Grouse Grind Mountain Run 2009

This would be the fourth year for me, Ray and William and third time for Ethan as a team doing this race. Our team this year was the same name as last year which was "Kung Fu Pandas". Again, we all did great especially Ethan and Ray with speedy times of 47:28 mins and 37:47 mins respectively. WTG team for coming in first again in the team Co-ed category!! We won 4 pairs of Merrell socks, 4 Running Room gift cards and complimentary event entries to either Snowshoe Classic, Seek the Peak or Grouse Grind races. The record time was broken this year by Sebastian Salas who finished it in 25:25mins.

More than 500 participants braved through the infamous trail of about 3km and a lot of the elderly people in the age groups of 70 - 74 and 75-99 were surprisingly very FIT!!! A few of them did better than me...now, that is just unreal. They really inspire me. I thought I gave it my all but just not good enough. My uncle and aunt just started to do the Grind a few weeks ago and I told them, "Good for you". What I usually say to Grouse Grind first-timers is time isn't what we're really looking for here, it's all about endurance and finishing it!!

Wayne Brady Show

Ray and I with 4 other friends headed to Red Robinson Theatre in Coquitlam for a night of laughter and FUN!!! This was my third time seeing Wayne Brady and my second time on stage with him!! I was so happy that he picked me again and this time, there were four people from the audience to be as PROPS in the skit that they were doing. Each of us had a quick practice on what to do so I was told to impersonate a 'Tornado' and I did a 'Rocket' instead....hahahaha. I knew what a tornado is, just did it too fast without thinking it through. Nevertheless, it was still funny. Ray recorded a video of it. Looking back at it, I feel like I made a fool of myself :)

Exploring the Lions

Ray, Ethan, Shirmy and I were out on a beautiful Sunday to check out the Lions. The Lions which is also called the Twin Sisters is a very popular hike in the North Shore area. It sure was busy when we got there, perhaps it wasn't early enough therefore, we had to park about 1km away from the trail head.
The hike started off fine with a gradual incline until we got to the top of the ridge where we had our lunch. The view of Howe Sound and Garibaldi Lake was just spectacular. After the break, we decided to head up to the top of the Lions and it wasn't easy at all. Shirmy and I just didn't continue on but Ray and Ethan went on and hiked to the very top. The downhill felt really long as our legs were so tired after 6 hours of hiking. The last part of the hike made it even harder for me as I was experiencing some blisters on the base of my feet. We just couldn't wait to get to the car and to the store for a drink of WATER!!!!! As we almost got to the car, we saw a nearby resident working on his lawn, we asked him what time the store was opened till and he offered some water bottles for us. What a nice guy :0 Will I do it again? Well, if I do, then I will be better prepared next time with MORE WATER!!!!

Ray's first Triathlon in Stanley Park

Weather had been really nice for the month of August but this long weekend it decided to take its turn to cold, miserable and rainy. Today, Ray and I headed down to second beach in Stanley Park in the wee early morning at about 6am. When we got there, it started raining but then it stopped when the race started at 7am. Thank God that the day turned out good for the whole race.

Ray had his taste for his first triathlon. I wasn't sure if he was really up for the race especially the 750m open water swim. As usual, he did just well in 17mins. As for the biking and run, he did exceptionally good. His 5K run time (19:31mins) was the best in his age group category.

So proud of you, Ray!! Way to go!! Congrats again for a good effort in your first Triathlon.