Training Log Archive: Bash

Easy ski with 'Bent on the Bruce Trail, Kolapore Church Trail, Northwest Passage and some hilly fields. The last part was the best since there hasn't been much fresh snow lately so the other trails are slick and hard as rock.

Then we packed up as if we might not be at the chalet for a few months. We're waiting to hear Tuesday's announcement of a stricter lockdown.

'Bent and I went to Highlands for an early ski before the bigger crowds arrived. He did a loop of skate and a loop of classic. I stuck to classic, using my narrow Fischer crowns. Although they were good at handling the slick trails at lower elevations, they felt slow. I wonder if they've lost camber. I'd tested different types of skin skis last winter and had planned to buy a pair this year before Covid transformed cross-country skis into the new toilet paper. For now, I'll have to live with the crowns on days I don't feel like waxing.

It was a gorgeous, sunny, crisp day, and the snow on the Back Red trail was perfect. Tarno and Almageddon passed me early on. I finished by doing my first ski on the dog-friendly Teal's Tango trail. I ran into Tarno there and we chatted as we did the loop.

Family hike, snow angels, dog walking and marshmallow roasting with the Ford family - keeping lots of distance because of the nasty Covid situation in Ontario. We were impressed that 4-year-old Ivy was totally cool going a fair distance with a little help. Nobody asked to go back or complained about being cold until all of us actually became cold. We need some guest chairs or cushions for around the fire pit.

Easy snowshoe with our Kolapore neighbours and 5 dogs - a mix of fields and bushwhacking. Unfortunately, young Sam injured himself - something in his hip when he fell. He's usually tough as nails so we headed back with his Mom carrying him on her back. By the end, he was walking again but still hurting - poor kid.

It was a brilliant, sunshiney day with views for miles. Darcie gave us a fresh-baked challah for dinner. Yum! We'd planned a night ski at Highlands until we learned that having a stone fireplace built means that you get stone dust everywhere from your couch cushions to your coffee maker. So we vacuumed, dusted, washed, wiped and then did it all again. Then we sat and watched the fire.



'Bent is the Pied Piper of Dogs.

Instead of skiing and grocery shopping this afternoon, I watched in horror as a mob of domestic terrorists, incited by the U.S. president, broke into and vandalized the U.S. Capitol, and forced elected representatives into hiding during a Senate session. Sadly, no one should be surprised. Shame on everyone who thought there was no harm in supporting a pathological liar with no moral compass to lead their country. This is on them. And big hugs to most of my American friends who voted with the majority in both elections and saw the heart of their democracy attacked yesterday. May the way forward be peaceful.

For the CMTR Winter Scavenger Hunt Relay Run, several of us on AP planned a 7-hour streak of orienteers from across North America. The virtual baton (a rolled-up map) was passed from Pennsylvania to Maryland to 3 runners in Ontario, then to Colorado and back to Ontario. We ran, hiked, snowshoed, bushwhacked, ran city streets and navigated with maps and compasses.

Jill and I were the only ones who met in person. We passed a Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch because the CMTR Relay challenge deserves the very best!

JanetT led off the relay at 12 noon EST with a 6.8 km hike in Pennsylvania. (The first photo is from another day.)









PeggyD was up next in Maryland: "I printed out an o map hubby made last year; I hadn’t run in the woods here. I didn’t have enough time to run the 7k course so I did a score-o. The woods are on the edge of a huge soccer complex (mapped!). The woods are mostly open but with a lot of thorny things. There are several former farm fields, overgrown and thorny. But there were a few areas of beautiful woods that were so fun to run through!

I found 9 control sites, running out of time to get more. I would have been overtime in a real event, but I just stopped, took my pics, and walked it in.
Legs are a little ripped up from the thorns! About 40° but gray, humid, and maybe even a few sprinkles.

SO much more fun than just going on a trail run (or heaven forbid a road run)! Go AP relay team!"







Peggy wins the prize for the Run Closest to 1 Hour.



My local friend Jill, who has done several Dontgetlost Raids, was next. She ran in Palgrave Forest, my back yard.



Our race swag arrived in the mail this week!



Jill's twin sister is Caron, our longtime yoga/core instructor, and they live next door to each other. Caron's husband, Barrie, has been an Olympic triathlon coach, including for gold medalist Simon Whitfield. He was invited to run in the Olympic Torch Relay for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics so there just happened to be a perfect relay baton lying around their place.





The torch exchange video took us 6 takes, lol!



I took my snowshoes into Palgrave Forest and did some fairly gnarly bushwhacking with a map. I followed deer tracks across a wetland I've never crossed before and I didn't get soaked. It was all very wintry and lovely - a nice way to explore a forest I know well.





I got to wear all my Olympic paraphernalia for the torch exchange!



Who can you count on in a pinch? Super, that's who! A man who understands the importance of a streak, Super jumped into the 4 pm relay slot on short notice, allowing us to extend our Orienteer Streak. I hope he had a surprisingly beautiful walk in Burlington.

To quote his AP log: "CMTR streak making with the dog. This worked out pretty well in the end since I wasn’t really up to much and the day was about to become a zero from the exercise standpoint. At the very least this got me moving without aggravating my neck and, at its best, it was heroic, selfless streak preserving at its finest. I’m just glad I was here to actually save the world and all the life in it as well as to keep my exploits and their impact within a reasonable perspective."



He didn't exactly use an O map.



He hiked with a family member.



He gets the Sticking To the Schedule Award after starting at 3:58 pm and finishing exactly at 5 pm.



Kissy picked up the baton next in her new home of Fort Collins, Colorado. She originally planned to run but the wind was howling so she settled on a hike.





Kelly Cadeau of Toronto switched her run with her strength training today so she could extend our streak to 7 hours. She did a great job as our anchor runner - probably the fastest of our team today.

Moved this note down to feature the Relay!

If anyone in the CMTR Winter Scavenger Hunt is available to run/hike/snowshoe/ski in your own area from 4-5 pm EST today, we have an empty place on our Relay roster, which we've planned as a "streak" of navigators, currently from 12 noon to 6 pm EST although we'd be happy to go longer. (Yes, you *are* an orienteer, Super.) If you've already done the Relay challenge, please consider taking part to keep the streak alive a little longer.

We will carry an O map for the photo (likely a selfie for most people) but navigating is optional. Some people will use a rolled-up O map with the map on the outside as their relay baton. Of course, most people will be doing a virtual baton pass. The 4-5 pm runner will "receive" my baton pass and will pass it to Kissy in Colorado after 1 hour. I'll be collecting photos of everyone by email for a relay team post this evening.

I took BazingaDog and AdventureDog for a late afternoon snowshoe in Palgrave West on a beautiful, wintry day. We mostly bushwhacked, which was challenging, given that B-Dog needs to stay on leash. We were constantly negotiating our way between saplings without getting tangled.

I tend to wander aimlessly when I snowshoe on our block of land since I know it so well and want it to be a little different each time. I ended up crossing a big section that burned in the forest fire a decade ago. There were lots of logs hidden under the snow and some scratchy weeds above the snow. B-Dog didn't pull me over or cause me to trip on a log, which definitely would have happened when he was younger. In spite of the deer poop he rolled in, I sensed a little gratitude. :)