ActiveSteve

Chasing the Snowman… 2 Races in 1 Day!

Hello all. It should come to no surprise to anyone who knows me that I will often enter and be interested in new and interesting races / challenges to keep me motivated to train and race. Well, recently, there was a new challenge unveiled at a Mad Trapper race (started as a mere suggestion, but ‘snowballed’ into the real deal). The challenge was that on January 26th, a ‘Snowman’ and ‘Snowwoman’ would be crowned. How so? Well, the fastest time combined in the Frost and Fire Winter Triathlon from the morning and the Mad Trapper Night Race in the evening. I do fairly well at the snowshoe races, and I also dabble in multi-sport, and most importantly, I have the energy reserves to race twice in one day :-). I was registered in both, so the stage was set to see if I could become the first winner of this mostly symbolic award. How did I do? Well, read on for both race reports (and videos!) and the conclusion. I didn’t take too many photos (was focused on fliming), but you can see them here and here before reading on.

‘Tis the Season

Howdy friends! I realize the humour of writing my Christmas post in February, but I’m going to go ahead and write it just the same. I feel like I need to get this posted, and need to close the loop on 2012 so that I can move forward into this year, and catch you all up on the latest races, of which I’m in the middle of several at the moment in February. It’s sort of ‘peak season’ for my winter races, and while that can be draining, it’s also a good time to reflect back on Christmas and the rejuvenation that it brought for the coming challenges 🙂 With that in mind, I invite you to do a few things. First, you can check out this year’s Christmas newsletter, as well as have a look a folder of pictures from the season. After that, read on friends, for a little colour.

Mad About Winter

Yup, you read right. I’m mad about winter. But in a good way 🙂 I know it’s been a little while since I updated my blog, so I figured I’d do a 2 for 1 race report in this post, seeing as both races form part of the Mad Trapper Snowshoe Race series. The first one occurred way back in early December, and the 2nd took place a little earlier in January. Both races were quite unique, and ironically, both races saw me finish in 5th place overall in the 10km race category. In a departure from most race reports of late though, I carried no cameras, and took no photos or video. My focus was purely on the races and the camaraderie, so you’ll just have to re-live the events through my words, and a little video clip put together by Dave McMahon further below. In spite of the lack of visual stimuli, I promise the story will still paint the picture for you. Now read on and learn about both of these fun races!

Does my Ass Look Fat to You?

There is an expression that I’ve found particularly useful at certain times in my life: “Discretion is the better part of valour”. It is a literary expression which means that it is better to be careful and think before you act than it is to be brave and take risks. It is most commonly referenced to Shakespeare, in Henry IV, Part One (1596). Where have I found this applicable? Well, it’s very good to remind yourself of this phrase when you are a competitive athlete and have some sort of injury. Another good expression would be “Live to fight another day”. In the context of this post, I’m using it in relation to an ankle injury I sustained 3 weeks before my final big ‘summer’ race of the season, a 25km trail running race. While I may not have completely heeded my own advice, I did moderate my participation in the Fat Ass Trail Run, and this post will tell you all about it! I covered this event for Get Out There Magazine and created a video review, and also snapped a number of pictures from the event. Now read on to learn more about the event and my injury.

Rest, Relaxation, and Racing in Switzerland

Hello friends! As you all know well, I’m somewhat of a fan of taking part in races whenever I get the chance. Well, as it turns out, that apparently also extends to when I take some vacation time! This post will cover both the vacation that Deanna and I recently took in Switzerland (3 weeks!) as well as the half marathon that we both race in while there. Some of you may not realize this, but I am lucky enough to have dual citizenship. Canadian, and Swiss. I still have quite a bit of family over there, and it’s been a long time since I visited. Add to that the fact that Deanna has never been over there, and you can quickly see why this ended up being the perfect place for us to take a nice vacation. As you can well imagine, we took a ton of pictures, which you can all view in the collection that I put up on flickr. Eventually, I’ll pull together a ‘best of’ set, but for now, you can have a look at the whole lot of them. Read on for some of the highlights of the trip.