Well, today was epic. Good in some ways, terrible in others.

We got up early in Refuge de Truc. Breakfast was bread and jam with a choice of hot beverage. We also ordered a picnic lunch which gave us access to some fruits and vegetables that were sorely lacking in our diet. Of course, my watch band broke right as we’re heading out, but I’ve “repaired” it with some duct tape.

We got on road by about 8:30 and headed down to Les Contamines. There I was able to visit a bank; with our new plans, we were spending more time in Euro zone and less time in Swiss zone, so I would run out of Euros at these places that were cash only. You don’t want to argue with the guy that has shelter when you are on the side of a mountain.

Then we hiked up, up and more up. It was about time we started crossing paths with the UTMB and it was interesting to see the difference in daylight. Unfortunately it didn’t last. As we got above Le Balme, the clouds rolled in. At times you couldn’t see more than 50 meters. I could honestly say the view under the full moon of the UTMB was better than these views. But we continued on, because there wasn’t much of a choice. The rain that happened above Col de Bonhomme wasn’t welcome.

The entire time I was getting stressed. We didn’t have reservations for the hostel we were heading to, Croix de la Col de Bonhomme. So I wanted to get there as early as possible to maximize the chances of getting a bed. My friend was slowing down and stressing me. I eventually figured out part of the problem was a lack of energy on her part and force fed her some SportBeans. That helped a lot.

We crossed the summit, and the weather cleared a bit. We could actually see mountains and, dare I say, a view. And there was the hostel, perched lovingly on the side of the mountain. I descended and then met true terror. I entered the common room and it was completely filled with people. A quick check confirmed, the hostel was fully booked. And a phone check of the next hostel two hours away confirmed that it was booked solid too.

The proprietors weren’t happy about us being there, but they did offer a grudging solution that we sleep on the floor of the common room. It was the same offer a party of six got. It was better than nothing. And it gave us a chance to take a shower (without hot water) before dinner. Dinner was bread, beef stew, polenta, some cheese and a piece of light cake without frosting. It was very nice after the stressful day. There is no electricity in most places here. I think they get their power from solar energy and today was not a good day for sunlight. Dinner was by candlelight, making me very sleepy.

And at the end of dinner, we found out that they had discovered room for us. So tonight we will be sleeping in a yurt outside. I’m not sure this is an improvement, because it is warm here and cold outside. I’ll let you know tomorrow.

2015-9-3 21:25

When I was young and visiting my grandparent’s farm in Denmark, there was a nasty plant in the area. It didn’t look like much, but if your skin touched it, burning pain. I had forgotten about it until today. Because today I discovered that same plant lives in France. So if you go off the beaten path on the TMB while wearing shorts, you may encounter some.

We got up early for our first day of trekking, but as we are wont to do, we didn’t get off as early as we would have liked. It didn’t look promising when I woke up; it was so cloudy/foggy that I couldn’t tell if we were in the mountains. We missed the train we wanted, so had to wait an hour for the next one, but spent a pleasant while by a small lake, where my friend went wading. Then we got the train to Les Houches, spent far too long trying to find a grocery store to get a lunch for later, then took the cable car to Bellevue. 

The hike would have been more impressive if we could see anything. Occasionally the clouds would part and we would see the hint of something awesome. But we never got the postcard pictures. That said, we were far more likely to look at the view, because it was always changing. The clouds would accentuate different parts of the scenery.

We crossed a suspension bridge (1760m), climbed up to the Col de Tricot (2120m), then down to Miage (1570m) where I encountered hostile plants and a dead cow. Then up to Le Truc (1720m) where we came upon the Auberge du Truc where we are spending the night.

It is rustic here. There are no power outlets that are accessible. No showers. Two toilets without lights. A dorm style sleeping arrangements that I think I’m sharing with about 20 others. We did borrow buckets and used them to soak our feet in cold water, which made us look ridiculous, but cold water heals a lot of injuries. And although my quads were feeling better this morning, all the down part to Miage has made them, flare up again.

Dinner was nice; carrot soup, macaroni, an omelette, some of the FRESH cheese they make here, and a Creme Brûlée. It also had a nice fireplace which really helped warm me up. It is cold in the mountains. I’m typing this while sitting next to it,

We changed plans for tomorrow. It seems obvious we won’t get to Les Mottets, so I hopefully moved the reservation a day further away. It is hard to tell when there is no internet access here, and I’m using expensive foreign cell service.

2014-9-2 21:00

My friend, Catalina, arrived yesterday. We had planned to start hiking around Mont-Blanc today. That did not happen. I was not looking healthy; limping, swollen ankle. So we have delayed our departure by a day. We will try tomorrow. I’m already feeling better, but I still get tired easily. Hopefully that will go away.

It is fairly good that we didn’t depart today. It is wet and miserable here. Not ideal for hiking. We have equipment to deal with that, but let’s be honest, it is nicer to hike in good weather.

We hit the ground running yesterday. As soon as she had gotten in, we set out for Chamonix. The hostel had given us a pass for the tourist attractions, so we took the cable car to Aiguille de Midi. This is way up on Mont-Blanc, and if you were so motivated, you could take all the way to Italy. We didn’t go that far, because it was late, but we got to hang out on top of a mountain. Not the highest point in the Mont-Blanc massif, but still two miles up from Chamonix.

Today we didn’t rush either and took an old train, train du Montenvers, up the mountain and visited a glacier, la Mer de Glacé. The rain made it a bit depressing, but it was still nice. There was an ice cave with a bunch of ice furniture. They had a crystal museum that displayed all the crystals that have been found in the area. Which after careful research, seems to consist entirely of Quartz. That was a let down.

The plan tonight is to go to bed early and be ready for the hike tomorrow. We will be cheating a bit and taking a train to a good starting point, and then a cable car up. But after that, we hike.

On a personal note, I am feeling a little more down about my run. I keep thinking what would have happened if I had ignored the helpful people and just walked from there on. I probably could have gotten to the aid station and gotten cooled down, then just a downhill run to the end. But, at the time, I didn’t have the energy to put up a fight. But it is what it is, and you can’t change the past. I don’t think I’ll be doing any more ultras. I’ve done enough of them.

2015-9-1 19:00

So I “ran” Mont-Blanc. I didn’t finish unfortunately. I only got 160km of the 170km. I missed a 10km run downhill.

Now I quote “run” because it has come to my attention that there isn’t much running in this race. If I was giving advice to someone doing it, I would tell them to practice climbing, going up stairs, or just continually lifting yourself. The reason this race takes 46 hours, is that you can’t run it. You are just doing a very fast hike. The only running I really did was down mountains.

I was lucky that it was a full moon, because I could see the landscape at night. And that is when you are most prone to enjoying the scenery, because it was too hot during the day. You’re not enjoying anything then.

I thought the batteries in my headlamp were fresh. (They weren’t.) I didn’t notice because the moon was bright, and there were a lot of people with really bright headlamps. I only clued in when I was running down a long mountain. My first thought was that my headlamp had burned out lights, or was just old, because there were fresh batteries in it. Fortunately, the race requires a backup light, and that illuminated the darkness. Even better, when I got to the town at the bottom, Petzl (the headlamp manufacturer) was giving out free batteries. And testing the old ones. Mine failed.

By the time night was ending and I was crossing into Italy, I was feeling down. My friend, Mike, had often given advice that you always feel better in the day. And that was true. Once it was light out, I felt good enough to keep up my spirits. Until I got to Courmayeur in Italy. They had 4km in short switchbacks which went down 750 meters. By the time I got there, my quads were shredded. Of course you have to climb up another mountain soon after. I’ve found if you keep doing the same thing, your quads can adapt, but when you keep going up and down, you have nothing but pain.

In Courmayeur, there was the major transition. This is where you can pick up your bag that you deposited earlier. It felt like a gong show though. I got my bag easily enough but there wasn’t any support for using it. This is where I wished I had had a support person. Someone who could have fetched things, or just gotten things out of the bag.

I wish I could have said “I crossed the mountains into Switzerland under cover of night, just ahead of the Germans.” But I couldn’t wait until night. Also, I’m not sure there were any Germans behind me.

The second night was bad for me. One mountain was very treacherous. There really wasn’t a path up, and it was mostly climbing over boulders. When I got above the tree line, I did not feel good. I had caught a 20 minute nap in Lac de Champax, but I was feeling bad. I think I was delerious. I really started thinking I needed to drop out. I kept going, slowly, to an aid station. There I took another nap. I requested 20 minutes, but I think they only gave me 15. I just wanted to get to the end of the section. Then I decided to throw up, because that usually makes me feel better. (For the record, not anorexic.) and it helped. Maybe the altitude was getting to me.

I kept going, and was doing okay. Always staying between half and hour and an hour ahead of the cut offs. Daylight helped.

On the second last leg, it was up to Le Flegere. That was a 800 meter mountain/cliff that was directly in the sun. I think it was +33°. I was mugging people for their water, and frequently was out. That was not a healthy combination. I was trying to make a balance between not over-exerting myself, and trying to make the cut-off. I got to the top, and had hoped they had put an aid station there. No. It was still a few kilometers away. I was not sure about my timing, and what exactly the cutoff was, so I was forcing myself to run in the heat.

Then some random bystanders insisted I stop. I was “running” like I was drunk. They put me in the shade and gave me water. I eventually got well enough that they walked me to the aid station, stopping once to recover again, and taking a truck when I got to the road. The rest of the course was all downhill. Maybe if I hadn’t been pushing so hard I could have made it. 

I think it was hard for all Canadians because I met another Edmontonian who was also pulled, due to dehydration

Last night I was saying I was okay with not finishing. All I missed was the finishers jacket and being able to run through the cheering crowd. And I certainly proved myself. I’ve essentially covered the entire course. The part I missed, I walked the last time I was here. Today though I’m feeling a bit more down. I would like to be able to say I finished with no conditions, and for my friends to see it happen.

When I got back to the centre, I went to the medics. Blood was fine. Pressure was fine. Temperature was 38°. They put me in a cooling tent for awhile. I then stayed. In Chamonix for awhile talking to another Canadian, and then waiting for the racer’s meal. Unfortunately it kept me out well past the bus system. 

2015-8-31 14:40

I run in 3.5 hours. It is hot here. I am nervous. I keep needing to go to the bathroom. 168km.

This will be hard. I have a plan to try and get at least 60km in the first 12 hours. Then 40km in the next, when the heat will be hitting. Hopefully that will give me a good window of success. 

2015-8-28 14:35

I’ve been feeling somewhat out of it all day. Have I been eating enough? Is the altitude bothering me? Could it be because my roommates were crashing around at 4am, getting ready for their race? Maybe it is all the pills I’ve been taking to help me sleep?

Nothing much happened today. Other than being in an exotic foreign country. I took it slow, which burned me later. I eventually got out to Chamonix carrying my race bag, which is depressingly heavy. They want us to be prepared for inclement weather in the mountains, while also dealing with +35° temperature. (Although my weather app implies it won’t be that bad.) I then checked into the race and they certified that I have the required equipment.

I’m racer 2716 if anyone asks. If you go to the UTMB website you should be able to follow my progress. They will even have cameras along the course and predictions as to when I will pass them.

I then went back to the hostel to dump my stuff, clean up a bit, then right back to Chamonix. I’m at the mercy of the bus system here so I can’t always do as I please. I tried to get to a cable car, which is practically free with my hostel, but I didn’t get there in time. They shut down at 4:30, which is earlier than I expected. Guess I shouldn’t have taken it slow. I did get to the Maison de Montagne and got some information. I had already done a lot of what they recommended, and I got their opinion of what I have planned. They think I am too ambitious for my second day. Challenge accepted. 

I’ve discussed it with my friend who will be joining me. We don’t need to do everything hardcore. We can take cable cars and buses where appropriate. For instance, the 7km from here to Les Houches is, by all accounts, boring. Take the bus or a train. The reason I can get away with this, even though my personality screams not to, is that I will (hopefully) have run the whole thing and have nothing to prove.

2015-8-27 10:25

I checked out of the hostel, went to the airport and took the Alpybus to Chamonix.

I see no reason to ever go back to Geneva. The only thing there worth seeing now is my cousin and her family. And I only saw them twice, once when I arrived and another time this morning for ten minutes. They are too busy with the twins to spend much time with me, which is how it should be. I was glad that they were able to spare a bit of time. I have covered everything else in that city. That expensive city. I can give recommendations to anyone else going, but I’m going to try and avoid the place.

I couldn’t check into my hostel until after five o’clock, so I stored my luggage and took the bus into town. I checked out the expo. It is easier coming back, as I don’t need to buy things I already have. And I see no pressing reason to have a second marmot. I did get one t-shirt, and some compression shorts for the worst-case-scenario that my shorts rip while on the trail. (This is a very real possibility as my compression shorts have a tendency to make a break for freedom.)

The expected temperature for the day(s) of the race is +35°. Columbia was giving demonstrations of their cooling technology in their products and OMG it was amazing. (I apologize for the use of that acronym, but it seemed appropriate.) I was then informed that the race shirt is made of the same material. This leaves me in a conundrum. According to Mike, it is bad luck to wear the race shirt before the race, and never if if you haven’t finished it. And as much as I ignore that superstition, it has left a nugget in my brain. I can’t afford any negativity while I’m running.

I then got down to the task of planning my after-ultra activities. Mainly doing the hike around the mountain. I went to the Chamonix tourism information office and discovered a big fat pile of useless. Their recommendation is a book store a bit away, so I picked up a map and a guidebook to hiking in the area. Better late than never. I would later learn from the hostel about the “Maison de la Montagne” which will probably be very helpful; conveniently located ACROSS THE STREET from the tourism office.

What kind of clown college is running this mountain? Since it is France, it must be a mime college.

The hostel hasn’t given me the best room. The one I initially was given seemed awfully convenient, except the key didn’t work. And because this is France, it is easier to give me another room than to fix the door. So I was the last person in the new room, giving me the top bunk. That is going to be loads of fun to climb up and down after the race.

I had dinner at the hostel. When I was last here, I found the meals to be better and cheaper at the hostel than at an actual restaurant in town. And tonight it was salmon with pepper sauce. That brought back memories of the salmon and peppers I had three years ago; so good I got the recipe from the chef. (Still untested.) Unfortunately, it was not the same. It was still good, and the sauce was quite different, but it is hard to compete with memories. It was also my first real meal in Europe; not a kebab or a pizza, but a real local dish.

2015-8-26 22:35

I think I am Geneva’d out. There really isn’t anything else I want to do in this place. It is expensive, so I can’t do much, especially with the Canadian dollar plumpeting in value. (Thanks Harper.)

Well, today it was gorgeous out, so a great time to go do my hike of Mont Sâla. Last time I had a lot of trouble getting the trains correct, so I got up early to make sure I got the ticket and got the train. And I sort of did. I can say I reached the train… as it was pulling away from the station. I touched it, but the doors don’t open when it is moving. By missing a train by only seconds, you really wonder about every choice you made getting to this point. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried to get the tickets at the hostel? (Note: you can’t. The Saint Cergue line uses a separate ticketing system.) With better signage I wouldn’t have lost precious seconds going to the wrong platform.

In any case, I was delayed half an hour. But I spent the entire hike wondering if that would cause a problem coming back. The train from La Cure only leaves once an hour. And I did want to be back early so I might go for a walk with my cousin.

Since I’ve done the route before, I didn’t get lost going up to the top. I got the gorgeous views. I ate my lunch, although I didn’t bring enough water. 

The hike down I stressed over. If I could cut off an hour, I could make a train that would get me back by three. Easily enough time to meet my cousin. But after doing too much running, I decided that would be a bad idea. Hiking boots aren’t great for running. And I have to save my strength for Mont Blanc. So I had a pleasant walk down, except I kept getting lost. Twice I had to go across cow fields in order to get back to the correct path. They do signage like the French here. (That isn’t a compliment.)

I’m happy to say, when I got to La Cure, I didn’t accidentally wander into France this time. I came close, and I did wander past the Swiss customs, but that was where the store was where I could buy something to drink. And that Coke was good.

I didn’t see my cousin. I found out later that she was out until much later. So I spent the time afterwards relaxing. Then I went for a walk along the lake. I also did a lot of Facebooking. I’m not proud of that, but I am finally doing cool things that are worthy of posting. And it is MY vacation, so I’m going to do what I want. Besides, there isn’t anything else in Geneva I want to do.

And because I had the remaining half of my pizza as an afternoon snack, dinner consisted of Gelato.

2015-8-25 23:57

Today was a rain day. I had had a thought of doing a hike up a different mountain. I’m glad I didn’t.

Instead I went to CERN. There was a tram route that has its end-of-the-line at it. When I got there, there was a big metal globe towering several stories over the road. It screamed science. I tried to get closer, but it was part of a tourist thing that is closed for several months. I tried to look around for CERN, but I couldn’t find it. And the rain started to pick up. I wandered half a block down before I saw a gate on the other side of the road. There, a security person directed me back to the tram, but on the other side of the road. If you are going to have a big science ball, you need to have better signs to indicate that you should go the other way.

I was expecting it to be the European equivalent to NASA, but it wasn’t nearly as good. In their defense, I didn’t reserve a place on their tour and just showed up. So I only got to go into their exhibit hall, but there were interesting guides there. The exhibits are all dealing with tools for trying to detect things that are very small, so it loses out in a big way to NASA there. It can’t compete with interplanetary spacecraft. 

The guides were good. They did put things into perspective. Physicists usually have a theory as to how things are going to go, but they are disappointed when their theory is shown to be correct. That’s because the interesting things happen when something doesn’t happen as predicted.

They also gave an analogy of what their work is like. If you smash two helicopters together (don’t smash helicopters together) you get broken helicopters. If you smash them together at a higher velocity, you get debris that can help you figure out what the helicopters were made of. But if you smash two helicopters at high energy together, you might get a dinosaur. That’s essentially what they are doing, smashing protons together at high energy in hopes of seeing particles that existed at the dawn of the universe.

There wasn’t much else to do at CERN. So I returned back to the hostel and tried to figure out what to do. With the rain you couldn’t do much outdoor stuff, and that is what I find most interesting. I eventually dug out my rain jacket that was for the UTMB and decided to go out and climb a monument.

Fortunately, I never needed it. When I went out again, the rain was stopping and it never picked up again.

My monument of choice was St. Pierre’s Cathedral. I had missed climbing it when I was last here, and it was time to pop my Geneva cherry. This did, of course, unfortunately necessitate me getting some culture. A cathedral is positively dripping in it. But if you avoid eye contact, you can pay your five Franks and start climbing spiral staircases. There were 179 or 178 steps to the top, depending on which tower you go to. The route splits off on the way up. The south tower was disappointing and contained only what looked like a classroom, with a single privy locked away. The north tower was much better, with open views of all of Geneva. I took a lot of pictures up there. 

In the middle of the tower, they had a scale model of the cathedral, but for some reason they had locked it away and it was inaccessible.

After that, I randomly wandered Geneva. I watched chess players in the park. I watched the Rhone flow by. I walked the waterfront. Then I had an idea. My sister likes flags, so I wandered off to the United Nations and took a picture of their flags. Unfortunately, they were all wet and there was no wind to cause any flapping. So they will be impossible to identify.

I cheated and took a tram back towards the hostel, stopping off for some pizza at a place my cousin recommended.

Tomorrow I need to get up early and get to Mont Sala.

2015-8-24 23:35

I slept in today, and I’m still taking it easy. The weather here is inclement, so I’m not feeling bad about that. I’m getting better with my jet lag but I’m not going to push it too much.

I met my roommate last night when he wandered in at about one o’clock, declaring himself drunk. I accidentally revealed that I was aware of him when I said “Hello” so he decided to engage me in conversation. I learned a bit about him. Especially where he is from because he turned on all the lights so he could show me where on a map of Europe on a Euro note. (Breton, in case you are wondering.) he doesn’t speak very good English, but I can understand half of what he says, because that half is the F-word. He snored a bit, but not too bad.

This morning I went to a grocery store and got some food for breakfast. Now, I think I will organize myself to go visit the CERN institute. I figure it is the European equivalent of NASA.

2015-8-24 10:39

It’s been a heck-of-a-journey to get here. I should have written this last night, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

I didn’t sleep as much on the plan as I would have liked. I finished seeing “Get Hard” (better than I expected) and saw all of “Home”. After that I tried to sleep a much as you can on an airplane (not much.)

The Geneva airport has a great service: Complimentary transit tickets for all arriving passengers. I knew about this feature, but I had forgotten one critical point; you have to grab the ticket before you leave the departure area. So I had to pay for a train ticket. It wasn’t the money that bothered me so much as the inconvenience. I didn’t have enough CHF coins so I tried to used my Euro coins. The machine didn’t accept that. So I left the line and tried to dig out my CHF notes from my luggage. Then to a new machine because someone just as incompetent as me was now trying to use mine. Line up several times because there are a lot of incompetents at the airport. Press all the buttons and then find out this machine doesn’t accept cash at all. Third time was the charm.

After the train, I walked to my hostel and put my luggage in a locker. (I can only check in after two o’clock.) I changed a bit in the luggage room (don’t judge me!) and then started walking. I got to the lakeside and rested there. Then, since I wasn’t seeing my cousin for another couple of hours I decided to go do some things I missed the last time I was here.

I walked to the old city, got lost a few times (sleep deprivation) before I finally found Maison Tavel. I had read about it in a guidebook three years ago, but wasn’t able to get to it, or find it. It has a lot of artifacts from the history of this city, but I only cared about one: The scale model of Geneva.

I found it on the second floor and it was nice. I took a bunch of pictures, and cursed the people who had put their fat fingerprints all over the glass protecting it. It wasn’t much bigger than a dinner table, but it was nice to see.

It was also all a lie.

On the third floor, there is a staircase to the attic that is very easy to miss. If you go up, you see the real scale model. The first was made in 1815. The big one is from 1850. And it was fantastic! Bigger than my living room. Lot of detail. Showed all the fortifications from long ago, that were never tested. (Good thing because they never actually had a big enough army to defend it.) If you go to Copenhagen, you can see many of their walls and moats around the city still there. In Geneva they have completely obliterated them, filled them in and built more city over them.

How do I know? Because the curators were kind enough to show me their movie about the history of Geneva in English for me. I was running late for meeting my cousin, but it would be rude to leave when they were going to do that. And it was a great film. Chiefly because it was displayed on a topographical screen, so you could see the geography of Geneva as they projected maps on to it.

In case you weren’t aware, I really love maps.

I then rushed off to see my cousin Ida, her husband David, and their two twins born five months ago, Joshua and Aiofe. (Yes, they are only missing a “U” in her name, otherwise they would have all the vowels. “Y” is there in spirit, because it is pronounced “Iffy”.) We went for a pleasant walk through the park systems that is behind all of the World organizations. I was not even aware there was a World Meterological Organization, and we speculated as to what they actually did.

After we parted ways, I went back to the hostel and claimed my room. Roommate is sight unseen. I then had to worry about dinner. I asked the hostel if there was any cheap places they would recommend, and they said there weren’t any. At all. In the entire city. This confirmed what my cousin had said. I ended up wandering to a Kebab place and having something there. Kebabs are similar to Donairs but not as good. I don’t think I will be eating any good food in Geneva, it is far too expensive here.

Then back to the hostel, where I tried to update my blog, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I went to bed.

2015-8-24 10:32

Now I am waiting for my flight to Geneva.

Before I left Edmonton, I had a chance to completely disrupt my flights. My friend, Malcolm, is also going to Europe today, an hour earlier than me. He is going through Toronto. This is why we carpooled together. However his flight was delayed and he ended up with a departure time the same as me.

But my flight was overbooked. So they were asking for people to transfer to the Toronto flight. This would cause a delay of an hour, but bring a number of benefits. Money and food mostly. Since I have a three hour layover in Montréal, that seemed like a good deal. However, they didn’t like the timing so I had to stay with my original flight.

Which worked out because I had an exit row seat. I had initially been upset with my seat because it was an aisle and I prefer window. I think this worked out.

I saw the movie “Tomorrowland”. I liked it and am surprised it didn’t do better. Brad Bird is a good director and he does a fine job showing characters having hope and optimism in the face of people who are scared and pessimistic. I should see Iron Giant again. There were a lot of similarities.

I don’t know if I will see any movies on my next leg. I should sleep and get on the European time zone.

2015-8-22 19:52

My “vacation” is starting. I’m now at the airport waiting to board. First to Montreal and then to Geneva.

I think I’m already on the European time zone. I was up until 2am packing. The big reason for that was that I could not find my camera battery charger. And let’s be honest, I will be taking a lot of pictures. It wouldn’t be a vacation without them.

I never did find it. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be, and I’m glad I noticed it was missing. I eventually went to sleep with the hope that I would figure it out with a brain rested. Which is why at 4am I got back up to go looking again. Didn’t help.

What eventually got me to sleep was the realization that I could go to BestBuy on the way to the airport. This would, of course, require me inconveniencing my friends who were going to get me to the airport…

So I’m leaving for Europe soon.
Ergo, I need to have European money. I went to the bank and found they didn’t have Euros or CHF available. The teller suggested I go to a currency exchange place; the rates are better there. Sounds like a good plan.
I drive out of my way to Southgate Mall. I go to the exchange place. There is a bit of a wait, and then a large group of people get in line behind me. I generally don’t like crowds when I’m about to be carrying a lot of money, but such is life. When I attempt to make my purchase, I put in my debit card, and am told “Card use limited. Refer to branch.”
What the hey?
I leave, forsaking my place in line, to phone the bank. They claim it should work. They make sure my limits are raised in any case, and suggest that maybe the machine wasn’t working.
I go back, wait in line again, and get the same error. This time there is no one in line behind me, and I have the bank on the phone while I am doing the same thing. They even try using my credit card as a debit card, but the currency exchange doesn’t accept credit cards. (Reasonable.)
The entire period, I am next to the kiddie ride machines, so the loud noises are stressing me out and I am in the middle of an anxiety attack. To my credit, I never raised my voice, but I was not happy. Still, I was Canadian and frequently apologized to the person at the bank.
So, wasting all that time, and I don’t have my money. The bank has one job, give me back my money when I want it, and they can’t do that.

Clouds are a fairly common occurrence. They are big and it is hard to judge their distance. But I have to wonder how far away some of them actually are. Or even how big they are.
You can’t really get a real-time view from space of a cloud, but would I be surprised at how far they are. Or would they be close. If I look south, am I seeing clouds that are hovering over Leduc? Or are they just over the Whitemud?
There is nothing to reference them by eyesight. (Same reason the moon looks smaller when it isn’t near the horizon.)
What I need to do is go into a tower on a cloudy day and look at the shadows of clouds on the ground.

It was probably not the brightest idea to go for a 19km run at 9:45 in the evening. (Bring a headlamp.) Certainly not on a work-night. But it was glorious. The temperature was so nice and it felt refreshing.
It is also a lot easier to convince yourself to go if you lie about the distance. I lied to myself and said it would only be a ten kilometre run. That gets you out the door. Because the first ten minutes suck for everyone, just getting going is the biggest accomplishment.
I will say this. Millcreek Ravine is spooky when it is completely dark. Even on the upper trails.

It’s time for me to report on what happened at the Sinister 7 last week.
It started out well. It was a nice and cool start, but we knew that wouldn’t last. The organizers had said it was the driest conditions they had ever had, so that was promising. I tried to go at my regular pace for running instead of my oh-god-i’m-going-to-be-out-here-all-day pace that I seem to use for ultra marathons. It didn’t seem to affect my time on the first leg though. The violin players were a nice touch.
The second leg was special for me, because my sister was running it as well. And she actually did run it. Usually the first four kilometres are a steady hike up a mountain that I tend to walk. She ran it. I did finally catch up with her at the part where it was steeply downhill. (After the second hill/wall.) I had been feeling good that I finally passed someone on that part until I saw it was family. I am not that good on the downhill parts and I’m always being passed by everyone. I really need to get better at that.
I consider the third leg the hardest. Mostly because you are climbing up a mountain in the hottest part of the day. It definitely delivered that promise. (Except when it didn’t.) After finally cresting the mountain, it was downhill. And the dry conditions had made it good terrain for running down; there were no deep ruts where water had carved channels ideal for twisting her ankle. Unfortunately two things prevented this enjoyments.
The first was that a runner had collapsed. He had run out of water and hadn’t gotten more at the aid station that he had passed fifteen minutes before. He was rather delirious, and the rules state you can’t abandon a runner in distress. Someone else had gone back to the station to get help, and there was a large group around him before I decided that there was nothing more I could add. That delayed me ten to fifteen minutes.
The second issue was that the thunder I had been hearing while climbing had decided to follow through with the inevitable rain. It wasn’t bad to start with, and the water was quickly absorbed into the parched earth. Then it got worse and worse. The heavens opened up and there was hail. I put on my mandatory-equipment jacket and continued on, but now I was running through deep water.
I did enjoy seeing the people who had obviously not brought their mandatory-equipment and were continuing to run in barely anything. I’m a little upset that they weren’t pulled for breaking the rules.
The rain continued and made the going tough.
On the fourth leg, I had been hoping to make up time. But that rain had changed the entire nature of the race. There was mud everywhere. The uphills seemed to completely drain me; I used to be good at hills so that was distressing. The dirt road I had been hoping to use to make up time was not helping. I couldn’t run on it. My shoes were getting heavier and heavier as all the mud clung to it.
By the time I got to the end of that leg, I could see the writing on the wall. I had used half the time of the race to travel half the distance. Normally that doesn’t sound too bad, but I was not going to be faster on the second half. There was no way I could finish in time. Not with the mud slowing me down. I could probably make the cutoff for the next leg, but I wouldn’t make the one after that. I would only be punishing myself, and more importantly, my family that had come to support me. I would be forcing them to stay up in the middle of the night on what, by now, was essentially a fool’s errand.
I dropped out.
My family was very happy to hear that. As soon as I hinted that I was thinking about it, my mother was packing everything away. My sister was declaring that I no longer need to get her birthday or Christmas presents. Say what you want about ultra marathons, but they are just as hard on the support crew.
Since the race, I’ve looked at the times. I was about forty-five minutes behind the last place finisher. So I believe I made the correct call.
The current theory as to why hills were suddenly hard is that the heat on the third leg had sapped all my energy away. Sounds plausible. But I have Mont Blanc coming up, and that will have even more uphills to contend with. I’ve talked to my personal trainer and she has given me a plan for hill training that will hopefully improve things. But I only have a month before I leave for that.

I have an America friend visiting for two weeks, so I decided to take her out to Jasper today. Well, technically yesterday, but I’m sure you know what I mean.

It was the first time in a decade that, when traveling west, I did not turn to go north to Grande Cache. I had forgotten how pretty this area is. I should avoid the Death Race more often. I made a policy of stopping for any reason. So any beautiful view was examined with a camera. When we passed Talbot lake, I forced us out and we went wading. Cold water, but I’ve been needing to ice my ankle, so it is all good.

When we got to Jasper Park Lodge, our room wasn’t ready, so we went and hiked Malign Canyon. That was a gorgeous walk. It was also interesting how the temperature changes depending on your proximity to the water. It was supposedly a high of +34 today, but when you are close to the water it feels very cool. We even did some soaking of our feet in the cold water. Beats trying to find ice to apply to your ankle.

We started at fifth bridge, hiked very slowly up to first bridge, the took the higher route back. After a stopoff at the car for more water and soaking we hiked down to sixth bridge and back. Then more soaking of feet. By the time we got back to the hotel it was eight in the evening. It had been suggested by a friend to order room service, but we both agreed that the prices were astronomical, and the room isn’t THAT great.

We drove into town and had a great dinner at Ded Dog Diner. The big game burger was delicious, but that might have been the hike talking.

We then wandered around town. It was midnight before we got back to the hotel. But on the drive back, we stopped off at a bridge to look at the moon. There was no man made light around, but we could still see each other fairly well.

Now we should go to sleep. We have glaciers to see tomorrow.

A week ago, on Wednesday, I went for a run in Vibram FiveFingers. I’ve done it before without too much trouble. This time I may have done a small sprint during it, but nothing major. At the end, my left heel hurt a bit. I figured it would go away after awhile.
It didn’t.
Over the next few days, the pain continued. By Monday it was getting worse, with my friendly proactive bodyguard insisting I see a doctor. I did that today.
Her diagnosis was that I hadn’t broken a bone. (Yay!) More likely I had inflammation of the fat pad surrounding my calcaneus bone . (Boo!) Which only means I am off running for a couple of weeks. Ice and anti-inflammatories should hopefully help.
Hopefully I can use this extra time to be productive. No promises. I’ve already over scheduled myself this weekend to volunteer at an ultra.

During the last provincial election for Alberta, the Conservatives got in by playing on fear. Fear of the Wildrose. And let’s be honest, the Wildrose were scary. They had run a terrible campaign where their fringe elements were practically celebrating as an example of how open they were to new ideas.
This time, the NDP have surged ahead in the polls. Now the Conservatives are playing the fear card again. But I (hoping) don’t think it will work.
The fear last time was for everyday people being ruled by crazy nuts. The fear this time is more from corporations that their cozy relationship with the government will be gone.
Corporations don’t get as many votes as citizens.

I just saw Avengers: Age of Ultron. It felt like a clear shot across the bow of DC.
The last few times I’ve seen a DC movie, civilian casualties seem to be expected and ignored. In this movie the heroes were heroes; they spent valuable moments trying to save people. Sacrificing themselves to take out the big bad and lots of innocents wasn’t thought of as an option.
It was, of course, a Joss Whedon film, so someone had to die. They set it up well with one guy even talking about retiring soon. I thought he was marked for death, except that I also knew the actor was contractually required to be in several more films.
And it was a very good sequel. Many things, more than I expected, from the first film were brought back. It was a progression without repeating itself unnecessarily. Many sequels try and do the exact same thing as the first movie; this complemented the first movie and added to it.

In science fiction stories (especially space ones), there is often reference to “The Ancients”. Some former alien species that was way more advanced than current civilizations. They have left interesting artifacts around for people to find and cause plot to happen. It is a common trope.
It gives us a sense of peace that there was something before us, more powerful. I suppose these could be considered god figures.
But let’s look at reality. There are no ancient artifacts out there; at least not visibly in our solar system. What if we are the Ancients? We are the species that first gained sentience in the universe and all others that come after us will see us through the lens of myth and legend.
It puts a lot of pressure on us to clean up our act. The cosmic equivalent of our baby pictures could be happening now.

My internet is out. I woke on Monday and none of my computers would connect. I tried some standard troubleshooting to no avail. So I would wait until after work to really tackle it. When I called Shaw though, it looked like nothing was going to magically get fixed.
This is a bad week for this to happen. Work is fairly demanding right now with our initial release. And Shaw can’t come in the evenings. I’m gone this weekend to visit my family for Easter. The earliest I can get connected again will be next week. (Unless replacing the modem does it, which I will attempt tomorrow.)
The weirdest part is how on-edge this is making me feel. I feel as if part of me is missing. Is this phantom limb-loss? I can’t just decide to relax and browse the internet. Best I can do is look at things I’ve already downloaded. Basically, I feel disconnected from reality.
If it wasn’t for my phone having a connection, I would be totally lost.

Eating has become weird for me lately.
For most of my life I have not paid much attention to my dining habits. In the last few years though my age has caught up with me and I needed to start. I can’t trust long distance running to burn off all my calories anymore.
As previously mentioned, I’m seeing a nutritionist who has promised I don’t have to bonk on an ultra. That is actually the worst part of an ultra. You can have the strength and mental fortitude to go on, but completely run out of energy.
The first session could be summarized with “eat more protein”. Actually looking through my notes from my first naturopath from last year, she said the same thing. But there are only so many lifestyle changes you can make at one time.
The second session was more useful. We went over what I should be eating in a typical day. She sounded like my dentist; she didn’t want me drinking orange juice in the morning. (Not going to happen.) Now I need to be eating more balanced meals more often. So less, porridge in the morning, and put some olive oil on it. Greek yogurt for snacks.
My lunch has changed for the first time in 20 years. Previously: one sandwich, two apples, three cookies. Currently: one sandwich, one apple, one cookie. I had to negotiate hard to keep the one cookie.
The end result is that I am now tired and hungry all the time. This does not seem to be good. The more I stick to her exact plan, the hungrier I am throughout the day.
On Thursday, it came to a head. I was hungry all day, no matter how many snacks I had. In the end, I went to McDonald’s for dinner, and had two quarter-pounders and a large fries. My headache was gone within the hour. The next day, there was a lot of pizza for lunch. So I fell off the wagon hard. When I went for my run on Saturday, my stomach got upset with me at 34km and I had to walk a long time. Maybe that is because I was now dealing with hills while still trying to run fast? Or maybe it was the peanut-butter Lärabars I was using to maintain energy? I’m starting to worry I’m not able to eat peanut-butter anymore. (Too much during a previous run has now made me sick of it forever?)
I’m going to continue experimenting with her initial plan. I actually saw her briefly on Thursday so she is now aware of the issue. I think the important part is to have a bigger breakfast such that it takes me longer to digest it.

I have just arrived home from Houston.
The biggest reason I go is to see my friends. Friends make a vacation so much better. So even though the weather was not as summery as I was hoping, I had a good time. I’m operating on surprisingly little sleep, but with the time change it isn’t as noticeable. I should crash into bed soon.
The flight back wasn’t that good. Even though I spent more money on the ticket, such that Air Canada said I could pick my seat, I was never given that opportunity. In fact, I think I had the worst seat on the plane. It did not help that I was seated next to a gorilla. He had a huge upper body that meant he spilled over into my seat, and he was strong enough that he could push me aside easily. I’m probably going to be feeling pain tomorrow from sitting awkwardly.
But I also chalk it up to the fact that I am tired and probably cranky.

Today the group got together and we took a boat trip. The weather is still cold (for Houston) but their were periods of sun. it was an enclosed boat, so it wasn’t too bad. It left the port, and then went out into the ocean for a while, before it turned right around and went back inland.

This area of town is around an inlet called “Clear Lake”. It is not a lake and it is not clear. But the boat went tooling around it for awhile and practically went back to our hotel. We had a very nice lunch too. I probably ate too much, but I tend to go overboard (no pun intended) when there isn’t a limit to how much food you can eat.

But I enjoy hanging out with friends and catching up. That was the best part. And it is warm compared to Edmonton.

Tonight I will be partying until late. I cannot guarantee I will actually sleep tonight. But that is a problem for Sunday me.

2015-3-7 18:55

It was awesome.

It was a great tour. You pay more but you get to see things most people don’t.

It started off at the Neutral Boyancy Center. There you see actual astronauts practicing with a full-scale mockup of the ISS underwater. It’s hard to see much of anything because it is underwater, but they provided lots of video cameras so you could see what was going on. Biggest pool I’ve ever seen.

After that we went to lunch at an actual NASA cafeteria. We got a meal ticket so I could eat as much as I wanted. No astronaut food, but a lot of options. There was also the internal NASA gift shop where you could get the stuff only the employees can get. Which really isn’t that different, but it is cheaper and no tax. I got a mug. A Brazilian girl was squealing a lot over all the options. She was a big Chris Hadfield fan. Go Canada.

From there we went to mission control. We could see them operating the ISS and seeing views from the station. Then we saw the old Apollo mission control, which is treated like a museum. At that point an actual mission control person came and answered questions. Very informative. NASA did have a reaction to Leonard Nimoy’s death. I’ll need to check the videos they posted.

Then off to the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility. There they had copies of everything on the ISS and then some. You turn a corner and suddenly you bump into the nose of a space shuttle. There was a Canadarm over there. (They all call it the Canadarm. Not jus the arm.) Then there was the experimental stuff that they might use on Mars. 

Finally, they had the Oh-Wow moment when they take you into the Saturn V building. You go in and you are staring at the thrusters that got us to the moon. Even lying on their side, they are bigger than a house. I never realized just how huge they were.

That was the entire day. Because they filled it so much, we get to go back tomorrow complimentary. So we are going to go back and see the exhibits the mere mortals get to see.

2015-3-5 20:15

I really only had four hours of sleep last night. I pretended to sleep on the plane, but I have doubts as to whether that actually happened.

I had booked my flight with Air Canada. Unfortunately, they deked out. I was actually booked with United. I generally don’t like United; they break guitars. A couple were playing with fate as they had two guitars taped together with them. I hope they survived.

My first day in Houston went well. My friend picked my up at the airport. She had a plan to go to the zoo, but she changed her mind when we got there. It was beautiful weather, so she thought a walk outside would be better than seeing “incarcerated animals”. She was right. There was a lovely park system. Edmonton has a nice park system, but it is all natural. This was a… civilized(?) park. There was interesting art sculptures. A lovely Japanese garden with carps and turtles. Numerous fountains. My friend is also a good photographer, so I finally have pictures with me in them. I only wish I didn’t look so tired.

The weather should turn into Edmonton comparable temperatures by tomorrow.

Houston seems to be a victim of urban sprawl. The place is very spread out, and traffic does not move at an appreciable clip. So we need to get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow so that we can get to NASA which is 47 miles away. I think I have been successful in convincing he to eat at Denny’s for breakfast. But I also want to try an IHOP.

She is of Chinese background, so my souvenir gift of maple syrup was interesting. She never has pancakes, so she was trying it on ribs (good) and vegetables (better without).

2015-3-4 21:02

I’m at the airport about to go to Houston. I’m looking forward to this. Especially since I’m going on the Level 9 tour at NASA. That should be awesome. I’ll also be hanging out with friends and catching up. 

The weather isn’t going to be good. It looks like Edmonton will be about the same temperature. But I am not really there for the outdoors. If you are with friends, you can have a good time anywhere. 

On Tuesday I went to see a sports nutritionist. I had previously seen a naturopath who helped me eat better. This time it was to help me be a better runner. I’m unsure how I felt about this visit.
When I made the appointment, they said they would send me forms for me to fill out. After waiting weeks with nothing, the day before the appointment I asked about them. They were sent and I found out that they included food diaries; I was supposed to be keeping track of what I ate over an entire week. Well, that wasn’t going to happen on one day’s notice. I did my best, but it wasn’t a true representation of my dining habits.
When I saw the naturopath a year ago, I was immediately given feedback of what changes I should do. This sports nutritionist was somewhat more evasive. She did go over my forms and determined that I needed to eat more protein. That’s about it. The rest was general education I could probably have gotten from a website. I got the feeling the entire meeting was an advertisement for a rather expensive “Sport Performance Coaching”. The promises that I would not bonk during an ultra is very intriguing though.
We did discuss sleep habits, and strategies for sleeping better. Of course that meant I had a terrible night’s sleep that night. Don’t overthink your sleep.