rickohikes

To The Moon in June!

Waterfront in Burlington. From http://www.discoverburlingtonontario.blogspot.ca

So I’m pumped. The BMO Vancouver Half-marathon is just around the corner (eek!) and I think I’m fairly prepared for a good run. My plan: Rather than trying for a PB (personal best), I’m just going to enjoy the run, which will take runners through some of the amazing neighbourhoods and beautiful areas of Vancouver. I look forward to it 🙂

Moon in June race

But characteristic of many runners, I’ve also been thinking about subsequent races. Yes, there’s the Calgary half marathon at the end of May, but then what? So on the recommendation of my brother, I’ve now signed up for another 10 k race- The Moon in June Road Race in Burlington, Ontario on June 2nd. The course passes through down town Burlington and the pretty waterfront during the sunset hours before ending in the Civic Square at City Hall. My brother Ry and his friend Kelly are avid runners and will also be running that night. We all had our first race 4 years ago at the Mississauga 10 k, so it will be great to run with them again 🙂

Waterfront in Burlington. From http://www.discoverburlingtonontario.blogspot.ca

Moon in June Course map

When I think about it, that trip home is turning out to be quite busy! I fly home Friday night, then I’m booked for a full-day zip-lining adventure during the day, followed by the 10k Moon in June run that night… followed by the 5k Bread and Honey Race Sunday morning. It’s going to be awesome!…. assuming my body survives the weekend.

Burlington. From http://www.discoverburlingtonontario.blogspot.ca

To The End of the Earth!

Torres del Paine National Park (photo from Gadventures)

At the time of starting this post, it’s Thursday evening, and I’m in my SQL database class where we’ve just started the topic of automation. Naturally, my limited attention span for databases has caused my mind to wander. And to where did it wander? Travelling. As Peru approaches, I’m getting quite excited! And even though I don’t know how the 4 day hike will go, I’m already convinced that I’m going to love it. So I began perusing the Gadventures website for other tours that speak to me. As I was looking at the plethora of tours among the many different regions of the world, two things became clear to me:

1) I love to hike.

2) I love South America.

My love of hiking is no secret- I live beside some of the most spectacular mountains in the world! And Peru will be my second trip to South America. The first visit was a Gadventures tour of Chile and Argentina called Southern Discovery, where I had some of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten, and fell in love with Argentinian Malbec wines. I remember drinking wine in the Maipo Valley of Santiago, experiencing the beauty of the Chilean Lake District, crossing the Andes to Bariloche, and exploring the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires. Fantastic memories… *sigh*… but alas, I digress…

This was a gorgeous evening. Osorno Volcano 🙂

Excursion to Chiloe Island. I had some of the best salmon ever here!

A little while ago, I was on FB and came across a photo from a friend, Ashley. She’s totally awesome, and someone who sees the positive in life while taking advantage of all the amazing things life has to offer. In fact, Ashley was my tour guide on another Gadventures tour I took- Costa Rica Quest, which was also an amazing tour that I would recommend to everyone and anyone wanting an intense week-long adventure. Anyway, back to the photo. She was somewhere that I had never seen. The mountains in the backdrop of her photo were incredible! I messaged her right away: “Where is this and how do I get there??” She responded shortly after. (Thanks for your response! :D). She was trekking in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Say whaa?, so I googled it. Oh My God. Naturally, trekking in Torres del Paine National Park was added to my list!

Torres del Paine National Park (photo from Gadventures)

So which tour has sparked my fancy? Well, as the name of this blog post suggests, it’s the tour that will take me to The End of the Earth! After flying to Buenos Aires, the tour takes adventurers to Glacier National Park and Torres del Paine for some hiking before heading to Ushuaia, which is commonly regarded as the most southernmost city in the world. This it’s back to Buenos Aires for a final night on the town! Gawd, that sounds amazing. From the tour description:

“Perfect for outdoor enthusiasts who want to experience one of the world’s most pristine wilderness settings, this challenging two-week adventure packages the region’s essential highlights into one incredible journey: explore Torres del Paine, encounter the Perito Moreno Glacier and hike Glacier National Park. With years of local experience, we employ the region’s best guides to reveal the extraordinary, bringing you to our exclusive campsites which provide stunning views of Patagonia. Prepare to be awed.”

Believe you me. I am prepared to be awed.

Torres del Paine National Park (photo from Gadventures)

To The End of the Earth!

Zapping my Head with X-rays

Computed tomography (CT) scanning machine. OOhhh. Ahhhh.

Today I had an appointment for a head CT scan. I’ll say right now that there’s really nothing to worry about, and the point of this post isn’t about my well-being. So what’s it about? It’s about the machine. The CT scanning machine is so cool! Cool to the point that I asked if I could take a photo. The tech’s response: “Well, we’re not really hiding anything… so I guess so”. I can only imagine how expensive that machine is. A quick google search puts the estimates in the 500K to a million dollar range, maybe even more. Plus, with operation and labour costs, I’m sure it’s a costly procedure.

According to Wikipedia, CT scanning of the head is used to detect infarction, tumours, calcifications, haemorrhage and bone tauma. CT stands for “computed tomography” and refers to the computation of tomography (sliced/sectioned imaging) from ionizing radiation (X-ray) images.

The whole event was pretty quick. Actually, I think I was done in less than 10 minutes. The prep involved wearing a medical cap and something to cover my eyes. The most important thing was to keep my head completly straight and steady in the head rest for the entire duration of the scan. Then there was a fairly loud whirring sound and small movements of the table as scanner zapped my head with x-rays and snapped images. Then I was sent on my merry way like nothing happened. It was an interesting experience.

The next time I visit my doctor, I’ll ask him to go through the images with me. I’m sure my brain will showcase its photogeneticism, which, as a reminder, is the genetic predisposition to showcase awesome photogenic abilities and appear aesthetically pleasing in at least 95% of all photographs *… and cue smile*. Or in this case, *… and fire neuron*. Obviously, I’m hoping for these images to be aesthetically pleasing 100% of the time :).

Earth Day on Prairie Mountain

The view to the south from Prairie Mountain

Yesterday, April 22nd, was Earth Day. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and I could think of no better way to spend Earth Day than to hike a mountain. I’ve really grown to love hiking since moving to Calgary. It gives me a sense of connectedness with nature and awe for my surroundings in ways that I find difficult to feel otherwise. This would also be my first solo hike of the season. As much as I love to travel with company, hike with friends and be around people, I do enjoy doing things on my own. I’ve always been that way, and consequently, I’ve done quite a bit of solo traveling and hiking. I notice that when I get all thinky, I either go to self-help books, or I venture out on my own. Yesterday was one of those days.

“I’m happy to be here!”

I decided to hike Prairie Mountain, which I’ve done several times and figured it would be a great hike to kick-start the hiking season :). It’s also close to Calgary near Bragg Creek, so it makes for a fairly quick excursion. I was interested to see how I would do considering it would be the first intense hike since last year. Either way, I knew that my quadriceps were in for a treat!

Snapping a quick photo during the ascent

Just me and the trees

I was preparing for a muddy/snowy hike

Another photo-op

The home stretch!

The hike was shorter than I remembered, but just as gruelling as I expected. My quads were definitely on fire at times and I had to control my pace and breathing for most of the ascent. I passed many hikers along the way, but for the most part, it was just me and the trees, earth and mountains around me. The summit is beautiful. On a clear day, Calgary rises up in the east among infinite miles of flat prairie land. In the west, there are gorgeous views of many mountain peaks. In between panting or focussing on my steps, I would smile to myself and reflect. I feel extremely fortunate and lucky to be living so close to such amazing natural beauty. Why wouldn’t I take advantage of it as much as possible…? There are so many epic hikes I want to complete, and seemingly never enough time.

Calgary in the distance

The summit. The flag wasn’t there last year 🙂

Stunning mountains to the west

Panoramic from the summit

The Elbow Falls area was swarming with families out to enjoy the weather, so by the time I parked and geared up with my bag, gaiters, microspikes and hiking poles, I didn’t begin my ascent until 1:50 pm. Even with the mud and snow, I reached the summit by 3:20 pm. The descent was kind of fun- a combination of walking, sliding, and running down the mountain. I was back at the car by 4:20 pm- so 2.5 hours up and down ain’t bad at all!

So many people in the Elbow Falls area

At the summit. I conquered you real good, Praire Mountain.

The First Race of 2012: The MEC Bow River Run

The MEC Bow River Run

My day started at the crack of dawn. I ate a bagel with cream cheese and an apple, and then drank some tea. I played some music and washed some dishes. I looked out my window, sun shining through, and noted that it was going to be a beautiful day in Calgary. And thank goodness the weather was perfect because today was my first run of the season- the Mountain Equipment Co-op 10k Bow River Run. Yay! Dressed in my running attire, hat, gloves, and running playlist with the likes of Timbaland, Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, and of course, Beyoncé, I was ready to go.

We can totally chic-chic-pow this thing!

The race started in Edworthy Park South, which is not too far from my place. Once I arrived, I started seeing the other runners. There’s nothing like an early morning race when the air is crisp and runners are warming up, eager for that “gun” to signal the start of the run. (I quote the word “gun” because there was no gun. I think they yelled “go”, or sounded a horn). Shortly afterward, I met up with my friend Sony who was running the 5k. In her words, we were ready to chic-chic-pow this thing.

Racers gathering at the start/finish line

What was cool about this race is that it was only $10 to register. MEC’s goal was to offer a low cost, fun, community race. And that they did. There was no chip timing, which would have increased the cost, so they went with the “old-school” timing of recording your time manually at the finish. And it was a small race with a maximum of 300 participants. Even with the $10 registration, they had post-race cookies, energy bars, water and coffee. Awesome.

Course map for the Bow River Run

Let’s do this!!

Just before 9 am, the runners gathered at the start line, and before we knew it, we were off. I knew the race map quite well. When I do train, Bow River is my favourite place to run. Sony and I paced well at the start, and then I was on my own for the 10k. The 4s and 1s pace has been working well for me following some knee concerns, so I decided to stick with that. I knew I was in good shape when I hit the 10k turnaround at 30 minutes, and according to Runkeeper, I crossed the finish line at 58 minutes. (UPDATE: My official time was 57:24.73). Under an hour was my goal… yes!! And great job, Sony :). We certainly did chic-chic-pow this morning.

The Bow River. Pretty…

The Crowchild Trail foot bridge

I love morning races. I always seem to forget the sense of having completed so much by mid-morning. Now that the Bow River Run is complete, my next run is the BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon, two weeks today. “Yikes!” really does understate how I feel about running 21.1k. Somehow, though… I got this!

Thanks MEC for a great race!