Last Run for the 2013 Marcothon.

Late in the day, Neil, Fergus and I went to Hayward Lake for the last run of the 2013 Marcothon - I did it! I've really enjoyed the challenge this year and I am going to try to keep it up for the month of January.
Tonight we are having a quiet New Years Eve at the farm and are planning our goals and vacations for 2014. Looks like a busy year ahead with:

• a wedding to attend in Maui
• a 110 mile run in Scotland for Neil (I'm crewing!)
• a conference to attend in Norway and a marathon to run while we are there
• complete the Vancouver 100km event
• an east coast trip in Canada and a few other local ultra events throughout the year

Congratulations to all who completed the Marcothon! Happy New Year...

A Night Ride on the Seawall...keep going Marcothoners!

Today was a fun day of activity in Vancouver. We ran on the Baden Powell trail in North Vancouver for a couple of hours. We had a good climb out of Grouse with plenty of running time as well. I made my 25 minutes of Marcothon time - with plenty of time to spare. There are only a few days left in December for the Marcothon - I am predicting a strong finish for both myself and my running buddy Craig (who has moved to Kamloops and has faced some real severe cold weather challenges for the Marcothon - he has run every day in December as well!).

 

After the run, we walked to the post Christmas sales on Robson Street - it was busy. Neil found a book by a Scottish author that had been recommended by brother Graeme. It was the only copy in the store...good catch! After shopping fatigue set in we headed out for a bike ride on the sea wall with our city bikes that Santa Claus had brought us. We knew darkness was looming, Our new bikes are nicely equipped with good lights and we wore our headlamps that helped light the trail. It was a beautiful night in the park tonight and we observed several cars stopping to take photos of the city lights - I think as cyclists we are appearing in a few tourists photos! 

 Nice view over to Canada Place and the Convention Centre.

The bikes are great - they have the 29" tires instead of the usual 27". I think it just makes you work harder - which is actually a very good thing!

Keep it going Marcothoners ... we are almost there!



Christmas Outings and the Marcothon Continues...

I have really embraced the Marcothon this December. I've enjoyed adding longer runs during the week with being on vacation this last week. I am thinking of challenging myself to keep it up for the month of January - that is running at least 25 minutes every day and that does not include other activities or classes. We often have long outings on the weekends but miss a day or two during the week. We are signed up for TRX and Yoga again for the upcoming months and manage to get out for week day runs 2 -3 times during the week but making yourself run every day with our busy lives is the best challenge. I have really appreciated putting myself first for 25 minutes (at the minimum) each day. We had snow in Vancouver prior to Christmas but now the snow has melted and the temperatures have climbed making the mountains slushy with snow.

Here's a city view from downtown Vancouver.

I took this photo of Coal Harbour from the seawall during a seawall run one evening. It was dark but the flash brightened up the sky.

Fergus sleeping with his Santa toy. 

The snow and the lights at our house on the farm.

 

Our big tree in the garden with the snow and lights.

A snow run at night with Fergus.

An attempted snow shoe outing on Mt. Seymour - the trails were closed, the snow was slushy and wet.

A trip to the Santa Claus train in Stanley Park.

 

Shopping for accessory pillows - sending random texts to Kendall Ansell our interior designer for approval prior to purchasing. ;-) Check out Kendall's website at www.kendallansell.com for all your design needs. She completely furnished our condo in Vancouver from a distance. Awesome job Kendall, we are loving it!

The Marcothon

It is half way through the month of December and therefore half way through the Marcothon. As we all know, December is a busy month. The Marcothon challenges you to run every day in December for 25 minutes. Now that doesn't seem like much but trust me at this busy time of year it is tricky! It does not include other activities or classes nor can you do more one day and hope it counts for the next day. You miss a day and you are out! Marco from Scotland was a smart guy who created this challenge.

 I have participated in the Marcothon the last few years successfully and so far so good again this year. I have had to be creative some days this year such as running up and down our drive way for 25 minutes when the ground was covered in a couple of inches of snow and the road was too icy to run safely on. Another challenge is when the Christmas parties are after work parties. A quick change into the running gear and then back into the party outfit. Some days I bring my running gear to work to hopefully get out at lunch but that never seems to happen. Neil tries every year but usually misses a day mid week when work and the farm overtake the day and night - which happened about day 2 this year. We are half way and personally for me I am past the busiest part of the month. Whew!

 

Fergus checking out the Christmas Tree.

We attended the Vancouver Canucks game last night vs the Boston Bruins. Great game - Vancouver won 6-2!

Fergus is helping me with the Marcothon - today Neil, Fergus and I ran for 1 hr 45 minutes on the sea wall - an out and back. Tonight we went up Grouse Mtn hoping for some snow shoeing but the snow is not quite ready for this. They were night skiing on the groomed runs but we need a little more snow for the snow shoe trails.

 

Good Luck to all participating in the Marcothon! We are half way there.