BC Day Long Weekend: Setting PB & Having a Couple Lunch Dates

Since last weekend was two weeks away from Fat Dog, which will start off the next push of craziness, I decided to have short days and relaxes days. So I started the weekend with a short run around Diez Vistas and set up two lunch dates for the following days. I figured I deserved the rest. 

Saturday morning, after a great night sleep I headed over to Buntzen Lake. I was going to see if I could beat my previous person best. I set a personal best earlier this year of 2:44, shaving off 4 minutes from last years PB. Where I ended my day puking and needing a good rest before I could drive home. I wasn't very hopeful to get a PB in this time around. 

I have a preference of going counter-clockwise, longer climb and steep downhill at the end that puts me a couple kms from the car. I made really good time to the north beach and I knew this wouldn't be good since I'll probably suffer later on. I was going empty stomach and didn't even have food on me. Once I was on the Diez Vista's trail, I saw what looked like a trail runner coming down, he must of started fairly early. As he got closer, I realized it wasn't an runner it was Dustin. We chatted quickly for a bit and I continued on the climb. I chatted with others as I passed by them too so I didn't feel like I was going fast. But as soon as I got to the last Vista for me, I looked at the time and it was under 2 hours, I've never been at this point under 2 hours. On the downhill I decided to just give'r. I just bombed down and even jogged the flats at the end. When I tagged the car, I could hardly believe my time, 2:27, 15 minutes faster then my previous time. I was tired but didn't puke and didn't really need a recovery time. I don't think I can even reproduce this time, but I guess I'll find out later in the month. Rest of the day was spend relaxing at home and preparing for my lunch dates. 

Saturday morning was a late start and decided to change date plans to something a little closer to home, good bye Outram, hello Coliseum. I was still out of the house before eight and headed over to the north shore. I parked close to End of the Line and made my way into Lynn headwaters, with my breakfast warp in hand, yummy hash browns, scramble egg & fresh made salsa all warped up made for the gentle walk through Varley trail pleasant. I was on a rest day so no going hard just relaxing walk but even then, I was only passed by a few runners and I passed quite a few hikers. By the time I got to Norvan I had a some stomach issues that I quickly was able to take care of and started my climb. I don't have a lot to say about the climb so I'll let the pictures do the talking. I can tell you the climb isn't too bad and I spend most of the day with my head in the clouds.

Sunday's date was with Black Tusk, I even had a little something special for the peak. This was also a later start to the day then I wanted by almost an hour but I was still at the trail head before 7:30. It was just over a week from FatAss's night run and I remembered the climb really well. I probably passed just about every hiker without really trying and again not much to say except, I met a guy named Jim who was living the dream. He hiked in his snowboard for a run or two in the summer. Here I'll let the pictures do the talking again.

Yeah that's right I hiked up a Black Tusk Ale up the Black Tusk and even managed to keep it cold. 

I forgot how scary the scramble up to the peak is. That's where I got to meet Whitman (I hope I got your name right). After the climb down it was a quick jog to the lake for some pictures and then to the car. I ended up jogging downhill for the last kilometer and a bit with Jim. 

In all it was an extremely good relaxing weekend with one fast day hard day and two slow and relaxing days. The weekend total ended up being almost 70k with just over 4000m of gain. Time to relax and get ready for Fat Dog, Squamish, Volcanic & Frosty.