This and That

Things have been turbulent since Gorge Waterfalls.  In late April, right after I'd finished my recovery I made the grievous error of going for a leisurely paddle in a kayak on a beautiful Spring day.  Something in my knee rebelled against this atrocity, and I spent most of May trying to get the  thing back in order.  Elk Lake was a write-off, and I also had to cancel another race which was going to be in just a couple weeks, but whatever.  For now I'm just happy to be running again and putting in steady miles ahead of Fat Dog in August.  I might have a couple small projects that will make up part of my training, we'll see.

My first test of the recovered muscles/tendons/whatever it was came in the form of the Run for Water ultra.  I can't say enough good things about this event, and if you're in the lower mainland, you really should join.  No, it's not a race, no, it isn't on epic mountain trails.  What it is is a chance to spend a day talking with awesome runners while raising a ton of money for water infrastructure in Ethiopia.  I will do this event every single year that I am able.  The weather was pretty rainy this year, but thankfully not too cold.  A great support crew kept us well provisioned throughout the day, all along the 56 km route.

Somehow I got it into my mind a while back that it would be fun to start doing Gulf Island raids -  in one day ferry over, run to several key landmarks on the island, take some photos, share some tweets, eat some food then blast back to the terminal to catch a boat back.  Gabriola needs a re-do since I was only able to stay for a couple hours.

Galiano was yesterday, and didn't disappoint.  Much more elevation change than Gabriola, I had a full five hours of running on gorgeous trails, bushwhacking my way through areas I probably wasn't supposed to be in, and generally having a grand old adventure.  I'd been staring at Mt. Galiano every time I took the ferry for the past year and a half and thinking I should probably run it.  I was right: