on the plane on my way back to Vancouver on my birthday. It’s kind of neat to spend my 29th birthday in England and Canada (and it is 8 hours longer due to the time difference…woohoo!)

check out andrew's blog for more pics and a write up

The adventures never seem to stop….and I love it.

Live, love, laugh,…DREAM!
lina

Local fun

It is fairly rare that we spend a weekend in the city or near the city. It was a good one. It is always such fun to find little jewels that are close to home.
Saturday Andrew and I raced in the New Brighton Cyclocross race. It was a 5 min ride from our home. It proved to be a sunny day but being fall the mornings are quite chilly. Cyclocross is a fun "off season" sport for cyclists or a "on season" sport I suppose if that is your only sport. Anyways, it is done in a crit style with many forms of terrain (sand, grass, road, rocks) as well as hurdles that force you to get off your bike and jump over. It was my first cyclocross race on a my new Giant TCX bike. I raced representing Steed Cylces in the women's C group. I was unsure of what the outcome might be and I was pleasantly surprised. I came second and got to battle it out with a roadie for the entire race. She would pass me on the road sections and I would catch up on the hills and technical aspects of the race. I think crossfit is really going to help me (has helped me) in this sport. The tough all out workoutsd we do at Crossfit Vancouver simulate the 30 min intense ride of cyclocross racing. Andrew did really well as well. We finished the day off with more biking around town and dinner with friends.

Paul's Pictures of Cyclocross here

Sunday we were going to race again in Vanier Park but opted for a long day of hiking/biking up Coliseum and Bruwell Mountain on the North Shore. It was a perfect day. Paul, Angie, Andrew, and I biked into the trail head to begin our hike. It was a steep climb up but very worth it. It's amazing what you can find in Vancouver's backyard. There are so many unbelievable little hikes all around within 30 minutes drive of the city. This one must not be missed from the list of favorites. I was a little annoyed to find my quad acting up on the downhill parts of the hike. So, it is not completely healed just yet and strenuous downhill hiking is still aggravating it.... I need to keep working on strengthening and relaxing it.

Paul's photos here, Andrews photos here

remember to keep exploring your amazing area around you.

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

Merritt Mountain Biking

I am not on the ball with blogging. Busy times.

Last weekend after our little birthday/engangement party at ours Paul, Angie, Andrew and I headed to Merritt for a weekend of mountain biking and camping. The weekend was fabulous, sunny yet a little cool. Merritt although small and really known for its country singers and big music festival has some pretty stellar trails. We arrived fairly late on Saturday (had a little sleep in after the late night) and jumped on our bikes right away from the infromation centre. It was one heck of a climb and kind of really hurt. I wasn't sure if I knew what I was getting myself into but after awhile the trail became a little less inclined and a happier nicer climb to the meadows. The decent was fab, smooth, in the meadows, in the trees, by the river and some awesome little bridges. I felt proud to ride them all. I was having an "on" day. We managed to put in a second lap. ANdrew and I lost Paul and Angie for the first half of the descent but I truly impressed myself with riding some steep slab rides.... YAY! My confidence on the bike is getting much much better....



The night proved to be fairly chilly, we had the campground to ourselves so spread out and built a nice fire. I love camping! especially car camping... Andrew and I brought out the comforter and double thermarests etc. so comfy!

The following day we headed over to a different area. Had a nice sustained long climb with some minor bushwacking and log removal. It was my kind of climb... middle ring all the way...

the descent was great as well with a bunch of variety... we had berms, slabs, forest etc... Once again I was on it with my riding... I suppose my style of trails... Now, if only the shore would become my style of the trails...I'm working on it.

It was a brilliant weekend with great friends and fab riding.... woohoo!

more pics here (thanks Paul) and here (thanks andrew).

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

Frosty 50km Trail Run Race

Okay, so I thought my last entry was rather lazy and maybe for my own benefit I have decided to do a proper write up from the race.

It had been over a year since my last "running race" of any sorts and a little over that for an ultra race. I really really wanted to enjoy this race. I wanted to get my motivation back up, I wanted to have another reason to train hard on the run and get back into the community.

Andrew joined me for the race. It was his first running race of any sorts. He did amazing... infact we crossed paths and ended up finishing together. I will get back to that but it was yet another learning and growing moment for me personally.

Finishing with Andrew was fantastic. I was proud of myself and so proud of him. BUT it is not something I would have done even a year ago. I was able to start the run/race off in the mind frame of it just being "fun", a practice, a run to get my game back and total bonus if I were to do well. I started like this, I then had moments of feeling good and wanting to push hard and then back to my first thoughts. Actually running with Andrew helped a ton to keep me in perspective. We ran well together. Being his first run though his joints and knees were becoming increasingly painful as the race was coming to an end.

About 3/4 into the race my energy level dropped dramatically as we were running/power hiking up and down steep hills on the top of the ridge. As we began to head down my energy levels got a second burst and I was happy to find that I was feeling great and had loads left in the bank. So, as Andrew was experiencing pain and slowing down I was gaining energy and wanted to give er until the end. Something I would have done in the past would have been to wave good bye and set off... what I did on Saturday was debate this in my head for awhile and then decided to run it in with Andrew and motivate him to finish with a smile. It was the right thing to do in my head and my heart and I am so glad I did.... now, maybe he'll run for ultras with me... hehe...

great race, great course. We summitted Frosty Mountain (I hurt on the power hike up the summit from sheer lack of proper training). Although, for the easier climb before the summit I felt like I conserved a little too much. I know I had it in me to run it all but didn't... I still need to improve my down hill running (I need to get it faster....practice practice practice). The second half was supposedly "easier" I didn't think so. Going through half way I felt pretty good. I kept a steady pace and then we hit another long sustained climb and again I conserved a little too much as I know I had more in me to run it. Once on the ridge I hit my bottom for the race. I was tired mentally and physically but thanks to Andrew here I pushed on up and down for what seemed like forever. As we started down I could just feel energy pumping into my body and at the last aid station I was back up and ready to fire... I am pleased that I felt the way I did with 10km left to go in the race. It gives me hope and confidence for my next race.

Andrew and I ran into the finish together holding hands...aw I know CHEESE... but I loved it. I ended up 4th female...not bad for really not expecting much and not going in at my peak.... only room for improvement.

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

Crossfit Level 1, 50km Frosty Trail Run, PDP (teacher school)

BUSY BUSY BUSY.... FUN FUN FUN!

I don't have much time to write.
Thank you Crossfit Vancouver, my level 1 training was fabulous!
This past weekend ran my first 50km trail run race in a long while. It was tough, my legs hurt, I ran it with Andrew, I had fun, it was beautiful, I am tired, I miss it.....
PDP (professional development program or Teacher program) I began a week ago.... I love it.

I am happy, yet tired, busy but I love it and generally feel great! I am running, biking, kayaking, swimming, crossfitting, and hopefully adding more yoga and circus training....

thank you to all who support. Besos.

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

Seven Summits: Rossland BC

So I've wanted to go ride the Seven Summits trail for some time now... thanks to Andrew and his stellar driving, sense of adventure and general awesomeness it happened this past weekend. We decided to do it Andrew and Lina style.... not the easy way, nor the traditional long weekend way....

We managed to sneak out Friday afternoon to make the 8 hour drive in mostly daylight. We arrived at the Nancy Greene Provincial Campsite (right off the highway) at about 9pm. Enough time to set up tent, drink some tea and rest our eyes and heads.



Saturday proved to be a killer day. The clouds were high and were constantly shifting to give us some sunlight when we needed it but otherwise the weather kept things a pleasant temperature as we hiked and biked through alpine, forest, dirt and rocks. We moved camp to Rossland at the Lions campground in the morning and set out adventure racing style from there (no shuttle). We obviously made it a little adventurous by heading up a different way than most. We pushed, biked, walked etc up a steep, technical trail that involved more hike a bike than actual biking but hey, it's all part of the experience. We eventually found the trail that we wanted. SEVEN SUMMITS. I loved it and my biking proved it. I gave it on the trail. I hit technical maneuvres that put a smile on Andrew's face. I think I was glowing that entire 24hrs during and after the ride. Not only was I glowing from the stellar riding and trails and views but someone got down on his knee with a special something in his hand and asked me something special... pretty spectacular event on Record Ridge. Whoa. The last downhill after the seven summits trail was loads of fun and totally worth the longer ride up the road to camp. Steep, long, fast and I rode it all... I am stoked for myself (just so you know).



Sunday morning we slept and woke amongst lots and lots of rain. The raindrops fell hard so we decided to start making our way back to Vancouver after some yummy egg benedicts at the Sunshine Cafe. We had some fun on the way home though. We spotted some sun rays popping out of the clouds as we drove past Christina Lake, naturally we stopped for some quick laps in the lake and a mini aquafit session. The rain came and went for the rest of the ride until we decided to check out some trails in Manning Park. We changed into our run gear and went for a fab run around lightning, flash and strike lakes. Had a picnic by the lake and felt refreshed for the rest of the drive home.

Well, it's my last week of "freedom" before I head to SFU to learn how to inspire the young while teaching them about biology and getting them psyched on fitness and PE. They won't know what hit them..haha....

This weekend it is crossfit level 1 training certification at the Vancouver Crossfit gym and next weekend its Frosty 50km trail run in Manning Park. Busy as ever...


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

Great Explorations: Guiding Best of BC Trip

Andrew and I teamed up and had the opportunity to guide 6 UK visitors and show them some of the best of the best of what we have here on the coast. We cycled and hiked the chief in Squamish, we hiked and camped in Garibaldi Provincial park, we mountain biked, ziplined, gondola viewed and wine and dined in Whistler. We finished the trip off with an exhilarating rafting experience down the Elaho River. Great Explorations set up a fantastic week of adventure and fine food for the lot.

The group showed high spirits, a willing to try new things and a lovely sense of humour. It made the heavy loads, the long days and short nights easy and fun. I had such a fabulous time showing them our beauty and seeing their physical progress throughout the week. Way to go team UK.













Live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

Family Fun in Ontario

I hadn't seen my family for over a year... too long.

It was such a pleasure to get picked up at the airport by both of my sisters and my nephew. We headed straight for my most favorite place in the world..."the kaimas" yup you got it, it is by far the place I absolutely love the most. I love "the kaimas" (our cottage). When I was at Queen's working on my undergrad my family and I discovered the most brilliant little Vietnamese restaurant -Mekong. It's cheap, its healthy and its damn good. We stopped in Kingston and at Mekong for dinner. Number 28A never fails me.

The kaimas, is truly a wonderland. A very very old farm house with many barns and 10 acres of goodness situated on Crow Lake. We swam across the lake, we played ping pong, we had campfires, we fished, we rowed, canoed, we slacklined, ran, biked...hmmm.... the list goes on really. We had perfect days of sunshine. Andrew fished for the first time and caught some sunfish and rock bass.... oh yeah. After swimming across the lake we got to the cliffs and did some cliff jumping... they are higher than I remember. It is amazing how our fear grows as we get older (we know what pain feels like and we don't like it).










After some amazing days at the cottage it was time to experience downtown Toronto with Rasa and Mike. Rasa showed us around her neighbourhood on a run (which by the way is a great way to see a city). We went out for drinks and then the next day had a private bike tour of the lakeshore and downtown with Rasa. I totally recommend running and or biking in any new town: People talk to you, you can stop and look around, you can get to places cars just can't and you truly can experience a locals point of view. It's fab-plain and simple.

Then it was babysitting time at Asta's place in Port Credit. What a cute little place right on Lake Ontario. We had fun with Kiefer, I particualrly enjoyed playing with his trucks and toys. I also accompanied Asta while she biked with kiefer I got to run beside them. Good little work out: as we stopped at each playground I managed to squeeze in some pull ups and leg lifts... oh yeah. (i miss Crossfit).





Asta, Dereck, Andrew and I decided an adventure was necessary so: as Lithuanian Baseball Weekend was happening in Wasaga Beach, we decided to go check it out. It was one blast of an adventure, in short: we house jumped, we sang, we slept illegally in a crooked tent on the beach, had a staple greasy breakfast and managed to watch a little baseball....

A visit to Mociute's (grandma's). Here, Andrew met the last of the Augaitis family. We enjoyed delicious food, crochet lessons and a run around Western University.



It was good healthy family fun!

Now, what do I have to look forward to?: Frosty 50km trail run and Teacher School at SFU

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