October 25, 2010

Whirlwind Return To Civilization (Black Tusk Run)

It's been an absolute whirlwind return from the wilds of Northern Quebec just twelve short days ago...wow it's been almost two weeks already, and we're sitting on the cusp of November. As they say, time flies when you're having fun I guess.


After my five week work excursion I kinda felt like a prisoner set free again. The project was incredibly tough but also surprisingly refreshing and if nothing else it gave me a necessary reminder of just how amazing my home town/turf really is. The balance of life that can be achieved in North Vancouver / Vancouver is rarely rivaled around the globe, and because of this it was completely impossible for me to say NO to anything that came my way in the last few weeks. It's been a fantastic twelve days of catching up with friends and truly savoring all that Vancouver has to offer.

(The beard lasted ten full days before I finally caved in and removed it)

Thankfully my running injury seems to be in check, mostly due to the expertise of Jenn Turner and her Moveo sport rehab centre. I have been continually shocked and amazed at how good I've been feeling on my feet and due to this I have knocked down a few sizeable mountain runs. The highlight being Black Tusk, up near Whistler, which I tackled with my Montrail teammate Ryne Melcher. From the parking lot to the summit is a six thousand foot climb and outside of some mandatory photo stops the run up was just a hair over two hours. After nearly an hour on top taking it all in, the six thousand foot descent took us just a few minutes over an hour, which included some nice calf cramping as my body attempted to keep up with my excitement level. Full Album.


Other highlights included a sushi binge of eight meals in seven days, more beer consumption than the last three months combined, finally reconnecting with numerous friends I hadn't seen in months, and checking out a cool concert at a funky little venue, The Acorn at The Biltmore.

As I type this I am sitting in the Seattle airport about to connect to Oregon for the annual Montrail - Mountain Hardwear International Sales Conference. Flattered to be invited is the easiest way to sum it up. Five days of gear talk and trail runs in Oregon sounds like a pretty sweet week to me, though I am really looking forward to finally getting back into a routine again soon and fully focusing on training for HURT Hawaii in January.


GR

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