Skiing 2007/2008

I have to say, since this is now the first FULL season in at least 10 years that I have been able to get out and rip it up, I am happy to brag that I have amassed almost 20 days on various mountains

******WOOO Friggen West Coast HOOOOO *****

This is how my season has shaped up so far (and there is still some good spring ripping to be done!)

December - 1 day (Whistler)
January - 4 days (Whistler, Mt. Seymour)
February - 4 days (Whistler, Mt. Seymour)
March - 5 days (Mt. Baldy, Mt Baker, Whistler, Mt. Seymour)
April - ???

MT. BAKER

MT. BALDY WHISTLER

Ahh the gems of the internet ....

A shepherd is suing Russia's space agency for compensation after he said a 10-foot-long chunk of metal from a space rocket fell into his yard, just missing his outdoor toilet.

Boris Urmatov, who is asking for one million roubles ($42,000) from the Roskosmos agency, lives in a small village that lies underneath the flight path of rockets taking off from the Baikonur launchpad Russia leases in nearby Kazakhstan. "Something woke him up in the night, like something exploded.

Since he's visually handicapped he didn't notice the fallen rocket parts," Urmatov's sister Marina told Reuters from the village of Kyrlyk, in Russia's Altai region. "But in the morning in front of the shepherd hut he saw this enormous metal casing, as smooth as an egg," she said by telephone from the village, which is 2,175 miles east of Moscow. "It nearly crushed the outhouse."

She said her brother was seeking damages to compensate him for the stress he suffered.
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Two Fijian youths who mistakenly stopped a police car thinking it was their truck are now on the run after dumping their sacks of dried leaves, believed to be marijuiana, at the feet of the police and fleeing into bushes.

The two boys, both on horseback, were carrying up to two kg of leaves when they stopped the police patrol car on Monday near the town of Nausori, the Fiji Times newspaper said on Wednesday. Realizing their mistake the boys dropped the sacks of leaves, abandoned the horses and fled into bushes. _______________________________________________________

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary's famed acumen and self-confidence briefly deserted him when he failed to back his own horse Hear The Echo to win the Irish Grand National at odds of 33-1.

The outsider ridden by Paddy Flood and trained by Michael (Mouse) Morris easily knocked 6-1 favorite Royal County Star into second place at Ireland's top steeplechase on Monday. "I thought he was going out for a run to keep himself warm," said O'Leary, whose Gigginstown House Stud produced 2006 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner War of Attrition.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Once and a while .. this shit is bang on

Greetings Erin -- Here is your horoscope for Sunday, March 30:

You don't like it when you don't know what's going on around you -- and right now, people seem to be acting in extraordinarily mysterious ways. The good news is that the madness should end tomorrow.

Good News and Bad News

I want to start with the Good News:

NIN FOR FREE

And now the Sad News:

RIP JEFF HEALY

Run Run RUN!!!

As some you, my avid readers know, I have started a new fitness/torture program … running. I’ve started this both out of a desire to get fit (and do it cheaply) and to make it to the finish line in my very first ever 10K run, booked for April 20th – The Vancouver Sun Run.

Since I have never been a “runner” before I thought that taking up a training program would be a wise idea, and so for the last 5 weeks I have been running 3 times a week following the How to Run 10K Guide provided by the race organizers.

At first I thought it would be a run in the park (lol –man am I puny) but how very wrong I was. See, its not that I am inactive – I ski, mountain bike, play volleyball and walk a hell of a lot – but when it came down to actually running, I had met my match.

The first day was easy, starting off with a 5 minute walk, then run for 2 minutes, walk for 3 … and do this 5 times. Ok, so that seemed like nothing. As the week progressed, the intervals got longer and the run/walk times got longer/shorter. But I made it through all 3 sessions and even thought … hey, I kinda like this running thing!

The second week was a bit harder on the mind than the body. It took a lot of coxing to get me out there in the dark after work, but my trainer (Mr. Phil) made it hard not to lace up the runners and hit the pavement.

By the third week it was smooth sailing. I wanted to run when I got home from work, it seems to melt the stress of the day away, clearing the head and gives you a reason to get out and really take advantage of the wonderful winter Vancouver gets blessed with.

And so here we are, at the start of week 5 and I have now reached a new goal. Tonight I ran for 6.5 km,(running in 3 minute intervals, with only a 60 second walk break between them – 9 times) and though it was hard at times, it was totally worth it. I hit a few walls and thought I was not going to make it but I persevered, and honestly, I kept thinking about one of my best friends Shane who just pushed a whole new person into this world this afternoon (Side Note –Don’t even ask how excited and happy I am for Shane, Todd and new little Victoria!!! OMG I could die) and that was motivation enough to keep on going to the end.

It seems that as the weeks go by and the sessions start to get behind me, I am actually getting better and better, my times are getting faster, my pace is getting faster and I am not gasping for air or reaching for my inhaler at the end of the run. It really is energizing, stress relieving and dang it makes me feel like I could scale a mountain … oh wait I did that last week (yah that’s right, I climbed a MOUNTAIN!!)

So everyone, wish me luck on this crazy 10K race I have ahead of me and I’ll keep you all posted on my progression with the training.

HUGZ

E
xoxo