Addicted to Adventure, Nature, Challenges and Learning. Live Positive and Pay It Forward!
It’s called an adventure for a reason. The unusual, exciting, potentially hazardous experience of taking on grand initiatives can be filled with the unexpected. Day 17 – Bayview to Cymbria – 28km We were on a major high after such an amazing day yesterday hitting the halfway point, both in such a great spot physically […]
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The last post had us arriving in Summerside finishing Day 4 of The Island Walk Very happy to say we hit the Halfway Point yesterday! It was a celebration at the Waypoint sign 16 with 364 km completed of the 700km circumnavigation of PEI. To this point we’ve had to deal with a lot of […]
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How can doubt and excitement live in the same moment? That combination is usually a sign for me. When I’m excited about the prospect of an endeavour or adventure, yet there is a string of fear or doubt that swings in like a monkey ready to steal something out of your backpack. This is when […]
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Equal parts scared and excited! Soon myself and My Adventure buddy will spend a month walking 700km around PEI on the new #IslandWalk also now being referred to as the #CanadianCamino This is my chosen milestone challenge as I approach 60 in a few months. I love stretching myself, I’ve learned to step into things that scare me. […]
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I enjoy getting to work early so for years I’ve woken at 5am to get my endurance training in before I turn into a professional. That all changed in Honduras early January when I fell off a dock onto a lower dock then into the ocean badly breaking my wrist. It could’ve been much worse, […]
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As we say Bye to 2018, I want to appeal to everyone to take a few ‘Geterdone’ thoughts into 2019. I want you to laugh more! For your health, happiness and relationships, start laughing and stop getting caught up in the small stuff that just doesn’t really matter. We have to give ourselves permission to […]
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Be The Ride! My Adventure Buddy and I just completed The Ride to Conquer Cancer cycling 219km from Toronto to Niagara Falls over 2 days. If you’re looking for an adventure that ties together an endurance challenge with giving back to a great cause, you must consider this one. Every year in my 50’s I’ve […]
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Home after a night run with friends last winter, I could hear my Adventure Buddy upstairs dreaming the Canadian cold away watching one of those beach relocation shows. As I rounded the corner to chat, the TV literally stopped me in my tracks with a view of water and volcanoes. “We need to go there!”, […]
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Happy 2018! I keep saying I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions but I get on the scale just like many others, even pull out the tape measure, record that mark in time and hide it away so no one can find it. Ultimately, I really believe setting goals is essential to becoming a better […]
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Running, climbing, cycling, obstacle racing, weight lifting, fundraising, cheerleading, smiling. Time is going to pass anyway, we might as well accomplish something EPIC. Live without regrets, be proud of yourself, see the World, overcome fears, surprise yourself, inspire others, create awesome stories, be interesting, be positive, give back and jump for joy. Be the best […]
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How do we pick where we climb? Sometimes it’s just the cheapest trip we can put together. Whatever countries we’re considering there is always a google question to my phone, “What is the highest mountain in _____?”. Followed by, “Best month to climb Mt _____?”. We only had a week so we would find a […]
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When was the last time you were so proud of yourself you raised your arms in glee? How about literally patting yourself on the back or jumping in the air with joy? Spontaneously high 5’ing someone from a big jolt of endorphins through your body? Was it a month ago, year ago, decades, never? Every […]
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I interrupt this blog for another adventure. Whoops, sorry, I got a bit distracted by some volcanoes in Guatemala. Experiences over Stuff! Finally finishing my last post on Russia, you may want to refresh on Part 1 and Part 2 first. Team Spudnik, quite the group of adventurers. You’ve already heard about Jason climbing his […]
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The true excitement of a trip kicks in for me when the bags are finally in the car, the engine starts and I’m heading to the airport. Whatever I’ve forgotten to pack at this point, it just doesn’t matter, except this time I will get told off by a world record holding mountaineer. Typically arriving at […]
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When I look back on 2016, my surprise trip to Russia will always put a huge badass smile on my face. As my 54th birthday is just hours away and 2016 is coming to a close, I couldn’t think of any better way to celebrate than reliving and documenting my amazing Russian adventure. What a […]
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I have taken a break for the last month, partly because my body was rebelling, partly because I needed one and mostly because I’ve been telling myself for quite a while that I wanted one. For 4+ years straight I’ve gone from one increasingly challenging goal to the next. The break wasn’t everything I thought […]
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My biggest running goal so far! The story of my very 1st Ultra Marathon, the Niagara Ultra.
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I recently pinged off a bunch of challenges over 10 weeks; Ottawa Marathon, my very 1st Ultra Marathon in Niagara then, I surprisingly went to Russia to climb Mt Elbrus. Honestly, for 2016, I had one challenge goal and that was to finish my unfinished business at the Ottawa Marathon; the other 2 challenges were […]
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Driving back from the Kawartha’s a week before the Ottawa Marathon I made a mistake, I talked to my phone, “weather in Ottawa this Sunday” phone thinking “Sunday’s forecast in Ottawa is 29 with scattered thunderstorms”. What! I knew it could get hot in Ottawa the end of May and I truly love running in rain […]
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What is it about marathoners? We fantasize most of our training season about getting to taper phase then, once it gets here, we hate it. Today, I completed my last real long run before my goal race, the Ottawa Marathon, May 29th. That gives me 2 weeks to recover, prepare mentally and get my body […]
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Have you ever considered taking your car out for a long drive without a tank of gas? Neither have I. In fact I think it could result in a lot of pushing and shoving. Let’s talk about the pushing part first. I have this coach, let’s call him Stan, who uses himself as a guinea […]
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I guess I’m good at distractions! As you know there are a whole bunch of reasons I’m training for the Ottawa Marathon May 29th as explained in Unfinished Business. Well, I haven’t really explained quite ALL of my reasons just yet. Let me explain. The day I returned to Canada after climbing Mt Baker in […]
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We’ve all seen the cartoons about runners who keep running when injured. A couple of years ago I had no understanding of why anyone in their right mind would keep running when they had a perfectly good excuse to stop. Any excuse would’ve been a good one for me! In my short running career I’ve […]
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Call it the eternal optimist in me but I never look at an incomplete personal goal as a fail. Never! If I’m not able to follow through, I take stock of what sidelined me and move the goal to the ranks of ‘Unfinished Business’. I stay positive because I know accomplishing anything requires belief in myself, I recognize my progress and […]
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This morning I found myself running at 5:30am. Running and Smiling 🙂 I am not a morning person! I have to be super motivated to get out of bed before 7am so it is usually for reasons such as paid workout sessions or knowing people are depending on me before I’ll dare leave my bed […]
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As I begin training for what I am confident will be my 1st Spring marathon success, let me continue my running journey where I left off in Run Karen Run. January 2014, I joined my 1st Marathon Clinic with the Running Room. It was a big group of marathon veterans and newbies coached by the legendary Beaches […]
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I wish I was like Forrest Gump and had the burning desire to just run and run and run. I’ve come from a really negative mind set toward running (okay, I’ll admit, I hated it) to moments of joy and tears of accomplishment. I now enjoy it more than I hate it and I want the journey […]
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“There is no man living who isn’t capable of doing more than he thinks he can do.” ~ Henry Ford Three years ago a trio of wannabe mountaineers headed off to Tanzania in Africa. Just 3 months before my 50th birthday, this wannabe, learned how tough and adventurous she could be if she just set a stretch […]
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I’ll confess, there was some trickery involved in getting my ‘Adventure Partner’ to climb Mt Baker with me last week. You see, he’s not a big fan of winter, climbing a glacier in the nicest month of the year did not even register on his bucket list. Receiving an invitation to a dear friend’s 50th birthday […]
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6 more sleeps until we climb Mount Baker in Washington! Today is a Civic holiday in Ontario and, since we spent the last 2 days driving our son back to Indiana, we were happy to have the extra day off for some serious training. This morning we tackled 2 hours of hills in the heat, each carrying […]
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Altitude was not even a consideration when I first declared I was going to climb Mt Kilimanjaro as my chosen 50th year challenge. Aside from checking out some quick google searches and a whole bunch of awesome pictures, I had rather ignorantly and excitedly made a decision and announced to the World my plan based on pure […]
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