After the Booty Hunt on June 1st, I decided to go hard core… again… with P90X. It seems like my body is getting tired of it, though, since it decided to revolt! After day 3, I developed a nasty rash on my forearms and torso, followed by a horrible occurrence of positional vertigo that made me crazy dizzy. Okay, so I can’t say for sure that it’s the P90X that caused that, but what I do believe is that my body is unwinding from stress, unbeknownst to me, and manifesting in interesting ways. As everything has gone in the last few months, I was a bit derailed and needed to rest. But this has not stopped me from having a busy first half of the month!
The day the vertigo started, Adriane, Sarah, and Adriane’s friend Jo and I decided we’d hike Prairie Mountain. Yes, I’ve done this several times now, but for an early season after-work hike, it’s always a good one. And what a great group- so many stories being told, and so much laughter! It really did feel like the quickest ascent of Prairie in a long time. I do enjoy hiking on my own, but the time does pass faster when sharing the experience with friends.
Once the hike was done, I rested for a few days on Robbie’s orders. I tried to get lots of sleep and watched a bunch of TV (HIMYM is so good!). By Saturday, I finally decided to call Healthlink and a nurse advised me to see a physician, who diagnosed it as a bit of positional vertigo before sending me for a bunch of lab tests and an EKG. What a fun way to spend the weekend! But following this restful period, I did slowly get better throughout the week. On Wednesday, I walked over to the UofC to see Paul and Rob graduate. Congrats to Paul on his PhD and Rob on his MSc in Community Health Sciences. I still assert that my Certificate in Relational Databases trumps those :).
By Friday, I was stir crazy. I got in my car and decided to drive to Banff. Even though it was rainy, there’s always something new to see, so I stopped by the recently opened Cave and Basin National Historic Site, the birthplace of Canada’s national parks. It’s always fun to learn something new: The first national park in Canada was Banff in 1885. The underground cave contains bubbling thermal waters that smell of hydrogen sulphide gas. Translation: it smelled a lot like rotten eggs. I also learned that there’s a Banff Springs Snail, which is only found in the springs of Sulphur Mountain. A visit to Banff would not be complete without some random perusing of stores. So I did that too. The next day I would finally get to hike again by conquering Ha Ling, but more on that later…
June would not be complete without a few birthday celebrations. It was a fun dinner at The King and I for Samir’s 31st, and a great evening with lots of catching up and laughter for Selina’s 40th. So all in all, despite the vertigo, it’s been a pretty awesome first half of June!
Stats (for Prairie Mountain):
Start time: 5:20 pm
Summit: 6:45 pm
End time: 8:30 pm
HIKES & HAMSTRINGS 
I’ve never been to Cave and Basin! Can’t wait to go when we get back!!! Glad the vertigo is subsiding 🙂
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