Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Palm Springs Cold Adventures

After Jims  stay at the hospital (hey, it was all inclusive), I thought I would take him down to Palm springs for a REAL holiday.  It was Short and Sweet, but  little did we know, we would hit their 'winter condition warning"

Oooh,  high of 17-18 degrees  Celcius  (low 7-9) , 30 mph winds.  They knew we were Canadian cuz we were the only ones in shorts!

So instead of whining about the cold weather, we took advantage of cool things to do in the cool desert.

Cold Weather in Palm Springs Positives:
Beautiful sunrise's
Great weather for running, hiking, and SHOPPING!
Cheap hotel that includes breakfast (that carried me till dinner). Cheap food, big portions.
Cold weather forces us to ' Howard Hughes' hole up in the hotel... and hang out in the hot tub!







Adventures and Highlights
Visit to dessert interpretation center... as dark looming clouds crept in. Cool Ironic views.










Hike up to canyon.
Palm to pines highway drive. Windyfun
Shopping at Palm Desert- too lavish for my budget!!! but really nice art shops. Saw some scary looking plastic surgery/ botox mishaps.  





GREAT  10 mile run along ARTSMITH trail;
- Desert trails,
-Oasis
-Beautiful views of Palm Desert below

AND BEAUTIFUL RAINBOWS IN THE DESERT !!
Now thats special. I don't know when I will ever see that again!



But to get that rainbow, we had to go thru some  wicked rain and wind- can't even hear what I have to say below;


And, isn't that just life.... you  can't have rainbows without a little rain.

Heather

Monday, November 15, 2010

Phantom Phun

Phantom 24 Km Run : North Vancouver

After volunteering at Fat Dog 100, I was given the added bonus of a free entrance to this run.  Both events are put on by Mountain Madness  http://www.mountainmadness.ca/races.php.   Volunteering rocks!

I showed up just for fun,
And as you can see from the pic below- I definately had Fun ! ``runners high`` or what!
Fun HILLS , beautiful run along the RIVER , MUDDY technical return, and a sprint to the finish!
I enjoyed the MUD so much, I took a dive to really get into it (involuntary)

 I practiced 50km pace, taking the hills slow at the start to keep my HR down and prevent calf cramping.
As this is a 24 km, I was passed a LOT...so I picked it up the second half.
I could not believe how much gas I had in the tank the last 4 miles.
2 hours in I was ready to race!... but it was over by then- too funny! Finished in 2:28
I will definately take this approach for my next 50 km though.

The race is reccommended;
It is well marked.
Great volunteers.
Diversity of terrain
Enough aid stations
Upbeat atmosphere
At about 1.5 hrs in I had a lovely visit with girl representing ``save our skin`` . She was so nice, but I never got her name. She beat me in the end- thanks for that final push !

I liked that (other than top 3) results were not posted at the race...so could feel like I had a good run, based on how I felt, and not how I placed.

YUMMY post race food! Potluck. -wish I had some of their recipes.
The soup was sooo good! Best I`ve had in a long time.
  - Thank you Don Scott for not posting the horrible pic you took of me literally inhaling the soup- this one much better.  

It was a great fall  reunion with many runners I met over the summer.

I look forward to doing it again next year.

WHAT ABOUT JIM ...
He sends me off to the race, telling me `they are calling for freezing rain and hurricane force winds!`Funny. 

The next day  : JIM  takes me on an 8 mile `recovery run` to  scope out some cool new trails in the heart of Belcarra forests, ending with a beautiful oceanside run.  Its so nice to run with my husband again! I love his sense of adventure.  Half way thru the run, I`m hurting, but I had to tell him `` you`re fun !`` .  Its amazing how quickly he is getting back into running. I had a hard time keeping up with him.

Heather

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Morning Running poem- The world flows by

This morning I opted out of a great hard training session with my usual group for an easy adventuresome run with my husband Jim as he recovers from illness.   His first long run on the trails : -10 miles! 2 hrs+ . Yeah baby!! and all because it became an adventure finding new trails!  Thank goodness I had my watch telling me we when to turn around cuz we could have gone forever!

I dropped him off, refueled at home ( best aid station ever! -running toilets and everything!) then kicked in a faster 7-10 miles. As the sun shone  thru the trees, I was so enthralled with the beauty of it all that I thought up this poem :

Morning Run


Air is crisp and clear,
Like no one is here
- Till I run by


Dew on leaves twinkling,
As if its winking
- As I run by


Sun filters through trees
As if to guide me
-So I run by


‘In the now’ is a thrill
Like I’m standing still
-And the world runs by


Heather V

I missed out on a good hard training run, but appreciated an adventure run.  It really did feel like I stopped running, and the world flowed by me.  It was beautiful today.

Heather