happy birthday little red ...

 i KNEW i should have taken a right turn at albuquerque on saturday!  i was up in hockley, and was scheduled to do around 4 hours.

when i got to the 15th (see below) instead of heading back south, i made the decision to keep going and do a big loop.  i was sure i could make it ...

once i got off the gravel and into the nature reserve, i was hitting a big shit ass eating grin!

pretty kool sign on this bench ...

it had been over a year since i'd been up here and i was lovin every step!
  

clouds !!!

when i popped back onto hockley valley road, i realized i was going to be a bit longer than anticipated!  it was a warm one, and the skeeters were relentless thru the forest (definitely making me move a bit faster) but i still had a great run!
 

5 hours later (doh) i made it back to the little red mazda.  and okay, i'll admit, i was pretty tired!  but happy!  again i'm seeing the results of working with eddy.  i made way more climbs than ever before and i'm feeling strong!

monday was little red's birthday!  he turned 8 !!  good gawd!  when did he get so old!?  bob had a party for him and 10 of his friends!   i called him in the morning and the conversation was hilarious - he likes talking on the phone even less than me!  i think he said, 'hi',  'fine',  'okay', 'yes, it was fun', and 'here daddy' as he handed back the phone!  haha!!  too much!  looks like he had a great time ...

and i want to make a correction!  i know i said i won the over 50 category at the seaton soaker last month - they even gave me a plaque - but when i was checking the results the other day, i noticed that i was in fact 3rd.  so i apologize for that and just want everyone to know that i didn't win despite being told i did!!!
 

finally, happy pride to all my beautiful friends!
 

dodging frawgs!

i sometimes wonder if anyone actually reads these, but i guess i do it for my own reasons.  i have a brutal memory, and this is the best way i can think of to keep track of all my adventures.  it's fun to waste time occasionally reading back over all the kool shit i've done!

anyway, i've put in two fantastic weekends of running.  last saturday was just a beauty of a day as i went over to hockley.   towing eddy sure is paying off - i was able to climb stuff i've never done before, including the 1.5 k slugger on the 5th north of hockley valley road!

i know i post tons of pics from here, but it's definitely my favorite place to run!

i managed over 4.5 hours that day and finished feeling pretty good!

and then just yesterday i went back up there for another stab at the hills!  check out my view from one of the stiles ...

seriously, i LOVE this place ...

big clumps of daisies everywhere !

and i've run into this couple the past two times up there.  jacques and karen drive all the way up from the city to do trail maintenance!  they were there when i started and were just finishing up as i got back to my car - 5 hours later!  so nice!  they originally came to the bruce to get in shape for machu pichu!
 

and look - BUTTERFLIES !!!

what a glorious day!  another 4.5 hours with over 2800m climbing!

i got up real early sunday and was out in palgrave just after 5:30 - couldn't miss weekly mass with father jimmy!  this is the sun coming up off humber station ...

great time of day to be out ...

ran into these two characters ...

yup!

3 hours later i was done and on my way into bolton!
 

and tuesday was one of the funnest runs i've had in a long time!  i was towing eddy on centerville creek and it started to piss down rain after about 25 minutes.  it was thundering but i kept turning up my music so i wouldn't hear it!  i then did a bunch of repeats on k2 and the rain was so heavy i was sloshing thru 3" of water.  the best part was all these bloody frawgs jumping across the trail as i was running!  too funny!  i was absolutely drenched by the time i finished!

have a good week everybody!

redhead lovin ...

so i made it to kelowna last week to see my favorite redhead!  long overdue!  he's getting soooo tall!  i picked him up after school on thursday and we just kinda hung out for the rest of the night, although he did talk me into going to walmart for some pokemon cards ...

friday we hit mcdonalds for breakfast and then off to school.

and after, to his restaurant of choice for a birthday dinner - dennys!

at after-school club on friday he made a bug jar, so i got enlisted into helping fill it!  we turned over a couple big rocks and hit the mother load - giant beetles - ewwwww!

saturday and sunday i got to play soccer mom - good gawd!  'just take him to the field kendra and look for a team in red jerseys' - there were like a hundred of them ...

he even took a turn in net ...

look at that hair !!

messing around with my camera ...

 shiny new bike!!

sigh ...

friday while he was in school i managed to find knox mountain and run around like an idiot, staring at the scenery for three hours.  it was really nice!!

here are a few shots from my wanderings ...

 

 

it was a great trip, but as always, not long enough.  he and bob will be heading this way in july so we will definitely hook up!    and yes, i miss him already!!!!