Las Vegas and Grand Canyon Trip

What a nice getaway to a nice and sunny place like Las Vegas!! I'm sure everyone was sick of the rain we had for the past 3 weeks or so. I am so glad that I took this small vacation to be in Las Vegas where it was around 24 to 27 degC. Ray and I had a great time in Las Vegas and last but not least, the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The view at the Grand Canyon was just speechless and jaw-dropping! We were on a 45-min private flight from Vegas to the state of Arizona where the Grand Canyon is located. The bus driver gave us an overview of the history of the Grand Canyon. From there, we stopped at 3 lookouts and after that, we had an awesome buffet lunch at the Quality Inn hotel. Check out the photos of the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas at my picasa web albums. I highly recommend everyone if they have a chance to go to Arizona or to Las Vegas, that they should not miss out on the Grand Canyon tour. This is such a spectacular and beautiful creation by God that we should all go and experience. Now, I look forward to my next trip to the Grand Canyon where we are thinking of hiking down the bright angel trail, sleeping over at the bottom of the canyon next to the Colorado river and hiking back up the next day. We would also like to see the Grand Canyon Skywalk (The Glass Bridge) that will open starting tomorrow.

Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts Band

Ray, his parents and I went to see Jim Belushi in concert tonight. I was a little disappointed because I was hoping that he would do some stand-up comedy. Despite that, I still enjoyed a night out watching him sing with his band. Jim Belushi sure has a distinct and strong voice when he sings and a very talented harmonica player too. We were sitting close to the stage and took a few pictures of him. Towards the end of the night, I was up on the stage with other ladies dancing away with him. It was really cool.

The Yeti Snowshoe Race at Cypress Mountain

Wow...It was really a wet day to be doing a snowshoe race but it was fine after all because the rain basically cools you down when you are so hot and sweating. I think it was a pretty good race and way better than the one at Mount Seymour (see Yeti Snowshoe race at Mt. Seymour). The reason I say this was the course for Mount Seymour was more than 5K which I wasn't prepared for and the one at Cypress was right on 5K. Anyway, the results will be posted up soon on the Yeti website. Please check it at a later date. Ray did extremely well today and he came first overall!!! As for me, I think I did pretty good although I didn't come first. I am happy with my performance. I will update here after the results are posted. Both Ray and I won some cool stuff like socks, toques, water bottle for cycling, custom fit soles for shoes and an adult snowshoe combo for ticket and rental. Not bad, eh?? So, I guess my next race won't be until April 15th for the Vancouver Sun Run. I am pretty excited about it because this time I will be close to the front pack instead of in the back pack like last year. I hope to do better than last year so I have to get on with my training :)

Update (Mar19/2007): Here are the results posted on the the Yeti website. Ray came first out of 75 overall and first out of 21 in his age group with the time of 32:49mins. As for me, I came 44th out of 75 overall and 16th out of 33 in my age group with the time of 52:47mins. We were also signed up as Team called "Smilin Bob's Snowrunners" and the team came first in the 5K.

Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K

It was a miserable morning with heavy rain. The good thing was it wasn't that cold. Ray and I went to Stanley Park early this morning to run an 8K called Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K. This race was sponsored by Harry Rosen to fight against prostate cancer and it was the 1st annual ever. I hope this race will still be as popular for next year because I sure won't be running in it next year because today's weather was pretty bad! Anyway, I will be posting the results as soon as Raceheadquarters post it up on their site. Check back here to see the update of this race.

Update: Here are the race results posted on Raceheadquarters: I came in 220/454 overall, 57/214 for females and 8/35 in my age group with a time of 46:06 mins. Ray, on the other hand, had a great performance with 17/454 overall, 17/255 for males and 3/38 in his age group with an incredible time of 33:08mins. He won $50 Running Room gift certificate for coming third in his age group. Good job!!!

Last Day of Chinese New Year

My family and I had a big feast at home tonight. Each of us put in the effort of making the big meal for the last day of Chinese New Year which is the 15th day of the celebration. I think there were more than 10 different dishes set before our eyes! I was just stuffed with the delicious food. All in all, it was just fun to get together and chat and drink too. Aunt Loretta and Uncle David joined us for this dinner. We all had good laughs from the jokes that we made. It is always such a joy to have them whenever we get together. I hope everyone else also had a chance to enjoy the last day of the CNY celebration. Hopefully, this year will be a continual blessful and peaceful one for all of us!