Here are the top 20 things (it did start as 10) that I will miss about summer:

20. Floating in the pool.

19. My tan.  Even though for most of the summer it was in the shape of my sports bra and running shorts.

18. Being able to see the Lake when I am teaching on Monday evenings.

17. Berries, berries and more berries, and being able to pick them from your own garden.

16. Running skirts.  They are too cute to only be worn six months of the year.

15. Big Brother.  Sorry I’m not sorry.

14. Naptime outside.

13. Flowers.  There is nothing like the smell of honeysuckle to get me through a road run.

12. Leaves on the trees.  Life in the country gets pretty bare in the winter.

11. Lack of routine and schedule.  I am not the planner that I used to be, really.  I love seeing where the day takes me; sometimes it may not be anywhere.

10. Driving with the windows down and the music loud (the music is still loud in the winter but the windows are closed).

9. Flip flops.  I could still wear them, but they aren’t conducive to those who spend hours on end in a hockey rink.

8. The golf course isn’t always open, which adds an additional 7 minutes to my commute to the lake.

7. Having a clean car inside and out.  Trail running is not a clean sport.

6. My body doesn’t hurt quite as much.  I don’t care what Dr. L says.

5. Adventure Thursdays.

4. The patio, any patio.

3. Impromptu happy hours.  They never need a reason in the summer.

2. Finishing our morning trail runs with a swim in Hayward Lake.

1. My summer partner in crime.  Most parents are excited about their kids going back to school, me not so much.

I have never considered myself very techie, so when the wonderful people at SmarttNet handed my website over to me I felt a little like a new parent…mmmmk, so what do I do now? Fortunately for me, my website did come with a hands on tutorial, a reference guide and plenty of techie advice when I needed it, but the thought of linking pages, inserting images, Google Analytics frightened me to death.

And then there was the blog. Really, what did I have to say (apparently a lot) and would anyone read it (there is evidence that a few of you do). I found out quickly that the only way that my blog would work for me was if I quit worrying about what I thought everyone wanted to hear and was just myself. So what started out as my official running diary (I hated the word blog back then) still does document my running and races, it also is a place where I can write about health, fitness and wellness and even rant a little as well.

As Conny and I discussed last night on our way home from spin class at the Sheep, life is about living and learning from our mistakes, not regretting but instead handling the situation differently if it happened again, and that is what I have done with my blog. Being new to social media (and I was a total rookie), I have had to learn where to set my boundaries, because when you write something, it is pretty much forever (and really, you don’t need to know and nor should you care that I had a handful of chocolate chips after eating a lunch that was completely null and void of any nutritional value).

I have also opened the door to other forms of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. For me this was a pretty big deal because until very recently I was quite a vocal anti-Facebooker, I have eaten a lot of crow on this one, which has only re-affirmed “never say never” people. It also re-affirms boundary setting. I am still surprised at some of the things that people post and also at the horrific spelling errors (I don’t understand why Facebook does not have spell check on status updates but it does when you comment on some else’s update) on Facebook.

One of the things that I enjoy most about my website is the comments that I receive not only from my clients but from people outside of the lower mainland, please keep them coming. It’s always interesting to see how people found the website (I now love Google Analytics), the most unusual one to date came last week when someone searched “Ted Bundy Summit Park” (I had mentioned this in my Sprint to the Summit post)…yikes!

The past year has required patience, nurturing and a whole lotta courage. What seemed to be such a scary thing a year ago is now a part of my day which I look forward to. I would like to send out a HUGE shout-out to my Mum (my editor) and her 17th century English, one day this will be a paying gig you know.

Happy birthday ironmountainmovement.com, lemon drops for everyone!

Although the swelling and bruising has disappeared from my right foot, it is still a little tender to touch especially the area just below my ankle (when wearing my runners the area in question is right under the outside edge of my shoe) and the stiffness of my new runners has only been aggravating it more. I know that I could do the wise thing and take a week off and let it heal, but today is the last sunny day of the week, I did take yesterday off, it was only a 5km run…I pulled out my old runners.

There always seems to be a bit of denial when it comes to getting new runners. Your knees, hips and ankles may be sore, you know that your runners are no longer providing any kind of support or cushioning, but they feel just so damn good! Worn in all the right spots, so many miles, so many memories. And when we finally give in and jump off our wallets and buy a new pair (usually the same as the last pair only in this season’s colours), we keep the old pair. I am guilty of it too.

So this morning when I put on my old runners they were butter…
1. Pronounced slowly in a slightly deeper tone bud-ah, as in perfect fit…my runners felt like butter.
2. Pronounced quickly and slightly sarcastically but-her, as in but her…nice outfit but butter shoes?
…both examples pertain to my old runners!

With relatively little discomfort, I enjoyed a sunny 27:25 5km hilly run and felt so good I added an additional 2km loop. I’m not sure how my knees and hips will feel tomorrow, but ankle felt fantastic today.

Although it may seem like I take a lot of time off, in reality I don’t.  While there are breaks between Parks and Leisure programs and Studio schedules they don’t all occur at the same time, so while I am off in one area I am still working in another.  My true vacation time, meaning I teach zero classes and have zero commitments anywhere works out to a grand total of four weeks per year, two weeks at the end of summer and two in the winter.  I did take an additional week this year in July when I went to Utah, so this year will make it five weeks, I’m sorry that I’m not sorry, I own it (that was for you Rachel).  Today at 10:00am I started my first day of my end of the summer vacation!

When most people are on vacation they do not think about work until their last day of vacation, and it is usually ugh…what disaster am I going back to, or ugh…I don’t want to go back to work.  I love being active; when I am not active I am usually planning or thinking about the next time that I will be , I’m not obsessive it’s just who I am and something else that I own.

As much as I would like to in a normal work –week, I am not able to get out and participate in other people’s classes, there are only so many hours in the day and with the addition of my domestic goddess duties I am pretty tapped for time (with the exception of my daily 20 minute power nap, which is on the schedule).  So, vacation to me is a time when I can get out and check out other classes and see what is new and exciting in the fitness world, research and development if you will, even if I am in another city or country.  Don’t get me wrong, my vacation won’t be all work and no play, I plan on playing plenty!

My clients often tease me that when I am on vacation I am in search of new methods to torture them with; I think that torture is a bit harsh, I prefer challenge!  I always learn something from every class in which I participate, a new move or drill, a cue or am reminded of something that I may have forgotten about (like when you only participate in only one or two step classes a year, it is really important to really stretch your calves after, talk about torture).

So what should you expect from a fitness instructor?  Dane Boyle of the San Antonio Fitness Examiner asked me the same question last week and this is what I told him…

Group fitness classes should be led by qualified individuals, and clients should have high expectations for their group leaders.  Keri Cawthorne owner of Iron Mountain Movement lists the top 10 things students should expect from their group fitness leaders:

Top 10:

1. A fitness leader should be motivating, not intimidating.
2. A fitness leader should arrive 10-15 minutes before class starts to greet, to answer questions and to assist with any set-up. The instructor should also be the last person to leave the class when it is over.
3. A fitness leader should start the class on time and finish on time.
4. A fitness leader should be dressed appropriately for the class.
5. A fitness leader should introduce themselves and let participants know what to expect from the class.
6. A fitness leader should be able to provide modifications for any exercise.
7. A fitness leader should smile and make eye contact with the class.
8. A fitness leader should be certified and be able to provide an educational portion of the class (ie: proper alignment while doing muscle conditioning, stretching, cooling down etc).
9. A fitness leader should not be afraid to move around the class.
10. A fitness leader should provide a safe and effective class (ie. a clean and uncluttered space, music at a healthy volume). read entire article

Other things that I plan to do on my vacation: the Grouse Grind as many times as possible, hike The Chief, a cross border grocery shopping trip to Trader Joes (Deanna, Sharon, are you reading?), clean out my closet, go to the PNE, read one business related book and one sex, drugs and rock and roll biography, have a massage and enjoy a “Bad Girls” catch-up night.

While out on my usual Tuesday morning trail run I felt the most intense pain coming from the top of my foot. Over the weekend I had rolled my ankle and it had been tweaking a little during my run, so I instantly thought that I must have torn the ligaments. My foot was screaming, I even yelped a little! I pulled back the tongue of my shoe and found a wasp caught between my shoe and my sock. I am not sure how many times that it stung me; I am going to say more than once. Having no allergies to wasps I finished the run, went about my business even taught a spin class.

Waking up to my cankle this morning was a bit of a surprise, kinda threw a wrench into Wednesday morning speed training. So I am going to put my feet up and make the most of the sun for the rest of the day, benadryl, a little ice and maybe even dig into the growing pile of books waiting for me to read.

I usually do my race director debrief run the morning after a race, but because this was an out of town race, I really couldn’t do a full debrief until I got home so it had to wait until this morning. After four days of not enough rest and sleep, not enough (or the right) nutrition, a fair amount of stress, unstable weather (my Rheumatologist insists that barometric pressure has no effect on RA, I call bullshit) and not lifting with my knees, by this morning my body was a hurting unit. The days up to and the hours after a race are pretty much a complete blur, so my debrief run serves two purposes, I am able to blow off any left over stress and am also able to organize my thoughts to analyze the event. Like any good Canadian kid, this morning I sucked it up, put on my new Salomon XT Wings 2 (thank you JP) and hit the streets of Whonnock to reflect.

Thursday…
I hit the trails early with Conny. The only word that I can use to describe my run is aggressive. This kind of run doesn’t happen for me all that often, but I love it when they do, you feel fierce. As Conny was racing on Saturday her run was more of a stretch your legs kind of run, she was saving her fierceness for the race. To compare our running style to a music style, I was Metallica; she was Metric (slash Crash Test Dummies…kidding Conny). Despite being drizzly outside we finished our two different worlds tour run with a dip in the lake, man, I am going to miss that in a few short weeks.

Showered and feeling fierce I carried on with the rest of my day which consisted of dropping my car off for a “small service” (whatever) and picking up the remainder of the groceries for the race, a quick lunch with my Mum and Dad and packing for my trip to Whistler, nothing like waiting until the last minute.

With my car packed and the sun now shining, I hit the road at 5:30pm. I would like to send a shout out to the undercover officer (who I didn’t realize was an undercover officer until after our altercation) for scaring the crap out of me by blaring his horn and practically running me out of the HOV lane. Just because you can’t see a second person in a vehicle does not mean that there isn’t one, bonehead. Only a thought but perhaps next time make sure those really cool sunglasses are the prescription kind.

Friday…
The dilemmas started before I even left the hotel, shorts or pants. With no rain in the forecast and the 80lb pack that I knew Marky had packed for me to carry while I marked the course, I went with shorts.

What makes Whistler a bit of a logistical race nightmare is that most of what we need for the race has to be sent up by gondolas, but thanks to some awesome re-organization we were unloaded at the top, without any near divorces or bricks flying and were able to start the course marking an hour ahead of schedule! As we had a larger marking crew than normal, we were able to split into two groups and the course into two sections, cutting our marking time down dramatically. Three snow fields, 4.9km of lunges at 6100ft and carrying what felt like a medium child on my back (I know that if I was wearing the pack correctly I wouldn’t have felt a thing, I call bullshit again), the 5 Peaks Whistler Sport course was marked.

Absolutely famished we stopped at the GLC for what may have been the best burger and beer that I have ever had.

GLC Burger, sassy sauce on the side and a Stella

With just over an hour to spare before racer check-in started, I managed to squeeze in a well-deserved twenty-minute catnap, showered and was ready to rock again. Racer check-in was unusually slow for the most part, we joked that we felt like the judges from American Idol, six of us sitting at what looked like one long table, all eyes focused on the next person to walk to the back of the Salomon Store…maybe you just had to be there. I think that most racers forgot that they could pick-up their packages on Friday.

Saturday…
Showtime! Back to Salomon Store, the set-up crew headed up the mountain and we settled in for what I knew would be a gong show of a racer check-in. We started at 7:30am, and by 8:30am the main rush had still not hit, and would not do so until 9:00am, even though racer check-in closed at 9:30am. We did manage to get everyone checked in and registered, but just as an aside, if you do show up after racer check-in has closed and still want to register and/or check-in, you should always smile and be nice and have already gone to the bank machine.

The set-up crew had done a fantastic job so once MC John was in place, it was business as usual. I received course clearance, did my race director speech and started the race at 11:01! At last year’s race I was suffering from an unknown stomach bug, and spent most of the time from when the race started until the first racers came through the finish line in the fetal position beside the Red Chair. Feeling fantastic this year, I was able to watch the racers complete the lower loop and even managed to take a few pictures.

At the start line

The amazing Arthur

Mum, Melody and Janice at the food tent

Dyanne and Albion setting up Logowear

Granddad on course marshal duty

MC John

The very fashionable Corrie on timing chip removal

just a little bit of snow

With the course clear and the awards ceremony underway on the deck of the Roundhouse (thank goodness that the threat of thunderstorms was over) we tore down the race compound and sent it back down to the Village on the gondolas. Once the trailer was reloaded, it was back to the hotel (with about the same time as Friday) to freshen up for the 6pm group dinner at the Brew House.

We had a great turnout; almost all of the Maple Ridge crew either stopped by for a visit and a quick drink or had dinner with us. By 8:45pm I was running on reserve and decided to call it a night…I think that I may be getting old?

Fierceness = Medal. Congratulations Conny!

Sunday…
Leaving a beautiful resort is always hard, but after packing up and one last trip into the Village it was time to start the trek home. The last thing that you ever want to see when driving is the “check the brake pads” symbol, so imagine driving the Sea to Sky Highway (described by one review as a two-lane scenic highway passing both the Pacific Ocean and rugged mountain peaks) in and out of rainstorms with your “check the brake pads” symbol illuminating your dash. You have to love technology, I’m not sure what is worse knowing on a two hour drive that you may not have brakes the next time you hit the brake pedal or not knowing at all and hitting the brake pedal and nothing happening (I have been assured since that I have plenty of brakes left, and that the sensor was just a warning…but have scheduled my brakes to be replaced).

my dash

Monday…
It wasn’t the fastest 5km run, but it was the best mind clearing 5km run EVER! I finished the run to Green Day’s “Time Of Your Life”. This song always gets me because it always takes me back to the wonderful slideshow at my daughter’s kindergarten graduation set to that very song (sniff, sniff). Hearing it today made me smile because even with all of the craziness of the weekend, the lack of sleep, the poor nutrition, we sure had the time of our lives this weekend!

With the addition of a few new faces, a few faces missing and no cinnamon buns, this is pretty much what it looked like …

Unless you are a fitness supermodel or you are being coached through a running photo shoot with Raeanne Fabulous, chances are that most of your running pictures are less than flattering. Even if you think that you have mastered the art of the finish line photo (chin up, chest out, shirt down) you can still easily blow it (exhibit A, my finish line photo from the Green Thumb ½ Marathon earlier this year…add to the list ‘close your mouth’). That’s why I am a big fan of the before (oh crap!) and after (woo-hoo) shots.

The fantastic volunteer who was at the Summit and manning the water station was also taking photos, and snapped my picture before I knew it as I passed by.

Me at 8500'!

Funny, I remember being in more of a crawling than upright position!

I always enjoy doing smaller races because they are more personal, this race in particular. Instead of doing the same old boring age group categories (20-29, 30-39…), the organizers stayed true to the whole Utah back country theme, and organized us into age divisions named after wildlife indigenous to Utah:
• Young bucks
• Grey fox
• Mountain lion
• Black bear
• Master moose
• Senior speedgoat
…yes, I was a mountain lion…it’s better than being a cougar or a moose right?

I was pleasantly surprised at my placing, for most of the race I thought that I was 3rd last. So how did I do? I placed 26th out of 44 other racers and 2nd out of the 6 mountain lions!

Thanks again Summit Park for hosting such a memorable event, a true highlight of my time in Utah.

Conny getting assertive with the dog, notice that I am at a safe distance behind her.

No sooner had we started our run, when lo and behold there was the pitbull-mix dog, standing in the middle of the trail barking at us, are aggression issue contagious or just the theme of the morning?  One of the reasons that I love running on the trails is because I don’t have to deal with dogs, maybe the occasional bear or coyote but no mean dogs.  Conny yelled at the dog and it ran back into the trail so we ran into the trail too.  The dog would stop at the top of each little hill, bark, Conny would yell and it would run further into the trail, a nice little pattern was started to emerge.  That was until we started to get a little closer to the dog and it started to growl.

I am the kind of person that if I was ever in a haunted house and I heard a voice whisper “get out”, I would get the eff out, I don’t need to do any further investigation or to be told a second time.  So to me, a growling dog means the same thing, especially a pitbull-mix that I don’t know.  We aren’t even 5 minutes into our run and I am ready to skip the swim, turn around and make up the time on the road.

As Conny is so much braver than me, she yells at the dog again and it runs further still into the trail and makes a quick right turn next to the teddy/hair clip/ribbon/bong memorial (another unusual sighting) at the side of the trail just before the bridge, and is gone.  I thought for sure that he would re-appear just like the voice in the haunted house scenario, but he didn’t.

We continued our run, hit our turn-back point, made the turn and stopped for a quick swim as we crossed back over the bridge (the water was not nearly as cool as I thought it would be after the poor weather that we have had). We also noticed that in addition to the teddy/hair clip/ribbon/bong memorial at the side of the trail, on the floating bridge deck there was a now a random arrangement of fake flowers…what is going on with our trail…We finished our run and didn’t stretch because we were swarmed by mosquitoes.

And now it’s time for some social commentary, which has absolutely nothing to do with running…

When you go to Starbucks there is a fairly good chance that you are going to wait in a line, either waiting to order your coffee, or waiting for your coffee to be made.

If you don’t know what you are going to order, a great time to make those decisions is while you are standing in the waiting to order line-up.  Now if by chance you still have not decided what you would like by the time it is your turn to order and there is a line-up behind you, perhaps you should step aside and let the next person in line place their order while you ponder, and if you are still unable to decide, why not go with the barista recommendation on the menu board (that’s what it is there for). Now if the line-up is growing and growing impatient behind you and you finally decide what you would like to have, and the barista who is still pleasant at this point (how at the this point I don’t know) asks you what size you would like, even if you really don’t know just say medium.  And after the barista has written on the cup and it’s time to pay, please do not say “ah, let’s forget it after all, I didn’t want anything sweet” and walk away because you are just asking for that barista to go Steve Slater all over you with full support of the other patrons!

While standing in the Starbucks line-up this morning and witnessing the above unfold, I couldn’t help but think about the infamous Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” episode….

I knew that the information that I had provided would appear in the September issue, so the waiting game had started.  When I was grocery shopping last week, I noticed that the August issue was completely sold out (fyi: in the US Woman’s Day is one of the top five selling newsstand magazines), and it would only be a matter of days until the September issue was available.

So after photographing my not so anonymous Operation Beautiful note near the Slim Fast products I casually made my way to the check-out to pay for my groceries ,and OMG it was there!!!!  As I leapt for the magazine, I excused myself quickly and possibly a little too late to the lady that I bumped ahead of me. I quickly flipped open the cover to find the table of contents and under “be well” I found the article on page 138 “Shape Up Your Workout Gear: from sports bras to sneakers, the items that will help you get the most out of your exercise” by Abigail L. Cuffey…YAY!  Careful not to damage any of the pages, I calmly found the article and quickly started scanning, and on page 142 in a perfect blue circle under Sports Bra Smarts I see…

“Always make sure that seams are flat on a sports bra,” says Keri Cawthorne, a running coach in Vancouver.   You can check by running your fingers along the edges.  “Bulky seams cause chafing around the armpits and under arms, which can lead to bleeding.”

On my way home I called my Mum and I read to her what the perfect blue circle said.  I’m not quite sure if she believed me at first (because I quote myself in magazines all the time) but from the giddiness in my voice she knew that this was the real deal this time!

I think that if all trips to the grocery store could end like yesterday’s I would actually like grocery shopping.