moose

Saskatchewan

Published September 8, 2019

Cornfields, wide open prairies & the CFL Rough Riders. Friday nite travel to Regina – Saskatchewan’s provincial capital. Geographically above North Dakota; skies that stretch forever. Great Plains SMILE 🙂

Nothing direct to Regina. Nada. Calgary on the way out, Vancouver on my return. Little dot on the prairie. Clean, tidy landscape. Neat yards, one large university, provincial dome mile from my hotel digs. Expo Saturday at the Conexus Arts Centre, early sleeps, chilly 39 degrees marathon morn. YES!

Redemption search. Huge mental fail last Saturday in Ohio. Air thick/humid/oven hot & an evening race (excuses come easy) – it’s the mental collapse, that’s always hardest to bounce back/recover from.

Hitched a ride with another runner to Sunday’s Start. Our far North cousins – super friendly. Lake along Lakeshore Drive completely masked in fog. [Wascana Lake] Near perfect run conditions.

Queued back-of-the-pack. Cap off, soaked up the country’s anthem. Almost 8000 of us. Held back first mile, steady even pace. 10K thick with Halfers. No tunes/earbuds quiet ‘til after the split. Easy, flat, forgiving course. Just enjoying the day. Museum, capitol dome. Lotta bike path, lotta parks.

Shed a layer, carried my gloves. Douglas Park, Rambler Park, Wilson Park.

Folks should give ‘the Queen City’ a little more love (Pile-of-Bones renamed in 1897, after Queen Victoria). Beautiful day, happy town. And my finish? Back on track. Completion 161, Canada medal #8.

Newfoundland to BC, Toronto to the Yukon. 2020: every Province, every Territory 🍁

Montréal in 2 short weeks. Parlez-vous français, eh?

GMS Queen City Marathon

2019-09-08 • GMS 42.2K Run

BIB 101 K R Haga 04:34:31.0

: crop circles & prairie

: Expo Saturday

: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

: lotta bike path, lotta parks

: layered up & ready

: O’ Canada ♫ ♬ ♭

: SASKATCHEWAN

: Canada #8 🍁

: weird yet satisfying 🍕

: every Province, every Territory

: Colorado HOME ❤️

: Sunday, September 8

Queen City Marathon, SK

Posted in Canada, Marathons/Ultras | Tagged holidays, moose | Leave a comment

WYO Redemption

Published June 14, 2019

Dream Big and Go For It

As a runner, you’ll fail lots, and you’ll fail publicly. That’s part of the point.

You will have crap races? Race anyway. You will get injured? Run anyway.

So go for it. Run with passion, race fearlessly, chase your craziest dreams without caring too much about how realistic they are. Do that, and yeah, you might fail.

And that’s pretty much the whole point.

Sheridan WY

2017 DNS. 2018 DNF. 3 times lucky?

January 5^th. Alarm set. Registered before sell-out, third year in a row. BIGHORN!

Custer’s Last Stand (an hour away). 2019: my last stand. Know what to expect, getting it done.

Never soooo much MUD in my life, this year SNOW & water crossings. Heavy winter in the high country. Purchased Lekis (trekking poles). NO fear, ready to battle.

Friday flight to County Airport Sheridan. Easy afternoon of diner food, introspective walk downtown. WYO Country. Real deal here. No Deadwood shoot-out for tourists. Honest cowboy vibe.

Best Western bib pick-up. 32-mile tag retrieved.

New year, new distance. Start 3 hours later than the 50 (past two Bighorn attempts). Most miles logged EVER (life-to-date), last year’s DNF. [Didn’t quit, missed the time cut-off.]

No pre-race museum, no Nat’l Park drive. Serious face this year. Game on.

Early to bed, early to rise. 45-minute drive to Dayton. 6am school bus from Tongue River Valley Community Center. Head demons tamed. Unfinished business.

: County Airport

: Wyoming MOOSE

: diner LUNCH 🍴

: downtown Sheridan

: Fruits of the Good Earth

: Welcome BIGHORN

: my year, my time

: experience of a lifetime

: historic SNOW ❄️

Posted in Rocky Mtn West | Tagged moose, native-american | Leave a comment

Labor Day 2016 (Colorado mix)

Published September 4, 2016

Last time I saw Sarah, she set up a sweet hike above scenic Lake Louise in Banff Nat’l Park. Hike day culminated in a high-altitude tea aside an alpine lake, Lake Agnes. Set the bar mighty high, huh? Well…she IS Canadian after all.

Early morn hot air balloon, diner breakfast – next up, one of my hike faves, Brainard Lake.

Alpine lake, lodgepole pine, glacier snow on the peaks – all at 10,300ft starting elevation…pretty SPECTACULAR. Ever Google the elevation in Toronto? 249ft. True flatlanders. Whatta sport – thin air, little oxygen, yet not a peep of negativity outta Sarah. Hiked to Long Lake – pic I use as my website cover art. LOVE LOVE this place. Sharing the experience with friends, no words. Full heart.

Anything any better? uh…Cue, wildlife. Chipmunks, pika, black squirrels, elk – easy. How ‘bout MOOSE? FAAANNNTASTIC! Shower, change of clothes, night trek up Boulder Canyon to Gold Hill Inn. Fine dining at 8,000ft. Kinda hard to match Banff but folks – an alpine hike, 2 moose & a 5-course meal at 8,000ft – I attempted to reach that bar. WOW, whatta day!

(whole lotta photo credit: sarahontheroad.com)

: 5000ft higher than my Colorado home

: perfect day for a hike

: lodgepole pine & glacier-fed water

: Ponderosa pine

: thin air & cool temps – LOVE it!

: Aspen yellow, the beginning of Fall

: photo credit: sarahontheroad.com

: website cover art revisited (Long Lake) — my blog’s now 5 years strong

: Ro’s a smilin’ — sign of a mighty good hike

: FAVE shot of the day!

: alpine pallet, so much colour

: wildlife alert: MOOSE!

: a drink & a soak before heading home

: photo credit: sarahontheroad.com

: high-altitude fine dining

: a rare non-hike, non-marathon, freshly-showered dinner pic 🙂

Sunday: [marathon] bib pick-up day in Colorado Springs. 10 minute chore – check, done.

Garden of the Gods. Monolith red rocks curtained by mighty Pikes Peak in the background. 2 ½ hours from home, but I visit this Park at least twice a year. Any excuse, friend/family visit to Colorado – Rocky Mtn Nat’l Park to the North, Garden of Gods to the South. Both treks highlight every itinerary. AWESOME amazing acts of God.

Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Something old, something new – well, at least new to me. LOVE history, LOVE everything Native American. Visited the three-story Pueblo-style Cliff Dwellings, descendants of the ancient Anasazi (existed 1100-1300 A.D.) Honestly not a ton to see & do, but happy to have gone once. Museum’s a bit dated – more walk-thru placards than actual artifacts.

Dinner & a short tourist walk downtown. Highlight: the healing waters of Shoshone Spring & a random local releasing their pet sugar glider (small, nocturnal gliding possum). Startling, unexpected but pretty cool experience.

Night sleeps in Manitou Springs, tomorrow another 26.2.

(even more photo credit: sarahontheroad.com)