travel

Okanagan Half (2019)

I ran my last half marathon of the year in October and a summer of training followed by an autumn of faster training netted me a pretty decent time.

About mid-month we packed up the new car and drove for twelve hours westward on Friday morning. It was planned. I had registered for the Okanagan Half Marathon in Kelowna, British Columbia, a beautiful little mountain valley city on the edge of a lake and tucked inside a microclimate that made it feel more like September than the nearly-winter chill back home.

Rock'n Roll Las Vegas (2018)

Las Vegas was, believe it or not, a family vacation.

We connected with Jenn and family and planned a multi-week trip that started with a race and ended with a theme park. Vegas was not the first choice for a race, tho. Originally, we had been talking about a California adventure that included Disneyland and one of those great RunDisney races I'd done previously. But the RunDisney folks seemed to have dropped all plans to continue running through Anaheim.

Plan B was to fly to Vegas, run the Rock'n Roll down the strip, then drive over to California.

Banff Jasper Relay (2016)

The Banff-Jasper Relay is an annual run through the 260 km stretch of mountain highway stretching between Banff, Alberta & Jasper, Alberta where 15 runners tag along and each travel a bit of the distance on foot over the span of a single day. There are amazing views, wildlife encounters, epic challenges of endurance, absolutely no cell phone coverage, and opportunities to take selfies while hot, sweaty, and staring down a fifty-thousand year old mountain glacier.

Calgary Half Marathon (2015)

Another weekend, another race. But actually…

Our little group seems to have so many meaningful race day milestones these days –a mark of pride and achievement, to be sure– that I’d be remiss to try to name any of them as the “Definitive Weekend of Running Awesomeness” for fear of leaving one out. But if I was forced to make a shortlist of, say, the top five annual(ish) weekends that leave an indelible mark upon our crew, Calgary Marathon Weekend would likely be in that list. 

Red Deer Hypothermic Half (2015)

Twenty-Fifteen's 3rd Half 

… is a title that makes a lot more sense when you realize that this post is (a) about running and (b) referring to my third official half-marathon race of the calendar year.

In a (possibly misguided) attempt to run a half marathon every month of 2015, I crossed March off the list yesterday as we travelled South to Red Deer and I ran the Hypothermic Half in that sleepy little city I once called home. My third of 2015. Third. A goal that is both a little goofy and a a little meh.