Gettin Old

I can vividly remember as an out of shape and over weight teenager thinking that I would somehow be in the best shape of my life when I was into my early 30's.

Well, I turned 32 a few days ago, Nov 19th to be exact, and I can confidently say that I am certainly in the best shape of my life right now! I'm not sure how I could have known this would be the case over a decade and a half ago, maybe I was simply making excuses to myself at the time for not being fit as a kid? Having said that though, there have been numerous occurrences throughout my life that I have 'envisioned' happening, must be the whole "think so, so...think not so, not so" theory, self fulfilling prophecies, whatever you want to call it.

I have been 'envisioning' the next few years of my life for quite some time now, call it dreaming, whatever it may be, but I hope to make those dreams into a reality over the coming years as well. Hopefully I can stay healthy, fit, and motivated enough to pull them off. Here's to always pursuing your dreams, and always dreaming out loud.

My B.Day weekend was to be a complete surprise from my girlfriend Jackie. All I was to know is that I had to finish work early on Friday and I needed the weekend off. I had guessed correctly that we were on our way to Whistler, the rest was all a bit of a shock that I can't believe I didn't see happening.

We arrived in Whistler at 7pm on Friday and checked into a sweet condo in Creekside. The 'shoulder season' allows you to find really nice retreats at very affordable rates. We had a good sized unit with full kitchen and outside hot tub. I was immediately banished to the room while Jackie cooked off a small Gluten Free feast, including homemade GF brownies for desert! I then received one of the best b.day gifts of my life, Edmonton Oiler vs Vancouver Canuck hockey tickets, on Trevor Linden's jersey retirement night...twenty rows from the ice!!


Non hockey fans bare with me, these are gold as I have not been able to get my hands on Oilers tics for three years now, outside of scalpers of course. Now I get to see a game AND Trevor Linden's jersey retired!

Jackie had but two rules,

"You're not allowed to sell them!" (They would easily fetch over 300 a tic online, if not upwards of 500) AND

"You'd better be taking me with you!"

"Are you actually implying that I had a choice in the matter here? Of course I would take you, I couldn't dream of taking any of my guy friends to the game with me instead...baby!"

Saturday morning and we headed out to run the 25km trail route known as Comfortably Numb. It was overcast all day, but we escaped the rains and had a perfect temp for our run. The fact that we were even able to run this trail snow free in late Nov does not bode well for the local ski conditions! It was Jackie's first time on the trail and even without the views she commented that it was instantly one of her favorite running routes!




We then met my good friend Chad Fox for a drink and upon returning to the condo a total surprise party was awaiting me in the hotel room. I had incorrectly guessed that many of my Whistler friends and former co-workers from The Fairmont Chateau Whistler might meet up with us later in the night. Instead Jackie had organized a half a dozen friends from Squamish and Vancouver to make their way up for a surprise party!


I was in total shock as we opened the door to the room and even commented,

"Why does it smell like someone has been cooking in here?"




My good friend Aimee Dunn, who I raced Primal Quest Utah with in 06 had also baked about thirty pounds of gluten free goodies, from a huge cake, to muffins, cookies, and even more brownies!! After numerous beers and snacks we hit up a 'The GLC' to see some live music and I was pleasantly surprised to catch Newfoundland's hottest new band 'Hey Rosetta' on their West Coast swing. (my Dad subtly noted that I have not listed anywhere on my blog that I am a born and bred, proud Newfoundlander, this is my subtle way of saying 'see, I told you it's on here!') We unanimously agree that they were the best band on the night and we all bought their new CD 'Into Your Lungs', before shutting it down at the reasonable hour of 2am.

Not much was accomplished on Sunday, but I was ok with that, I am getting old after all!

GR

PS Don't ask me where and why the wigs n mullets appeared, I swear I had nothing to do with it!