Training Log Archive: Bash

'Bent and I are classic skiers. Rather than going to ski clubs, we prefer to make our own tracks with wider skis on ungroomed trails. But as time goes on and the climate changes, we find ourselves at ski clubs more often than not.

Most of our friends are skate skiers so it would be nice to have those skills. Attackpoint says that I've only done 20 minutes of skate skiing since 2013! We've decided that we'll try to start each visit to Scenic Caves with a 30-minute skate ski session. Maybe it will become fun eventually. Even if it doesn't, it's a great workout because we're so inefficient. Today was Day 1 and it was hard work.

We went back out on classic skis - ahh, that's better (and slower). 'Bent tried out his new skin skis, which are really nice. I used my old racing waxless skis, which are noisy and slow by comparison. It was great to have snow when there was so much grass showing in the town below.

Mom arrived this afternoon for Christmas!

'Bent wasn't feeling well so we went for an easy family snowshoe outing on the Bruce Trail near Duntroon and headed into the Nottawasaga Lookout Provincial Nature Reserve. There were places where snowshoes helped and places where the trail was packed down. It's rocky there so the snowshoes saved our ankles in any case. It's been foggy so the trees were coated lightly with snow and ice - beautiful! We didn't see anyone and the road we crossed is unmaintained in winter so it was a great place to take BazingaDog and AdventureDog.

Caron’s Christmas yoga class with live keyboard music by professional musician (and friend) Patrick Dilkie. It’s become one of my favourite holiday traditions - a relaxing evening with friends after most of my pre-Christmas preparations are done and before family gatherings begin. It's a "donate what you want" event with all the proceeds going to a local charity; this year it was Bethell Hospice in Inglewood. Caron gave the poses Christmas names like Reindeer Pose and Gravy Boat Pose. We negated all the benefit with snacks, eggnog and an after party at Peggy and Jim Reid’s house.

Orange Snail's Pace Festivus Run - I joined the Short Course group led by Browner with Funderstorm, Kelly Legge and Anna. It was a fun, chatty run in the dark around Milton. Afterward, we returned to Orange Snail Brewers for pizza, drinks and short presentations by Storm about his events and by Adam Van Koeverden, who is seeking the Liberal nomination in Milton. We also collected money and other donations for the Halton Women's Shelter. Fun evening!

So this happened today. I was unsuccessful in the lottery for the 101 km UTMB/CCC in two consecutive years and kept earning qualification points so for 2019, I can register outside the lottery. This journey began in 2011 and I'm determined to cross that finish line in Chamonix - finally!

I had to go to Collingwood to meet a tradesman at Tree Hugger ABC. He was scheduled to arrive between 8 and 9 a.m., which almost always means 9:15, in my experience. I got up early to drive north and arrived at 7:58 a.m. to discover that he'd already left! He returned 90 minutes later and managed to damage the fireplace mantel, window frame and wall but otherwise his work was successful. Be grateful for the little things. And eat chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.

Before the long drive home, I went for a snowshoe run at Scenic Caves. The snow has melted so much since we were there 10 days ago! It still looked good for skate skiing though, and the snowshoeing was just fine. The back loop (Ironman) was soft but the rest of the system was well-packed and easy to run on except for all the hills. :)

We're supposed to show our season pass before we go out on the trails but I noticed both staff members were having an animated discussion with a group of prospective customers. They were explaining the ways that downhill skiing (not available at Scenic Caves) and classic skiing are different. That would have been enough to make me feel sorry for the poor staff but it also seemed as if the tourists didn't believe they were telling the truth. And *that* is why Goose works at Highlands.