Podium Tonight!!

Stage 5 of 6 is complete at Transrockies and i'm tired! Don't worry, there's going to be a full report on it all when i get back to Calgary and can get a look at some pictures I have from the whole experience. I just wanted to comment on our best day so far...today!! We've been doing really well all along finishing usually in 4th or 5th each day... but today we finally managed to nab 2nd place in the mixed division and we'll be on the podium tonight! I'm so excited :)

It was a long exhausting day...especially when we've already completed 4 tough days previous! Today was the second longest stage at 37.7km but it was also the stage with the second most elevation gain...4400 ft!! It was a super tough day but a great one! Only one more stage left to go and i'm kind of relieved it's finally here. My body is hating me!! And my feet definitely hate me...the downhills have been pretty sick and gives me issues with my right heel which has turned into one big giant blister. Luckily the sports medicine guys have been fixing me up and pumping it with zinc oxide...it's magic I tell ya!

Well that's it for now, 1 more big day of running to go tomorrow...21 miles and 4600 ft of elevation gain...the most in the whole race. They definitely don't want to make Stage 6 easy on us. Yikes.

Gotta go stretch out these legs!
Deb

Welcome to Buena Vista, Colorado!

We made it! We're hanging out at 8000 ft in Buena Vista, Colorado...the start of Stage 1 of Transrockies in 3 days from now! Steve and I went for an easy 10km last night and i'm not going to lie...we definitely noticed the altitude and had a bit of a tight chest at first. Luckily that didn't last too long and we felt pretty good after a few km in. Fewf! The weather has been pretty good so far...sunny and fairly warm but windy as hell...windier than Newfoundland and that's saying something! :)

Today we decided to do a little 10km hike...Cottonwood Pass which starts at just over 12,000 ft.

Steve and my 5 week old niece, Julia, at 12,500ft :)

Family photo :) Steve, baby Julia, me, and Kira

Tomorrow Steve and I are going for a short, easy run in the morning and then in the afternoon we're going to check out the town of Leadville. This is where Lance Armstrong won the 100 mile mountain bike race last weekend and where the 100 mile ultramarathon event takes place this saturday!

Well that's it for now. I'm off to my tent for a good night's sleep! It was a fun day and i'm tired! I'm happy to report that my extra thick thermarest is working out very nicely :)

Deb

It's Show Time!!

Guess i've been a lazy blogger laterly...sorry about that! But i've been a busy girl :) A couple of days after my last post I went on our annual work "team building" trip. It was great! This year we went to Vancouver Island and it was beautiful. I haven't been there in a lonnnng time and really don't remember a whole lot.

It was a pretty awesome trip...definitely didn't feel like a typical work trip or anything like that...just got to hang out with a bunch of great people and do lots of fun things! We went to the beach...got to go see some huge huge trees in Cathedral Grove...went on a whale tour (and saw hump backs and gray whales!!)...ate some fabulous food every day and had an evening of wine tasting! Does that sound like work to you? Heck no!! Here are a couple of pics from the trip...there are definitely better ones floating around at work but this is all I have right now!

Playing at the beach - Tribune Bay

Loving the starfish! :)

Big ass trees!

This is a little blurry but you get the idea of how big this tree is!! It was beautiful at Cathedral Grove!!

At Hot Springs Cove...HOT HOT HOT Springs!!! I did some pretty big runs while I was on the Island so it felt pretty damn good to get in!

My good friend Beth and I on the zodiac for the whale tour!! Yup, we had to wear survival suits...it was pretty chilly out there so I didn't mind...kept us nice and warm!

So that's a quick recap of my trip to Vancouver Island. We were gone for 5 days and it flew by! It was nice to come back and only have to work 2 more days till the weekend though! I had a really fun weekend and got in 2 great trail runs in the mountains with some friends. I'm pretty happy as my legs are feeling awesome and I guess this tapering thing really works haha. I can't wait to get down there and start racing. I'm also really excited that I get to do this with my brother as my partner and it's going to make the whole experience even better.

Steve, Kira and my 5 week old niece Julia left on saturday for the drive to Colorado. They should be in Denver by tonight and I'm going to fly in tomorrow morning and meet up with them for the 2ish hour drive to Buena Vista...where Stage 1 begins! I'm incredibly excited and can't wait to get going! I'll do my best to keep you guys updated but not sure how easy it'll be for me to do that. You might have to wait until the race is over so I can post a full report! I think they might be posting updates at the end of each Stage on how everyone is doing so you can probably follow Team Pine Line somewhere on here!

I'm on my way out for some delicious sushi and then home for some last minute power packing...I know...it's no surprise that it's the night before I leave and I still have packing to do. Ok that's it for now...wish us luck! The fun all begins at Stage 1 on Sunday, August 23rd! :)

Deb

I've been inspired!

I have decided i'm going to do the Canadian Death Race next year!! I am pumped! Isn't it funny how you can already be so excited for something a year away? A girl I know from the Trail Trash group I run with did it this year and rocked it. She has totally inspired me!! And since i've been hooked since my first and only ultra so far this year...the Scorched Sole 50km...i've been busy planning next year's season of ultras already! This has been such a great summer! I can't wait for Transrockies! Only 12 days till I leave for Colorado and 17 till race day!

Oh...one more thing...anyone out there looking for a pacer for Lost Soul let me know!

Great Training Weekend!

What a great weekend of training for Transrockies! I managed to get 3 good days in...I'm feeling pretty great and thinking I could do another good one tonight but I'm going to take the day off instead. I have some plantar fasciitis acting up again but nothing major....just feeling like I need a day off and then get some more good runs in the rest of the week. Unfortunately there won't be any mountain running this weekend as I'm off to Vancouver Island on saturday for a work "team building" trip for 5 days. How fab is that?! I'm still going to be doing lots of running however, don't you worry about that :) Not a bad way to start my taper though!!

Saturday I teamed up with Alan and Mark for a 3okm run from Upper Kananaskis Lake to Turbine Canyon. It was a beautiful day! It's a bit of a drive so we didn't end up getting started till about 9:45. By then it was already warming up pretty quick and was 30C by the time we were finished. Here are some pics the guys took along the way :)

Jumping Turbine Canyon! Doesn't look like much here...but check out the next couple of pics to see what I jumped over :)

Overlooking Turbine Canyon...it's a long way down!

Following this run was a nice little dip in the lake, a mini tailgate in the parking lot with some food we brought along...then stopped at the store out there for some chocolate milk for recovery, and a "single" scoop of ice cream...which apparently means 3 scoops (but i'm not complaining!) before driving back to Calgary...

Sunday was another hot one and I had a bit of a lighter day with only 20km but it was on Moose Mountain so definitely a good workout! That night an insane cold front blew into Calgary with the craziest thunder and lightening storm I've ever witnessed. It woke me up about an hour after I had fallen asleep and lasted for a good hour. I had the window open because my house was a sauna but the wind blew over my lamp and slammed my bedroom door. I was a little worried one of the trees out there was going to slam through my bedroom window. I got up looking for Logan, opened the bedroom door and he was just standing there looking freaked! Poor guy! I let him come on the bed after that!

Monday was a holiday here for us so I had planned on a pretty big run. I woke up to a cool day...around 12C I think for most of the day and got 35km in on some trails around Calgary. Damn I forgot how much I love to run in cooler weather...I felt like a star! I was super happy though that my legs felt in great shape and ready to go after my 2 previous days. That's a relief...but I still can't get over the fact that i've got 6 days in a row to do at Transrockies....I'm excited though! Bring. It. On.