As I eluded to in my last article, it feels like I have done nothing but work so far this summer, not that I'm complaining, student-athletes need to earn some money somewhere in the year. But between working and reading all the stories of my XC Ottawa teammates recent travels, am I ready to get out of town and do some adventuring of my own!
As summer is prime adventuring time I planned out a few different ways to get out of town and have fun, all of which ended up being in August so the grind is over for me and I'm ready to have fun!
I started with a non-training oriented trip to Montreal with two of my best pals (Anna and Jason) to see Anna and I's longtime most favourite band in the world, Blink-182!! (Do not laugh, this is serious.) Anna and I missed seeing them perform live before the band took a 6-year hiatus from the stage and so were thrilled to get tickets to a show. We have agreed that despite not being picked out in the crowd as "the girl at the rock show" our lives are now complete. We rounded out the two day trip with some shopping on Sainte-Catherine street. One adventure down, two more to go!
Next up is a weekend trip to the Thousand Islands to go sailing with my parents. This will hopefully incorporate a bit more training- sailing trips have been a summer staple in Thomas family for years and are never complete without a few intense island trail runs: Alana vs. Dad. It is always a good test to see how my running fitness is progressing and of course nice to visit with my parents who live in Mississauga the rest of the year. I'm super pumped to get out of town and do some relaxing, bbq-ing and swimming off of "The Heart of Gold" (named after the spaceship stolen by the president of the universe in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, not the Neil Young song.)
The finale of the summer is a 10 day trip to Finland with the Ontario Ski Team. The OST strives to get us on snow at least once a summer. We have gone to the Haig Glacier in Alberta a few summers and even went to the Eagle Glacier in Alaska one year but we have never hopped the pond for a european trip! Our destination is the Vuokatti Sport Institute, featuring a 1.2 kilometer ski tunnel! I've studied up as much as I can on the destination and it seems to be something of an althletes resort as best I can tell. I can't wait to get there and get some great, focoused on snow training in, not to mention see Finland!
Let the summer travel begin! More adventure updates to come...
As summer is prime adventuring time I planned out a few different ways to get out of town and have fun, all of which ended up being in August so the grind is over for me and I'm ready to have fun!
I started with a non-training oriented trip to Montreal with two of my best pals (Anna and Jason) to see Anna and I's longtime most favourite band in the world, Blink-182!! (Do not laugh, this is serious.) Anna and I missed seeing them perform live before the band took a 6-year hiatus from the stage and so were thrilled to get tickets to a show. We have agreed that despite not being picked out in the crowd as "the girl at the rock show" our lives are now complete. We rounded out the two day trip with some shopping on Sainte-Catherine street. One adventure down, two more to go!
Next up is a weekend trip to the Thousand Islands to go sailing with my parents. This will hopefully incorporate a bit more training- sailing trips have been a summer staple in Thomas family for years and are never complete without a few intense island trail runs: Alana vs. Dad. It is always a good test to see how my running fitness is progressing and of course nice to visit with my parents who live in Mississauga the rest of the year. I'm super pumped to get out of town and do some relaxing, bbq-ing and swimming off of "The Heart of Gold" (named after the spaceship stolen by the president of the universe in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, not the Neil Young song.)
The finale of the summer is a 10 day trip to Finland with the Ontario Ski Team. The OST strives to get us on snow at least once a summer. We have gone to the Haig Glacier in Alberta a few summers and even went to the Eagle Glacier in Alaska one year but we have never hopped the pond for a european trip! Our destination is the Vuokatti Sport Institute, featuring a 1.2 kilometer ski tunnel! I've studied up as much as I can on the destination and it seems to be something of an althletes resort as best I can tell. I can't wait to get there and get some great, focoused on snow training in, not to mention see Finland!
Let the summer travel begin! More adventure updates to come...
Interesting Reading. . .
"Sustaining People in Motion"