After getting back from Mexico at the end of March, we declared the official start of climbing season. Last year was a bit of a down year for me with regards to climbing. I had been climbing 3x per week consistently for 5 years and last year I became burnt out and needed a break. I started question why the hell I was even bothering with the sport; what was the point!?! I took a step back for the season and only climbed when groups of friends were going, more of social outings than real climbing trips. And after a relaxed season and taking the fall off completely, I have a newly revived love for climbing. I've renewed my climbing gym pass to get strong again and have jumped back into lead climbing. It once again feels fun instead of exhausting to get out on the rock for the day. Although, trad climbing is still not high on my priority list (I'm starting to think that I'm more of a sport climber, Trad has just never done it for me), Im getting way more comfortable with lead climbing and actually sort of enjoying that too.
Since March I've been out to Squamish a handful of times when the weather has co-operated and I spent 4 days at Frenchman's coulee to kick off the season. Its been a great start to a summer full of climbing adventures.
Apart from climbing, I've also been ramping up the trail running. I didn't get into knee knacker this year, but since several friends did, I've been training with them just for the fun of it. I'm signed up to do the Iron Knee 25km Trail Race this weekend and am going to sign up for Comfortably Numb 27km Trail Race at the end of June, which should be fun since I've never run those trails before. It's been a great experience to get out and run just for the fun of running minus the stress in the back of your mind of the upcoming Ultra. I would like to run knee Knacker again soon in the next few seasons, but I'll take the enjoyment, stress free running that I get to experience this season anytime!
Finally, a few weeks ago, I celebrated the big 3-0! It was a great weekend of adventures. Mike and I took the Friday off of work and started the day with breakfast at Chef Big D's in Squamish and then went zip-trekking in Whistler. It's so much fun! One line is over a 1/2 mile long and you get going up to 80km/hr. The free-style line where you get to zip upside-down is pretty cool too!
After our zipline adventure we went to the Salmon House in West Vancouver for dinner with my family and an evening of celebrating with them (mmm.....Savory Island Pie!). On Saturday, after a morning run from Grouse to Deep Cove, Mike and my Parents and I boarded the Sapphire Princess Cruise Ship for an overnite cruise to Seattle. The lines getting on the boat were a bit brutal, but once aboard it was a fun experience; something completely different to try out and a fun night of dinner, drinks and pop-artist impersonations!
Now, come on Sunshine, I want to play outside!!!
