TURNING 29...

This passed Sunday I turned 29! Yup, only one year left in the 20-29 age category and then winning my age group will become much much harder! I must say that 28 was a good year. It had it's ups and downs but I learned a lot. For the most part I listened to my heart and can't be happier with where I am right now.

The weekends festivities were fun. On my actual birthday I went for a great 23km run from Grouse to Deep Cove with one of my best friends, Shauna, and my boyfriend Peter. Right before I was about to leave home she suggested I pull out the pink spandex. I did that and raised her a Victoria Secret Lingerie outfit over top. It was silly and I had fun with it. The day was beautiful and we saw familiar faces all run long. We did a car drop in Deep Cove earlier on in the morning as I wanted to jump in the ocean and then grab me a Honey's Donut. Yum! The dip in the ocean was cold, very cold but there is something about dunking myself in water on my birthday that makes me feel reborn and ready for the next year ahead. I love it.

Shauna and in the headwaters, Photo by: Peter Watson

Peter and I at Quarry rock. Photo by: Shauna C

The short and sweet of the rest of the day is I went shopping, which I never do, at a shop called Anthropologie. I first discovered this store in Palm Desert a few years ago and was stoked to find out there was one in Vancouver. However, it would be a couple years until I actually made it out. Boy, was it worth it! I just feel like the clothes there were made for me :) I never seem to have trouble finding anything to buy. We were going to drive but because it was such a beautiful day we took public transit and it was really nice to rely on the good ol' seabus, skytrain, and bus all day. After our one stop shop, Peter and I took the bus over to Main street to have dinner and drinks at The Foundation which is this brilliant vegetarian restaurant that serves up world class nachos. The nachos are perfectly layered with tons of cheese, black beans, and corn. I highly recommend trying this place out.

The next day we took it pretty easy as we were heading up to Squamish in the afternoon to do the first 1/3 of the Garibaldi Neve Traverse with our good friend Mark Grist. Of course, I made sure to stop off at the Zephyr for a coffee and muffin before we began this mission. We dropped Mark's car off at Garibaldi Park and drove ours to the Diamond Head trailhead. It was a gorgeous evening and we took our time getting to the Elfin Lakes hut. Once there we made dinner and played crib. Last time I was there we slept on some benches because it was full. This time there were only 2 other people, which was really nice. It wasn't long before we were in bed as we had a 4:30am wake up coming the next morning. I slept pretty good however my watch got messed up when I was setting my alarm the night before and my watch said it was 3:30am when it was really 4:30am! It's a good thing I am a morning person and I was able to roll out and up pretty easily. I forgot to bring breakfast so I shared a few granola bars with Peter.

Mark and I as we start the day. My his pack is much larger than mine! All Photos by: Peter Watson

Park Rangers are all tree hugger's at heart!

We began in the dark with our headlamps lighting the way. I could tell it was going to be a beautiful day with blue bird sky's, and it was. Mark was leading the way as our tour guide as he had done the Traverse twice before. Peter and I were both Neve virgins. The snow was perfect for skinning, we barely sunk down at all.

The 5km flat lake section. It felt like it was never going to end!

We had a 3km hike out in ski boots!

Finally back at the car!

The adventure for me was epic. The scenery was beautiful. I can't really put into words how beautiful it truly was. We really could not have asked for a better day weather wise. What made the adventure epic was the last 8km where we switch backed our way down to the parking lot. The trail was narrow and very icy. To me, it was survival skiing at it's finest and it was the section I hated the most. However, it did make the trip that much more memorable. My feet have a few sores on them from all the friction back and forth in my boots but overall they held up pretty good. My muscles are a bit sore but hopefully that eases off as I am running the Yakima 50km this weekend.

I am really looking forward to all the new adventures that are coming my way. So far, 29 is looking pretty good.

See you in the trails!

Nic