Race Recap: Dirty Feet Mountain Run

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Aside from the Foam Fest, the Dirty Feet Mountain Run up at Sun Peaks was my first “competitive” trail run. The weather on Sunday was calling for rain, but thankfully the sun mostly dominated the sky (aside from a cool breeze) and made for a great morning!

Two groups of us kind of met up and ran (somewhat) together, so it was nice to have some company and motivation on the course. It was actually was tamer than I had anticipated, but we still had an elevation gain of 428 feet! There was a pretty decent climb right at the start but after that it was fairly smooth sailing – Not super aggressive, but just enough to feel that burn! The back half was mostly downhill which was hard on my ankles and lower back, but made me feel good going into the finish!

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My “Hills are Dumb” face, somewhere during the first mile of the race, haha! (Note the obvious heavy mouth breathing!)

My time according to my Fitbit tracker was 31:03 and my official time was 31:05. I definitely wasn’t expecting to do this in a sub-35 time, especially since I hadn’t done a lot of hill training leading up to the race.

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All that technical jazz. Because if I didn’t track it, did it even happen?

 

I apparently lost my GPS signal during the last few minutes of the race so the course “ended” where it lost signal, even though my stopwatch was still going. I promise the course was 3.1 miles/5 kilometers ;)

There was some time to kill before awards and door prizes were drawn, so we headed to Bottoms Bar & Grill for some grub and celebratory Caesars! (If you’re there and like falafel, the ones on the menu are delicious!)

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I managed to have my number drawn and snagged a nice North Face shirt, and then it was time to roll on home to be a lump for the rest of the day! A big shout out to the Dirty Feet folks for making this race happen – it was an awesome run and I hope to do it again next year!

TGIF v.54

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I had to scroll all the way back to July to figure out which edition of TGIF this was. I don’t know if that’s a sign that I’ve been busy or lazy … Either way, here’s a recap of our crazy first week back to school!

A high of the week was getting back into the routine of getting ready for school with relative ease. During the summer our mornings were suuuuper lazy, so I was afraid that Isla would have a hard time adjusting, but so far she seems to be doing well! It’s even been nice enough to walk to school in the morning, so we’ve been enjoying that as well!

A low of the week was nothing, really! My arm is really sore for some reason but I have an appointment with an RMT next week so hopefully that solves most of the discomfort in my muscles.

An internet find I loved was not necessarily a “find” but I’ve started watching Santa Clarita Diet on Netflix and have been really enjoying it. Timothy Olyphant is one of my favourites, so that’s perhaps why …

The best money I spent was $5 on some axes for Kyle. While it sounds like of odd, Kyle has started refurbishing old axe heads and handles and he’s gotten pretty darn good at it.

My favourite Isla and/or Norah moment was obviously getting them back in the school routine. Norah has been a bit sad leaving Isla at school, but she’s getting used to it. Plus she started Kinder Ninja training yesterday, (think American Ninja Warrior) so she finally has her own activity to go to while her sister is at school.

Of course, here’s an obligatory “First Day Back” photo I snapped of both the girls:

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A song that has been stuck in my head is none, actually! Thank goodness.

My notable meals of the week were my delicious lunch of spinach with cherry tomatoes, orzo, shredded mozzarella, and balsamic vinaigrette. SO GOOD. And you know, kind of healthy too because life’s all about balance and stuff. *snort*

My plans for the weekend are relaxing Saturday and then I’m heading to Sun Peaks on Sunday for the Dirty Feet Trail Race! It’ll be my first legit trail race so I’m curious to see how my time will compare to my road races. Wish me luck!

What are you plans for the weekend? Have you been enjoying the last bit of summer weather?

 

August Wrap-up

Posted in Vacation, Weekend Update by

Tomorrow is September! How did that happen?! August just kind of flew right by, didn’t it? We kept things pretty busy around here during the month, so I’ll just do a quick recap of what we got up to:

Hot Nite

The second Saturday in August calls for the annual Hot Nite in the City Show & Shine, and the girls and I headed downtown with my mom & stepdad to check out all the classic cars. It was a lovely break from the smoke we had been having, and it was just warm enough to not be uncomfortable.

We stopped and got some gourmet poutine before heading home, and Norah was clearly a fan:

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Road Trip #1

The girls and I went over to visit my dad for a couple of nights in Vernon. We were worried that it might get too smoky to do anything fun, but thankfully the smoke stayed away and we were able to enjoy the sunny weather! We hit the beach a couple of times and the girls had the best time ever, and we made a trip to the kangaroo farm which was obviously a hit! Our first night was a bit rough because of giant ice cream cones way too close to bedtime, but the girls had so much fun so I guess it was worth it.

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Road Trip #2

The next weekend Kyle and I dropped the girls off at my mom’s and Campbell off at doggy daycare and flew solo on a trip to the Fraser Valley to watch Joe Rogan do a stand-up comedy show! It was seriously THE BEST and my face hurt from laughing so hard. I’ll admit that his style of comedy most definitely isn’t for anyone, but man, he makes some good points in the most hilariously offensive way possible. If you enjoy his podcasts you’d definitely enjoy his show.

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After the show we drove into Langley to stay with friends for a couple nights. I managed to sneak in a quick trip to Ikea and bought ALL THE THINGS (not really – I resisted on a lot of cute knick-knacks) and was satisfied with my purchases. We had an awesome dinner and stayed up way too late just talking about life. The morning we had to leave we went to this great little place called Beatniks where I had the most amazing Crab Cake Eggs Benedict. If you’re ever passing through, it’s definitely worth the quick detour!

Our drive home was rainy but BC definitely needs it, so we didn’t complain too much.

Oh yes, and we brought home a whole bunch of snails for the girls to keep as pets! They just hang out on the sidewalk when it rains, so Kyle collected about 14 of them to bring home to show the girls. He ended up making a pretty awesome habitat for them, and they’re actually pretty neat to watch!

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Other bits

We filled in the random gaps of the month with various things: Kyle worked on the support beams and posts for our deck to protect them from the elements, we both tackled painting the deck stairs, I took the girls to the indoor jungle gym to burn off some of their energy, and generally just savoured the last bit of summer break! It’s hard to believe that school starts on Tuesday and we’ll be crashing into a busy schedule once again; Isla and Norah will both have swimming lessons twice a week, while Isla will be in dance once again (focusing solely on ballet now) and Norah is signed up for 10 weeks of ninja school! (You know that show America Ninja Warrior? That’s what she’ll be learning!) Oh, and I’ll be starting my schoolwork again after taking the summer off. Whew!