Grouse Mountain to Lynn Canyon Return, 20 km

A good turn out on Sunday as expected.  51 runners showed up on a cool Sunday morning including members from our organizing committee, Glenn, Rod, Sharon and past member Francine. We also had Monty and John volunteer to help guide and sweep.  I’m counting on lots of help once again from everyone. The key points are safety in numbers and not leaving anyone behind.

Thankfully on Sunday the trail was dry once again.  Before we headed out though, I recalled for the group what it was like on training runs during another high snow-pack year.  It kind of makes sense now.  We’ve had a bit of fresh snow on the mountains recently but the clouds have parted and the precipitation has eased.  But in 1999, it just wouldn’t stop.  So it kept snowing on the mountains. And for our training runs that year it was wet, cold and miserable almost every Sunday until race day.  I don’t see that happening this year so perhaps the snow will completely melt by race day.  Please!

Speaking of behind, I kept mine rolling along with a variety of people toward the back of the pack but after awhile the groups thinned out as usual. And Francine was burning up the trail with her pace enough that John and I were having a tough time chasing her down at times.  Glenn had just returned (Friday or Saturday) from a tiring trip out of town to the Big Apple and when he turned around at Mountain Hwy I could tell he was in for a long haul back with a lack of his usual bounce. On the other hand, Mark Bates and his group were easily leading the return trip when they passed us on the Varley Trail.  They were making it look so easy! And when John and I paused at Mountain Hwy on the return, we found out exactly who had been following us … Heather, Peggy, and their group … but somehow we didn’t see them before so I wonder which route they took? Before we started out again we watched John go up the gravel road for a few extra km’s to the quarry and back, just for fun no doubt.

I think we had a very successful run and a good dose of reality. Everyone was happy (in the beginning and the middle).  But toward the end there were some tired legs and “anxious-to-be done” runners.  I reminded at least one of them that persistence will pay off and eventually our legs and butts get stronger with training.  Believe it or not, these early training sessions will seem easy once you’ve done a run or two up Black Mountain and down to Cleveland Dam.

For next week, we meet again at Grouse to do the notorious climb up Old Grouse Mountain Highway to the top of the mountain.  Believe it or not, that’s my personal Grouse Grind as I have yet to do the actual GG even once completely.  And I assure you it will be cool up there so please come prepared with extra clothing and money for the top just in case.

A reminder that we have our Trail Work Party on June 9 and we need many more people to help fix our battered trail.  We also need lots more volunteers for race day so please sign up here. If you’re in the race, please ask a loved one to help.  If you drop out but you can still walk and talk we’ll be glad to have you along as a race day volunteer.

Finally, watch out for a possible change to the training schedule for May 27.  There is a race on the BP trail that day and we’d like to respect the need for those runners to do their thing without us bugging them.

Stay fit and well rested!

Craig Moore

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