Taiwan and Hong Kong Photos

Here is the link to my trip photos. It will take me longer to put words down, but will try to do it over the weekend.

Return, Rest

I'm back from my trip to Taiwan and Hong Kong, and will be posting details of our Trailwalker 100k and a photo gallery in the next day or two. It was an incredible trip, with so many vivid memories floating through my brain right now it is hard to capture it all in my still-very-tired state.

After three exhausting races in the past four months, I'm enjoying a few solid days of rest and then will be starting to think about what races I want to do next year. Generally I'm looking forward to some snowshoe races this winter, and definitely a 50 miler (or possibly two) next year, along with some 50k's and who knows, maybe even the odd road race to try to work on some leg speed a bit. It's fun to think of the possibilities. Mostly I just want to get in some consistent training, build the volume, and resume the workouts where I left off two weeks ago.

From this on the MacLehose Trail, Hong Kong.....

.... to this my first day back to work.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our U.S. friends.

Half a World Away

GULP!!

I'm heading out for Taiwan and Hong Kong later today.

Our Trailwalker 100k (on Nov 18th) team number is 1000 (easy to remember), and there may be live tracking. See link from this page (part way down).

Deb cooked up this brilliant poem for me after I asked her about her success at sleeping on long flights.

Super tired I must be,
Before I can catch any zee's.
Movies till my eyes feel sandy,
Not tired yet?
How 'bout some brandy!


When you arrive at point B,
Do you want to be awake or sleepy?
With the local time
On your watch and brain
The trip should be sublime.

I'll try to post pictures and some words while I'm away, and will be back in Canada on the 21st. Looking forward to snowshoe running season after soaking in a big dose of heat while away.

Jones Creek - New Trails!

On Saturday we did a trail run at Jones Creek Trails, part of the St. Lawrence Islands National Park. The park is made up of 20 islands and various mainland parcels stretching from Kingston to Brockville along the St. Lawrence River. Jones Creek has a network of 16 km of singletrack trails that are extremely well-marked and maintained. The trails are very technical with rocks and roots, and with the fallen leaves it was a bit tedious in sections. It was fun exploring along winding creeks and ridges, all under an incredible variety of tree types. We're planning on returning in the winter as the trails would be perfect for snowshoeing.

We found these trails on the website Explore the Arch. You can find detailed maps of many local trail networks on the site, along with tons of useful information and inspiration for future outings.

Jones Creek access point off of the Thousand Islands Parkway at Mallorytown.

Another beautiful autumn day in Canadian Shield country.

Leaves everywhere! We'd like to move into that cabin.

A meandering creek seen from a ridge-top lookout.

This guy looks right at home here.

Very long bridge spanning marsh and creek.

Across the Parkway from Jones Creek Trails. The land on the far side is NY.