This first Sunday saw a turnout of 7 eager souls; Jacquie Trudeau (& her dog Molly), Matt Sessions, Mike (& his dog Ziggy), Stu and yours truly. (sorry Mike & Stu, didn't get your last names). Only two of the five are running the KK but everyone was enthusiastic and looking forward to a good group run.
We started off at 8:10 as we were waiting for any late comers. A beautiful clear day with perfect running temps. set the tone for the run. Since neither Ean Jackson nor Michael Wardas were running today there was little sandbagging to be heard in the group.
We agreed to run further than the listed route and decided to go to Lynn Valley, do a short loop and then head back to ensure we got in a 3 hour run (you know its going to be a pretty fast pace with the likes of Jacquie and Matt running!). The run to Lynn was fun with the usual trail running chit chatter (how do you like those shoes? what races are you doing? how many mpw/days a week are you running lately? etc.) The trail was a little wet and muddy in sections but otherwise in pretty good condition.
We hit Mountain Hwy in just under an hour and continued on to Lynn. Just before the last drop to the Valley, there was a brief stop at the teeter-totter where Mike showed off how Ziggy's agility training classes had paid off. After a short washroom & refueling break at Lynn Headwaters we crossed over the headwaters bridge and ran the jeep road to the Seymour Demo Forest parking lot. Then back over Lynn Creek via the Pipeline Bridge to the Varley trail and back to the trusty ole BP.
Up the BP to Mtn Hwy, then onward. We set a good pace going back up the trail from Mtn Hwy. The chatting died down as we focussed on grinding up the trail. Stu zigged when he should have zagged and ended up on another trail - which we didn't know until we stopped after about 30 min. Stu wasn't in sight...Jacquie and Mike headed back to Grousse to wait for him (in case he somehow got ahead of us) while Matt and myself backtracked. We ran down some of the sidetrails but no luck. We decided to head back and hoped that Stu had found his way. Thankfully this was the case. Somehow he got on a trail below the BP, cut across the Powerlines and got ahead of us. With the bit of backtracking Matt and I had a 4 hour run and the rest came in at around 3:15 I think.
All in all a fun day was had by everyone on the trails. Looking forward to seeing more people join our little group next week for more adventures on the trails!
Cheers.