put your balls on your chest ...

ohmygawd!   look at how big the little redhead is getting !!!  i miss him SO MUCH!

and look what was roaming around in my backyard this week - man could that fill the freezer for winter or what ...

friday night club saw us doing like a thousand wallballs and coach dillon offered up some great advice on how to do them efficiently ...    HAAAAA!

despite the threat of backlash from hurricane sandy, i made a small road trip on sunday up to primrose and the boyne valley provincial park.  at first it was just kinda cloudy, and i did some 'sploring on the main trail.

but on the way back, it was actually snowing!
 

what a beautiful spot!

slippery when wet!

this just might become my new favorite section of the bruce ...

put in 3 hours, but it felt like nothing!  ahhh!  life is good ...

flawless plan ...

so digger and his lovely wife portage are packing up the jeep and moving to bc.   wanting to get together before they left, the captain came up with a 'flawless plan' ...

it went kind of like this ...

''Okay flawless plan.

Robbie is picking me (captain) up at 8 and proceeding to local trailhead at Redway parking lot.

I will carry my cell with me 416-555-5555

Swiss, when you get to Diggers, give me a call.

Pick up Digger and proceed to Redway trailhead. Digger will know the way.

PH (robbie) and I upon receiving your call, will head back to trailhead. We will give Digger our co-ordinates and direction of travel.

Digger will know the way.

Following run we can proceed to local establishment, for liquid refreshment and burgers.

I cannot see anything going wrong.''

and of course, because this is way south of 7, i had to be picked up!  homey borrowed the wife's 'bug' and we were soon on our way to the big smoke!

as per the plan, we pulled into digger's driveway at 9:29:55 - a pylon rarity - we were actually early!  now we DID remember to pick up digger, but we forgot to call the captain ...

 we were the first to arrive at the loblaw's parking lot, followed by pointer (with two crazy dogs - sidney and crosby) and crumbs (a pylon i had never met).    then moooonie arrived - honking his horn, flipping us the bird and almost running us over.   he then proceeded to sprawl out on the ground and show us some bizarre stretch that looked very painful!   we eventually made our way to the trailhead, but still hadn't called the captain ...

 nice belly digger ...

and if you're at all offended by nudity, please skip this next picture.  moooonie was in fine form as usual...

 oh ya!  we finally did meet up with robbie and the captain - despite forgetting to call him!

it was a beautiful day in the don - great great place to run!

 you can ALMOST forget you're in the city ...

LOVE the graffiti ...

afterwards we went to shoeless for burgers and sweet potato fries.  even cy showed up with his new little guy jasper!  as usual, there were lots of stories told and a few insults handed out!

and so digger, all the best in your big adventure.  we've shared a ton of laughs and i will always remember the first time we ran together and you got me lost.  thanks to you, i got the nickname dora!  road trips which give me so many hilarious memories - fred sanford impressions, the 'almost' trip to the grand canyon, the cooler(s), forgetting to lock the car in moab, sneaking up behind me at vulture bait after you'd got lost for the 3rd time - these are just a few!
      

take care my little beer drinking pylon - i will miss you!

love dora ...

sure - i can go to atlanta ...

so i get this email from my buddy richard last weekend asking if i was interested in going to atlanta to pace him for the north face endurance challenge 50 miler.  the offer of running trails in georgia was very tempting - not to mention the free flight/accommodation thingy ...      hell, i would be krazy to refuse!   (flashbacks of a similiar email i received a few years ago from my awesome friend leslie who needed a partner for the transrockies!)   and wahoo - by friday afternoon, i was carrying my shoes in my backpack and loving the 85 degree weather as i crammed into a van full of american soldiers to go meet richard!

race started (for him) at 5 in the morning, so i dragged my ass out of bed just before 4 and drove him over to the shuttle area.   i made sure he had all his krap, gave him a hug, and drove back to the motel for another couple hours sleep.   we weren't sure what time he'd be at the 27 mile check point - so i got there nice and early and chatted with this guy jon from nova scotia.  richard arrived just after 11, and with a brief stop to grab some food and refill his water, we were on our way.

and for a guy who had just finished running 45k, he was moving!   i had to really haul ass to keep up!

haaaa!   LOVE this jersey!!

the scenery was nice, but nothing compared to my beloved hockley, or the east coast trail.  still, we caught a few great views.

and there were some neat rock sections that reminded me of the escarpment ...

CHECK THIS OUT!

at about the 60k mark, richard started to enter the pain cave.  he was nauseous, and his knee was hurting, but overall, he was doing really well.  

 he finished in 11:55:00 - under his predicted time of 12 hours.   not bad for his first 50!

haaaa!   check out how dusty it was !

a job well done!

i'm thinking i kinda like this pacing business! 

I'm pretty tired... I think I'll go home now.

great week and weekend!   i took my lovely friend lia out for a hike in hockley on saturday.   she was really anxious to go, as i had been raving about it for some time now.  

the colors were in full bloom!

great shot of the ravine - i tried to convince her to run down so i could get a pic, but she wouldn't go for it!

'look up' ...

ahhhhh - beautiful !

needless to say, after 2+ hours of romping around out here, she was not disappointed.

interesting week of crossfit - friday night club ...

overhead squats ...

and lots of pull ups - who had worse hands - me or saggo ...

and lori's comment when she finished downloading the mighty one's camera after thursday's class - ''um,  what  was going on at the gym tonight ...'

monday was gorgeous - little chill in the air - perfect running temp.   i threw on my new 'hokas' - yes, i'll admit it, i am trying a pair of the clown shoes to see if they make it any easier on my poor old feet - and headed into palgrave!

*sigh*

i LOVE running !!!

and finally finished off the day with the ghetto girls up at the birthday tree ...

awesome job ladies !!!

 OH !!   and remember this amazing kid !!   he did it !!  he completed his end to end challenge on sunday afternoon - breaking the current record!  FUCKING INCREDIBLE!  he ran the bruce trail from tobermory to niagara - 885km - in 12 days, 7 hours and 39 minutes !  and he's only 22 years old!   congratulations cody - you have inspired so many people, especially this slowrunner, and you brought me to tears.  everyone needs someone like you in their life to help keep it real.

 happy thanksgiving my friends ...