Hey all! Before I embark on another few big adventures (starting with a 125km Trail Running Race at the UTHC, and followed by 3 weeks in NEPAL!!), I wanted to take things down a notch. Specifically, I wanted to address any concerns people might have that I spend all my time training and racing. Truth is, that is only one part of my busy, fun life! I can assure you all that I have a lot of other interests, and that I definitely do my share of relaxing and recovering (sometimes more than I should methinks… I *could* be on the podium more I suppose if I tried…). With that, I bring you a short post on a few fun things I did in the last week.
First off, I got on a jet plane and headed to Vegas, baby! Now, ostensibly, I was there as part of my job, attending a conference on the mobile wireless industry, but it was Vegas nonetheless. And, seeing as I have a couple very good friends who live down that way, I was able to head down a few days early, stay with them, and have some quality pool and trekking time!
Slideshow from Vegas
In addition to visiting them and taking in the strip, I also managed to sneak away with Troy to the nearby Red Rocks park to do a little bit of light trekking and test out the 4×4 capabilities of Troy’s Jeep Liberty. We brought a couple of the dogs along with us and made a day of it. I think my favourite part of visiting this part of the world is the fact that Mexican food is plentiful, and delicious. I’m a bit of a taco fan, and managed to each Mexican almost every day down there! Add in the tasty new beers I sampled, and cool gadgets I saw at the conference, and it made for a relatively enjoyable “work week”. The only downside was the fact that I spent most of the late nights catching up on real work from the office!
To cap off my week down there, I was extremely fortunate to score a ticket to see Love, the Beatles-music inspired show from Cirque du Soleil. This was a really amazing show with spectacular acts and awesome music. My biggest challenge while at the show was trying to figure out exactly where to focus my attention. There were acts on the stage, acts high up in the air, and other acts in the wings pretty much the entire 90 minutes. I think I could watch the show 3 times and still see new costumes and feats!
The second bit of fun that I wanted to share actually straddles the line between fun and racing. On a whim, I volunteered to be what is known as a ‘Beer Bunny’ at the Ottawa Beer Run. When I read the description of the event, I realized that it is what I’ve been training for my entire life :-). You literally run from brewery to brewery, sampling the beers, and finish off at a big post-race party with even more beer!
Slideshow from the Beer Run
All in all, we were visiting a total of 5 breweries for my ‘wave’. There were two route options, so of course I chose the longer one, at 15k (I pushed closer to 17k with some back-and-forth running I did with my group). As a beer bunny, I was more of a ‘crowd control’ and ‘beer shepherd’ dude than a pacer. We had to try and get everyone to each brewery in a certain amount of time, and also make sure they all cleared out after about 20 minutes. In addition, since the course wasn’t marked heavily, nor were there any road closures for it, the 4 ‘pacers’ in my wave spent time going back and forth making sure everyone made the right turns and were having a good time!
All in all, it was a BLAST! I definitely want to do this one again in future years, provided it works into my always-busy schedule. It was fun chatting with people and helping them get to that next beer that was always waiting for them. My wave visited Lowertown Brewing, Mill Street Brewery, Kichessippi Brewing (in a ‘mobile’ location on Bate island), the Clock Tower, and finished off at Beyond the Pale. Some of the bars even had snack food waiting. For example, at Clocktower, not only were we early tasters of the seasonal Pumpkin Ale, but we also had POUTINE!! Does this event not sound like a match made in heaven?
Although the weather had started out quite foul with heavy rainfall the entire day before and overnight, when we actually hit the road, it was barely raining anymore, and the sun even poked out a few times. All in all, it was an ideal time to run. Also, there was no pressure whatsoever. No timing chips. In fact, we would end up bunching up when the group hit red lights that we had to wait together at before moving along. If you are looking for a little motivation to do a longer run, I highly recommend this. With the entry fee, you got a nice tech t-shirt, 5 stops at breweries to have at least 8 ozs of beer at each, and a really cool medal that doubles as, what else, a bottle opener!
To round out the fun of that event, Deanna also volunteered to be a ‘Brewery Captain’ at Mill Street, helping us get our bibs punched and beers drank before sending us off to the next venue. That meant we re-convened at the finish line, and I could enjoy a few more beverages before having her drive my tipsy self home :-).
All in all, this was a great way to cap off a week of relaxing and recharging, especially in light of the next race looming on my calendar. Although I still have a sore foot on account of plantar fasciitis, I’m planning ton complete the 125km race and live to tell the tale! Then after that, some quality time celebrating my wedding anniversary in the high Himalayas! How’d I get to be so lucky?? Stay tuned for more exciting tales…
