Excited for summer

There's always something to be excited about. :) Now that running is over and the weather seems to be turning around summer plans are definitely taking shape. The marathon in Tofino last weekend (June 8th) was tough but it's done and I'm not afraid to boast that I have run 3 marathons and I've got the medals to prove it. :) Not planning on running any more for a while. Well, I guess until July 6th since Nicole and I have decided to sign up for the Seek the Peak event. You can do it as a team, relay or solo and since there's only the 2 of us, we are going to be registering solo and doing the whole thing side by side. It's only 16km (10miles) and having just run 42km I'm not at all worried about that part. I am, however, a bit worried about the 1000m elevation gain and the fact that it's a race and I don't really consider myself to be a "racer", but whatever. Says right on the website that it's not strictly for elite athletes. We're trained and we're suckers for punishment and Grouse has a special place in our hearts, particularly Nicole's since she was married up top last summer. :)

I'm so happy the weather has warmed up. We tried to hike Hollyburn Mountain on Saturday morning but there was too much snow. A few more days like today though and we should be fine. After the (aborted) hike we went out to Abby to help the Closs' go through Luke and Loranda's old stuff in preparation for their move. Luke and I came home and decided to finally finish our apartment cleaning and we hit the den like a tornado. We are not planning on moving for some time and we needed to make space and get rid of junk so a few weeks ago we started a major clean up. It feels so good to have it all finished. We've brought countless bags down to the trash and recycling, made a big trip to the Salvation Army and have 4 big boxes of stuff destined for a garage sale. We were ruthless, and have been rewarded with empty drawers and space on shelves that were jam-packed before. Things are neat and tidy and we are quite pleased with ourselves.

Nicole and I bought our passes for Grouse and have made 3 trips up the grind so far with Beth and Mel. First time this year took us (Nicole, Beth and I) 1hr12min, second time (Nicole, Beth, Mel and I) was 1hr30min and Sunday morning Nicole and I went looking for a good workout and finished in 1hr1min.

It was a great morning. I scooted to the grind and met her there at 7:40. The roads were empty and it was a beautiful day. It was exhilerating scooting over the bridges surrounded by and taking in the scenery and I was very surprised to get to the grind and see that the parking lot was more full then than it was on Thursday after work when we went up. Coming down the tram it was interesting to see the type of folks who'd just made the climb. Not everyone gets out of bed that early to climb 800m. On the trail there were two teenage boys that raced past us at the beginning. We caught up to them resting at the quarter mark and they took off again. Saw them resting again at the halfway mark and when they saw us they got up and reluctantly started up again. At the 3/4 mark they were sitting down and we passed them. I could see them a few switchbacks down as we neared the top and we muttered to eachother that we weren't going to let them pass us, perfect "turtle and the hare" demonstration. We pushed it to the top and swiped our cards just as they were coming out of the trees. What a workout! Normally my heartrate drops pretty quickly, but I had to walk this one off for a few minutes. Haven't felt that nauseous-bust-a-lung feeling in a while - it was great. :)

For Father's day yesterday Luke and I went sailing with mom and dad. We had clear blue skies and enough of a wind to sail for a while. Luke and I are feeling pretty confident that we could take the boat out on our own now. We went to Clark Island, bbq'd some dinner and sailed home as the sun was setting. I put some photos up on my flickr page.

We're planning a sailing trip for the Canada Day long weekend and I'm excited. Should be a lot of fun. I've also got lots of ideas for hikes this summer. We post those and our upcoming grind trips on our wiki. Check it out!

Adios for now amigos!!