Back to reality, or near enough

I've been back in Vancouver for a couple of weeks now and it is nice to be home.

While it was great seeing family and friends in the UK, living out of a suitcase for 5 weeks was a little tedious after a while. Although when I did get back it took a more than a little while to get all my washing done and I am embarrassed to say some of it is still laying around the apartment, I really must sort that out.

The highlights since I've been back are first and foremost getting back to running with my friends at PRR. Strange how you come accustomed to the abuse and mockery, sorry I meant advice and support of course :) While I was back in England I was lucky enough to be invited to the local running club for an evening to see how it was ll done back there. I have to say I was shocked. Mandatory warms-up and cool-downs were involved and even star jumps! It was a great evening and looking at the results that the Wellingborough and District Athletics Club (WDAC) achieve their methods definitely work, but a big departure from what I'm used to where tying your laces is considered stretching and the cool-down is done at the pub.

The first weekend after getting back the club took part in the Birch Bay Road Race down in Washington state. The were 5k, 15k and 30k distances and I'm proud to say PRR cleaned up. Barry won the 15k with Sarah coming in 3rd overall female and there were many over placed runners in there age categories. Due to me having done the LA Marathon the Sunday before I stuck too the 5k race, and yes I know Ross and others had raced further the same weekend as I and they did the 30k distance but hush this is my blog. In my completely valid 5k distance race I came 7th overall and 1st in my age group, unfortunately as the race organisers didn't seem to realise the validity of the distance I got a thick cotton t-shirt unlike the nice technical t-shirt that the others got and I didn't get a medal unlike the others got, but am I bitter?


The main reason for us all crossing the border for this race is that it is a club event and one in which historically we have done very well, winning the club trophy for the previous two years. This year was no exception to doing well but due to some silly point scoring system where clubs got 2 points for each member running we lost out to our rivals who brought out 35 people compared to our 16. With this in mind we started out with a 38 point handicap and we only lost by one point, maybe, there is some discussion on this point as well, mainly by me, but am I bitter? :)

It was a great day for the race and after all of our runners had tremendous personal runs we all headed back up into Canada for our celebration meal and after that our celebration naps, as getting down to Washington and crossing the US border had called for a far to early Saturday morning.

Easter has also been and gone and finally over the long weekend I got to get up to Whistler for some skiing. Barry kindly drove us up there and after warning me several times about having to accept a certain level of cloud at Whistler we got there to a beautiful day. I am completely sold on the place, the snow was great the runs were brilliant and we only covered some of the slopes on Whistler mountain, not even touching Blackcomb. We got to tryout the Olympic downhill slope which was insanely icy and fast which called for so much scrubbing of speed that my legs were practically on fire when I got to the bottom. I need to get my skis sharpened before I try that again and also another 5 years of practise.

Towards the end of the day the deep powder had taken some toll on my legs and I had started to fall with some frequency so it probably wasn't my best plan to go into the terrain park and introduce Barry to ski jumping. But never let it be said that common sense has stood in my way and with the thought of 'how hard can it really be' in our heads we plowed on in. After the first jump I was very concerned that I may very well have broken Barry :( But like a trooper he carried on and we finished the day in one piece more or less and with a panda face tan to show for it too.

Even tough it may come as a shock to some of you I have also been to the cinema a few times since I have been back. Quick reviews as follows:

Clash of the Titans - Meh, not my thing, 3D seemed an after thought and just didn't grab me.

Bounty Hunter (ROM/COM, Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston) - Was fair, didn't expect much was disappointed, very formulaic but passes the time.

Repo Men (sci-fi/thriller, Jude Law, Forrest Whittaker) - Was okay, interesting idea but felt it went for more gore than necessary, ending was a bit pants too, reminded me of Total Recall quite a bit but not the good bits.

Chloe (drama/thriller, Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried) - Good film, strange but good. Acting is great and nice cinematography, also odd how they make the love scene between JM and AS more disturbing than sexy. Nice twist and turns as well, the plot not the love scene.

After having a month of no fast food in January, due to over eating at Christmas and a month of no alcohol in February, due to that fact I can't remember most of Karen's party. I decided that April was the month of no meat due to gorging myself back in the UK. That is right I'm being a vegetarian for a month. Initially I was still going to be eating fish but due to some well raised points, fish has also been cut out for now. After mentioning this on Facebook, friends have risen to the challenge and supplied me with many fantastic sounding recipes for veggie dishes. I'm a week in and so far so good. I have enjoyed cooking the new foods and while a a lot of the dishes I have been doing have been quite spicy to make sure of flavour I have had quite a good variety of things. Mood has been a little funny once or twice and I wasn't sure if that was to do with low iron levels but have taken steps to address that if it was the issue and will look forward to the next few weeks.

Last thing to mention that after seeing the film Chloe, Ed and I had been left to grab ourselves a drink we happened to end up in the Revel Room in the Gas Town District where I'm 99% sure we were sat next to Laura Vandervoort, not a hugely well known actress but she has started in Smallville and has now got a large role in the new remake of 'V'. I love Vancouver! With that and seeing David Hasslehoff in LA, I'm on a role. :)

Slip sliding away.

I realised I never posted anything about my ski holiday to La Plagne, France. So here goes...

I obviously survived with out major injury and we had a fantastic week. The hotel was excellently situated right on the slopes and next to a chairlift which meant we could be out of the room and on the slopes with in 5 minutes in the morning and apart form a couple of ropey days the weather was good and the snow was great.

We had gone half-board and considering the cost of the holiday the food was very good and due to it being a mainly buffet style arrangement I ate far too much in the morning and at night. Morning was a battle to restrict my croissant/toast/egg/yogurt/fruit eating to one go at each, a battle I frequently lost and in the evening my main nemesis was the desert section. Each night they had a selection of options with flan bases dominating the scene with various toppings but the main problem was the ice cream chest. That is right we had open access to 10+ flavours of ice cream. Mint-choc chip, vanilla, lemon sorbet and raspberry were regularly features with an open guest spot each night for the various other flavours. Suddenly my time at LA might have a much more obvious cause.

The skiing at La Plagne was very good with the options of many changeling blue, red and black runs. We all pushed ourselves to try higher levels than we are used to and I think it is fairly safe to say that by the end of the week most of us had taken a good number of falls, which is what a skiing holiday is all about. The highlights for me though were the Glacier and the snow parks they had available. It took us most of the week to get to the Glacier as wind higher up kept closing the one lift you could use to get there but when we did it was well worth the effort. The snow was great for off-pisting for Martin and I and Gayle and Andy had some great slopes to work down as well.

Also on the Glacier was the Ice-Grotto. This was a huge caveren that had been carved into the glacier and wher lots of very large ice sculptures were created. When we had to pay 3 euro for the priledge of entering I was unsure but I have to say it was amazing. Very well done and lighted nicely and more than a little scarry thinking that you were underneath so much ice. It was very cool to see different layers of ice and earth in the walls of the grotto as over the years the glacier had melted and frozen over again.

The snow parks were very well laid out and kitted out, with lots of jumps and course to test our 'mad' skills on. After seeing the ski-cross at the Olympics we had to have a go on those courses, not as crazy as the Olympic one but still great fun and for me the main aim of the holiday was to improve my jumping ability. There was a beginners set of jumps which actually scared be half to death but somehow we all managed to survive, if you haven't noticed yet, survival was the key word of this holiday. There were three jumps in a row all pretty tame looking until you went over them and all though the video show that only a few inches of air were achieved it felt like you were flying.

The main event though was a big adult sized jump they had set up, it was over 6ft high and at about at 45 degree angle, and what made it irresistible was the big ass air cushion they had positioned after it. What could possibly go wrong? We had been looking at this obstacle all week trying to find the nerve and then on the last day we thought sod it, lets give it a go. As I vowed to keep these blogs short and to the point I won't break down the full story but the key points are as follows, Martin and I decided to go first and after paying our nominal fee for use of the cushion we lined up with a couple of snowboarders in front of us. First person we see go down was a girl on her board who appeared quite nervous, she should have trusted her instincts. She was so nervous that when she got half way up the jump she decided to shave some speed off, big mistake. Her board dug in and as her face bounced off the top of the jump and she fell over the other side, not making the air bag we all had time to reconsider how wise this really was while the first aid team picked her and her teeth up. Her friend was next and learnt the lesson and cut speed before the jump and made a nervous little jump which I have to say I don't blame her.

Me next, now I seem to have something slightly mis-wired in my head because all I can see is an image of me acing a triple tuck mid-air spin with a graceful landing. As soon as the cushion was clear I point my skis and go, briefly hearing the guy at the start of the jump mumble something at me. No slowing down for me, I admit to great trepidation as I near what seem a wall of ice that forms the jump and I hit the jump at full whack and gracefully fly through the air arse first until I land on my back with skis in the air about one third of the way into the cushion. Not quite what I had in my head. Martin follows suit and successfully make sit to the cushion with a lot more height in his jump. When he gets off he explains to me that what the guy at the top was saying was you had to start further down the ramp where the big start flags were, not just hammer it from the get go, oopps.

Next jump Andy decides to join me, now please remember that Andy has only been skiing once before this holiday and I have never been so impressed with some ones lack of regard for life and limb as Andy. His skiing is still at the beginners stages but his willingness to have a go at what ever run we are doing is brilliant. Andy goes first on the jump this time and after having got his very long skis wedged into the start gate he makes a great effort and lands safely on the air bag. So far so good, the problem here is that now I have my ego kicking in, the male part of the brain that says "you da' man!" and "you can do it!". We had seen a few skiers go down and do some nice flips and twists and you know what, I thought "I CAN do that".

Well as it turns out, I can't. I had a good run up, launch was great, started to spin into a back flip, in my head the cheers has already started for awesome display of athleticism, that is when I landed on my head and got a ski in my face. After a second of being quite stunned, I managed to crawl off the air bag and was quite convinced I had cut my head up and was bleeding. It turns out the only damage apart from to my pride was that I had bit my tongue but hey it hurt at the time.

To be honest after the adrenaline had worn off several other aches and pains kicked in, especially my right shoulder which had taken a bump earlier in the week (cough, Gayle, cough). All in all though a well worth it experience, not something you get to do every day.

And with that it was over and so unfortunately was the holiday as well.

Well apart from a very early morning high altitude hill workout by running up through La Plagne town centre which resulted in a near asthmatic David and an iced up beard. Odd feeling that.

Brilliant ski holiday location and great company. Next year I get them to come to Canada.

Tested to breaking point

The theme for this blog entry is: Things I might be making up.

To start with, November in Vancouver, the wettest month in the world anywhere, EVER! I do not believe they has been a day when it has not at least rained once. I know, I know, I complained when I got here that it was too hot and that I had come to Vancouver for cooler weather but really this is just taking the aardvark.

Tuesday was a wet run with the club, and because of the weather and maintenance work around the seawall, the normal picturesque run was just running through back streets trying to avoid the worst puddles. I have to say at this point if it wasn't for the running club I don;t think I would have run at all this month. The company makes even the wettest, coldest run, fun to take part in. Also the a beers in the pub afterwards never hurts. The new game at the moments seems to be if we can get the barman and waitress to smile, neither is inclined to do this with any regularity.

Up until this month, Wednesday normally signalled the opportunity to climb up the Grouse Grind in the afternoon. I have a natty little card that records all my times for the ascents and also totals up the total distance climbed and tells you the equivalent mountain you have scaled, with Everest being the goal obviously. Now in all honesty I forget where abouts I am and I'm to lazy to go fetch my card which would let me access the info but I know I'm not quite at the peak of Everest yet. Now the snow has arrived on the mountain and the skiing is open. So after last weeks poor effort due to gale force winds and a snow storm I was ready to give it another shot. 3 more runs had been opened and even thought there was a lot of cloud around and yes it was raining I had faith that the slopes would be above the cloud and it would be glorious. I was wrong.

After getting all dressed up in my ski gear and putting my boots and skis out, I was making one last pass into the lounge (1 step from the kitchen) when I caught my toe against one of my ski boots. In my mind I had shattered every bone in my toe and several in nearby locations. The truth is probably more like I stubbed it and it bruised a bit. But at the time it hurt and certain curse words were uttered and I have no doubt that if any of my neighbours had heard I would now be looking for a new home. With a strapped up toe and with Skis over my shoulders I headed out the door and limped towards the skyTrain Station, as soon as I crossed the road though I realised I had forgotten my ski pass. 5 minutes later and more subversive muttering I was back under away again. 8 stops on the train, a SeaBus and a bus ride later I arrived with little fanfare at the base of the mountain. Another 5 minutes, a lot more whispered profanities and a few worried glances from parents later, I have changed from my shoes into my ski boots (which I have now taken a personnel dislike too) and I am standing at the front of the queue waiting for the SkyRide to take me to the skiing nirvana I know awaits. Only to be told by a far to chirpy girl that the mountain was now closed due to "Poor weather conditions".

ARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I found that when I got home, Martin had tried to warn me that the mountain had shut down but I was at that point hopping around holding my toe instead of checking messages. Bugger!

So with skiing now off the cards I decided not to waste the day entirely and I went in search of a doctors. No not for my toe, even I'm not that bad. for the last 7-8 weeks I have had a patch of irritated skiing on my left wrist and even after adhering to the two major rules of skin care:

Rule 1: If it is dry put something wet on it.

Rule 2: If it is wet put something dry on it.

Nothing had worked. So having paid about $200 in health care payments already, I decided to seek out a doctor and start seeing some of the benefits of that money. Luckily there is a doctor within 50 yards of my front door so I didn't have to travel far (which was a good thing or my toe my have fallen off, not sure but I'm just saying...) An hour and a bit later I'm in seen by the doctor and after my tale of bravery and resourcefulness at how I had been battling this ailment, she rolled her eyes and sent me home with some a tub of cream that "...should clear it up in a couple of days". The really annoying things is, it has.

Club night on Thursday saw the first clear nights run we have had in a while and we took full opportunity of it. Steve, Sarah and I had a great extended run around the creek and even picked up the pace a little at the end. Some how I looked a lot more exhausted than Steve but I'm sure that was just the light playing tricks, that all the black spots in front of my eyes. And to top of a good run we even took in a sneaky beer at the pub too, on a Thursday!

For a while now I have been offered the chance to have a go at finding out what my VO2 Max is. Quick explanation of what VO2 max is, the higher the number the better your muscles are at using the oxygen that you breath in. I have put this off for one reason or another but mainly because I was scared. The idea behind the test is that you run on a treadmill which increases in speed and incline until you can't run no more, while all the time being strapped up to some fancy gizmo's piloted my some genius looking people saying things like "hmmm" and "ahhhh". For a change I want bore you with all the details of my heroic exploits I will just say that I didn't get any where near the machine having to use an incline to tire me out I was done long before that, and that I set of numerous alarm bells on the machine, my heart was going a tad faster than maybe it should. I will however include the video I made of my heroic attempts instead. Ha not letting you get away with it that easily.

A big thank you to Sarah and Heather who administered the test and were very good at supporting me and making sure I didn't die. By the way my result showed I was pretty average for a runner, who knew?

After a nice long lie in on Saturday morning I decided to make use of the afternoon by heading to somewhere I saw on a run a while back and thought would be cool to look around, then completely forgot about it until I read an article this week saying it was getting shut down in March so I thought I better get myself in gear and visit promptly. I'm referring to the Bloedel Conservatory in Queen Elizabeth Park. It is a dome shaped building (a little like Centre Parcs, Sherwood Forest, only smaller) which house some tropical birds and plant life. It is being closed due to the fact the dome needs repairing at a cost of a couple of million dollars. After visiting I can see why it need repairing. It was strangely enough raining outside and it was pretty much raining inside too, there a quite a few leaks in the joins that hold the dome shaped roof together. Even with the leaks it is a great little place to visit, and although it only take 30 minutes to take a quick walk around it has some beautiful species of plants and tress and also having budgies flying round your head and parrots sitting around chattering to you, it makes for a nice place to while away a wet afternoon.

And finally. Sunday morning saw me take my latest adventure into trail running. With my shoes still a little moist still from last week we headed up to Lynn Valley again, but this time to run along the creek and finishing at the Norvan Falls. Speculation again on my part but I think the name might originate from the fact they are in North Vancouver, I don't know, but it sounds plausible. For a nice change it started off dry and we had a nice run up to the start of the trails proper before the wetness set in. I have mentioned before about running along streams and over boulders etc... this took it to a new level today, all the recent rain had made large sections of the run pretty much under water. Sukhi just plain gave up trying to keep his feet dry and just waded through the swollen stream while John seemed to leap the whole damn thing and I lumberingly leaped from rock to rock, every now again submerging a foot or both. The views along the way and especially at the falls were well worth it. There is some amazing places tucked away in the back of beyond and that I'm very glad that I'm getting to see. As an added bonus to this weeks run Sukhi and I were given a brief and interesting history and botany lesson by John, who showed where the old tree logging railway tracks used to be, where slots had been cut into tress to help the loggers cut down trees higher up to make their life easier and also what must have been the highlight of the day, I got to taste a root (actually a rhizoid, I do listen) of a licorice fern, which probably not all that shockingly has the a taste of licorice, and also a little taste of dirt and root too.

Until next time...