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This weekend marked the first annual Drayton Valley Triathlon/Duathlon. With my parents living in Drayton Valley (and the fact that it was Mother’s Day weekend – Happy Mother’s Day Mom!!!), it was a great excuse to enter the sprint triathlon as a team (with my Dad). My friend Jenny decided it sounded equally as fun, and opted to make the trek up to Drayton Valley with me to compete in the duathlon.
Jenny, Dad and I...just after body marking
The last few days with Ann and Chris in Australia were just as action packed as the first week and a half. We tried full moon orienteering, played tennis, went paddling, met up with Canadian friends for dinner, relaxed, swam, went on a harbour cruise,…oh and went for one of the most amazing trail runs I’ve ever done in my life…here are some pics and short stories from the remaining days of my time in Australia with my very dear friends…
Having spent the past week and a half with my awesome friends (and amazing hosts) Ann and Chris in Sydney, I have plenty of fun adventures to share. Here are some of the highlights from my trip to Australia (so far…).
Ann + Chris = awesome
Well it may be the last classic ski of the year for me, and I couldn’t ask for a better end to the season. Sean, Henry, Adrian, Charlotte and myself headed out for an amazing ski at Pocaterra. We weren’t sure if the trails would be recently groomed, but Sean convinced us we should give it a try. I’m sure glad we did. As we pulled up, we could see the start of the trails and they were freshly track set. We felt spoiled.
Phew! We sure lucked out today…Brooke, Carolyn and myself headed up to Shadow Lake Lodge (one of my favorite locales) in hopes of hitting up their second to last weekend of “afternoon tea” before the lodge closes down until the summer months. When we got to the lodge though, we were surprised to see that folks were packing the place up for the season! Nooooo….
For those of you familiar with my blog, you’ll know that Nipika Mountain Eco-resort is one of my favourite places in the whole world. For those who are not familiar with Nipika, it is a magical place to recharge, ski up a storm (or trail run and mountain bike in the summer time), as well as enjoy some peace and quiet. Ths past weekend was no exception…
Little slice of Nipika Heaven (photo courtesy of http://www.chrontography.com/)
Every year I look forward to a day of pain at the Mooseheart Loppet in Edson. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good pain…but it hurts none the less. The Mooseheart Loppet is a 15km skate ski race that takes place at the Hornbeck ski trails just outside of Edson. The 15km race is extremely hilly (so for those of us who aren’t natural skate skiers, it means about an hour of hurt)….and this course slows down even the fastest of skiers. There is even a hill on the course called “the wall” and it literally stops you in your tracks.
Start line...let it snow!
For the long weekend, I joined Shauna (Sweet Pea), Jaycee (Dragon), Kent (Gramps), Jocelyn (Trump), and Chris (Badger/Field Mouse) for a trip into Mt. Assiniboine (Naiset Huts). We opted to get flown in so that we’d have more time to tour around during the weekend, and boy was it worth it. The views on the flights in and out were magnificent.
Jaycee and Shauna all smiles on take off!
Well, that was the closest to a DNF I’ve ever been!
Weighing my pack post race. Soooo glad to be done!
Friday night I headed to the Strathcona Wilderness Centre where my ski club was crashing the night before the big race. For those of you who haven’t been to the wilderness centre, it’s a really neat place. They have great trails and open up the facilities (similar to a hostel) for the birkie weekend It’s a great space to catch up, wax skis and eat good food (they have a large kitchen and eating area — great for potlucks). Long story short, I got EXTREMELY lost on the way 
…and it took me quite some time to get turned in the right direction. By the time I got to the wilderness centre, my wax technician was eager to get prepping my skis (thanks Dad!).
This past weekend a group of us surprised our dear friend Kendra (thanks to her hubby Jason) with a weekend in Kimberley. Jason scored a great place right on the hill (hot tub goodness and all). It was fantastic. Good food (thanks Nadine and Deanna), good wine, great company, awesome 90′s music, and a sore stomach from so much laughing 
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Birthday girl and her fur baby Levi