Heading out for 4 days in the Park

Just about to step out the door and thought I would make one last post before I did.

The weather is looking great for the trip. Only one day of rain and otherwise bright, sunny day! Darren (one of my the guys I was too meet up with today) emailed me late last night to let me know that he and hi s son had to pull out early due to an unexpected medical concern. They are both fine, but unfortunately will not be joining me on the trip. I will still hook up with Swede and Markus today and I wish all the best to Darren and his son.

I plan to return Friday and I will report back with pictures, trip log (....I know, what about the CC 2007 trip log???) and bug report a bug report as soon as I can.

Wish me luck!!!!

Algonquin BOUND! (...almost)

I will be leaving for my 4 day trip in and around Cedar Lake at 3:00 am Tuesday morning. Just a few hours away! While there I will be seeing some place I have never been before to be sure, but this trip is more about people and on this trip I will be meeting many of the folks from Algonquin Adventures that I have gotten to know online. These are some very experience folks, so it will be cool to pick their brains.

I'm almost ready to go, just a few small jobs let to do. I hope to post again before I leave, but in case I don't, wish me luck and I will report back in a few days!

Olympic Triathlon: I made the Podium!!!

Yesterday was "the big day" and it could not have gone better! The weather started out crappy, with lots of dark clouds, but turned out to be sunny and bright. I felt very ready and wasn't nervous....well, I was hardly nervous. :)

The swim went very well! The wetsuit did what it should and I felt lighter and faster then ever before. It was a 750 meter loop swim , so you have to swim the course then run across the beach back to where you started from and do it again. Mentally that part was tough, but otherwise this went better then expected.

The bike rocked! I felt rocket fast and was leaving people in my dust. This is the one area where having previous race experience really paid off.

The run went good...not great, but good. I felt like I wasn't going fast enough. I was still passing people, but not as many as I figured. The run course was a bit boring in terms of scenery, but I was feeling strong and had plenty left in the tank. Before I knew it it was over....

With Tanyia and the kids there cheering me on, I finished the 1.5 km swim, 43.5 km bike and 10 km run in an earth shattering (...not really but it sure sounds good) time of 2 hours, 47 minutes, 38 seconds!!

I was soon shocked to learn that I had not only finished the swim, bike and run in personal best times, but had earned 3rd place in my group and 167th overall! Crazy.....I get a plaque and a medal!! YEAH!!!! I would have been happy just to finish well, but if someone wants to give me a medal who am I to argue? :) Unfortunately, we didn't have time to stick around for the awards ceremony, as we still had to drive to my parents place to collect Jack (...remember our dog Jack?), but Trisport Canada agreed to mail me everything.

All things said, it was an amazing weekend and it meant the world that my family was there to share it with me.

Things that are new for The Wendigoes Lake trip!

I'm really excited. This will be my first trip of the year and of course that is reason enough to be enthusiastic, but this trip will be a first for me on many fronts. This will be the first time I have taken my new canoe on a trip (..."she" still needs a name and Lauren assures me she's working on it) and because I now own by beautiful (..but nameless) canoe, I don't need to rent a canoe....EVER AGAIN! Man that's so freakin awesome!!! Don't get me wrong, the good folks at Algonquin Outfitters have been great over the years, but that rental fee really starts to add up.

Lot's of other firsts on this trip. Here are the ones I can remember.

This is my first....

1. Trip with my new canoe.
2. Not having to rent a canoe
3. Meeting up with people in the park that I only know through the Internet. Kids: I know I tell you never to this, but trust me...this is not the same thing :)
4. Wearing aqua shoes instead of hiking boots.
5. First time I will care if my canoe gets scratched.
   
6. I'm going to be drinking beer in the park. I bought two 2 Liter bottles of Wells for night one.
   
7. I'm going with some accomplished fishermen and will be going lake trout fishing. I hope to learn a lot while there, but that's not a first! :)
8. I will be bringing two bags. A 60 liter barrel and my half filled backpack.
   
9. I will be double tripping each portage, because of the amount of stuff . I'm bringing some real luxury items with me like a chair, 4 liters of beer, steak/ dinner for 5 and lots of other stuff I wouldn't bring on trips with more travel.
   
10. This will be the first time I have been to Cedar lake where I didn't launch from the Algonquin Outfitters dock behind the Brent store.
    

An Overdue Update

Been trying to post an update for a while now, but every time I do something pulls me away. It's frustrating really. With Jacob's lacrosse ending this weekend things should slow down a bit...I hope!

There have been some very cool things happening lately and here are the highlights...

• Olympic Distance Triathlon: My first race of the 2008 season is this Sunday...*GULP*! All kidding aside, I feel very ready to compete and still pain/injury free! This is my taper week, so compared to the grueling, two a day workouts I normally do this week has been like a vacation! We will be going down to Guelph Saturday afternoon and staying overnight. The kids will be there and this will be the first time they have seen me race in a tri. That makes me even more excited, as I want to put on a good showing for them. I will report back with the results. Wish me luck!!!

• I leave for Algonquin in 6 Days: This is the long awaited trip with Mark in the park, Darren and many others from Algonquin Adventures. I will be spending the first night on Wendigoes Lake. It's a small, single campsite lake located at the end of a 2.6 km low maint portage and I will be sharing it with Mark, Darren, Kevin and Swede. For night 2 + 3 we will go back to Cedar Lake and meet up with 10 other members of AA. "Racoon" is even bringing in enough beer and food to feed us all! Should be fun to put real faces on all the people I only know through the virtual world. I'm all packed and ready to go! All I have to do is complete the triathlon, go to work on Monday and then at 3:00 am I'm off! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post it all when I return.

• Canoe related Gifts from a Stranger: A few weeks ago I received a package from MEC. It contained a new PFD, Compact buck saw, canoe knee pads and even a pair of Techamphibian water sandals! The problem was....I didn't order anything from MEC. Strange right? I called the company and all they could tell me was that the purchase was made anonymously. After eliminating family and friends I have come to the conclusion that my mystery Santa was someone who reads my blog. Although I will never know who it was...whoever you are, thank you for your unbelievable act of generosity and know that I will put everything to good use!