I've got my horseshoe for Transrockies :)

Transrockies is approaching fast and i'm getting pretty excited! Sunday past marked 5 weeks till Stage 1 of the race. I just booked my flight last night to Denver and i'm leaving nice and early...i'll be there about 5 days in advance before the race so hopefully I can get somewhat acclimatized in that period. It should be interesting to see how my body feels. I do remember what it was like to move from Ottawa to Calgary and run for the first time...I felt slow, winded, and out of shape...and that was only an increase in about 3000ft. The race starts in Buena Vista, CO which sits at just under 8000ft...4500ft more than Calgary (that's not even to mention how high we get during some of the stages)! So yeah...this is why i'm heading down 5 days in advance!

I managed to get in some pretty decent running this weekend. Friday I got in 25km and unfortunately Saturday was a weak day for me and I only managed 14km...it was damn hot, I was damn tired, and just felt like hell. So I cut it short and headed home to sit in a cold bath...felt mighty nice on my legs! I made out better on Sunday and joined the Trail Trash group for 45km out in Kananaskis starting at the Little Elbow Campground. It was a long day and I hadn't anticipated how long we'd be out so I ran out of the 2L of nuun I brought...luckily a bunch of people had those water bottles with them with the built in filter so you could fill it up anywhere...they saved my butt for sure! Much of our run was on a horse trail and there was some crazy deep mud and I almost lost my shoe a couple of times...the same thing must have happened to one of the horses as I picked up a horseshoe along the way and brought it home with me!! That's gotta be some kinda good luck for Transrockies no?

It was a beautiful day and there was nothing I would have rather done! I felt guilty spending my entire day in the mountains and not having my best friend Logan to join me! He wouldn't have made it past 15km...those huskies get HOT quick! So I made it up to him later by taking him on a good trip to the park!

Here are some pics of our run...some were taken by Alan with my camera, some by Hugh....

At the start - Little Elbow Campground in Kananaskis

Took me about 5 mins to get warmed up and shed the long sleeve!

1st of maybe 15 river crossings!!...wet feet for about 30 of 45km!

And another...

Are you kidding me?! Argh!!

She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes!

This is more like it!

Our view from the top of Paradise Pass - at 8300 ft

Me and Adrian