42 before 42.

 Tomorrow I turn 42. One of my goals was to run a marathon (42km) before I turn 42 years old. I've been saying '42 before 42' for a few years. Five years ago in 2020, I signed up to run the BMO marathon. I also signed Simon up without asking him. (It's easier asking for forgiveness than permission, haha). I was training hard for it and in March 2020, just 6 weeks out from race day, COVID changed everything. The BMO marathon, as well as everything else, shut down. I was so disappointed. All those long runs. All that training. The race organizers encouraged everyone to do their own 'virtual marathons' and they would mail participants the medal. Well, it wasn't the marathon I had imagined, but the Covid-edition of my first marathon was amazing. I ran 42.2km with my husband, and since all our friends were trapped inside their houses with nowhere to go, we had so many friends show up along our marathon route, holding signs, banging pots and pans, and cheering us on. We gave socially distanced hugs and high 5's to all our friends along our route and crossed the finish line at Spanish Banks with our kids holding a stream of toilet paper as the finish line. Core memory indeed.

After that amazing experience and running 42.2km together, Simon vowed he would never do a marathon again. Fair enough, I guess he never signed up to do one in the first place. But for me, even though I did run 42.2km in distance, I didn't think it counted as a 'real' marathon. So since 2020, I have wanted another attempt at the BMO marathon 'for real'. I am turning 42 this year, this was THE year to run 42 before 42. I told myself it was my last chance. My swan song. My final bow before I get too old to do it. So I signed up to run the BMO full marathon again and this time it didn't get cancelled. It was a sold-out event, and it was thrilling to run with 25,000 random strangers.

My sister and I ran it together, which was pretty special too. I was wholly fearful of having to use the porta-potty during the race so I tried to drink as little water as possible. Everything was going great for the first half of the marathon. I was LOVING every minute of it. The crowds cheering. The signs. Oh, I love the race signs. Things like "Pain is Tempory, Strava is Forever", "Toenails are overrated", "Pain is only French for bread", and "I carboloaded with you in solidarity". My own son had a sign for me that said, "Not all heroes wear capes, some wear running shoes! You carried me for 9 months, what's a marathon?"  Loved it. So fun. 

However, close to the 30km mark, the lack of water was causing my leg to cramp up and when I stopped to get a pebble out of my shoe, I almost fell over and it was SO hard to keep going but God knew what I needed and when I was mentally struggling, I saw my super-fan family - they biked and cheered me along the last stretch of the race. It was the adrenaline I needed. My sister, who was hydrating properly, even waited for me so we could hold hands and cross the finish line together. Official chip time 4:11:06.

We got our finisher medals and then I went into the medic tent. I thought I might need an IV but they just advised me hydrate so I downed a litre of water and got some muscle gel on my calf. I hobbled over to my cheer squad family. I was so proud that I actually did it. I had eaten so many caffeine energy gels that my heart was racing abnormally fast even after the race, but I was also feeling so depleted. I wanted to jump for joy and collapse and sleep at the same time. 

So bucket list completed. Tomorrow I turn 42, and I am happy to say that I was able to check that box: 42 before 42. And I don't think I will ever run a full marathon ever again. 

the Hiker's Dozen: 12 of the most epic hikes in BC (and the ones that are not worth the hype)

We just got back from a hike that has been on my buckelist for years and I am glad we waited til the kids were a bit older to do it because it was HARD. We have been hiking with the kids before they could even walk. SuperDad used to trek up mountains with baby Nallie in the backpack. I have been scrolling pictures on my phone and we have done a lot of hiking so I decided to compile them all. These hikes make my it-list. This is the Hiker's Dozen: 12 of the most epic hikes in BC - as well as some honourable mentions and ones that I don't think are worth the hype. All the hikes are linked to the map on AllTrails

12. Lindeman Lake  

My sister and I took my 70-year-old mom to do this hike on Mother's Day. We navigated this trail at an easy pace and the hike took just over 2 hours out-and-back. Gorgeous lake!

11.Widgeon Falls 

If you know me, you know I love a good adventure and you can't get to the trailhead to Widgeon Falls unless you cross Widgeon Slough. You can take a canoe, kayak or SUPs. I don't think the kid's $100 Costco kayaks were meant for this type of paddle, so it was a bit tricky making it and we ended up having to tow them on the way back connected to our SUPs but I guess that's all part of the adventure. 

10.Stawamus Chief 

Classic westcoast hike: the kids love a hike with ropes, chains, and ladders and this one has all of them. They loved feeling like ninja warriors scaling up the rock near the end of the hike to sweeping views of the ocean

9. Jurassic Ridge 

We love camping at Porteau Cove, and we do this hike every summer. It's fun to watch the mountain climbers as you hike and it's usually not as crowded as other hikes and the view from the top is pretty amazing. 

8.Suicide Bluff  

One of our family favourites at Mt. Seymour, we have hiked it so many times in different seasons. It's not well marked but SuperDad knows this route really well. 

7.Brockton and keep going to Pump Peak 

These two are also at Mt. Seymour, Brockton is an easy one, and we backpacked to Brockton last May to try one night of snow camping. We hoped to see the northern lights as well but it wasn't visible to the naked eye, but our phones picked up some colors. Of course, you can keep hiking from Brockton all the way to Pump Peak. We've done this a number of times as well, it feels like quite the accomplishment when you make it to the top and see the sign post of 1,407m of elevation. Pump Peak is another great hike to do in multiple seasons.

6.Sea to Summit 

We have done this hike with the kids twice, it's a fun terrain and nice to have a restaurant at the top, more trails if you're not tired, and take the gondola instead of walking back down. You can tell who hiked up and who took the gondola up by how disheveled and sweaty people are at the top. We hiked this on one of the hottest days of the summer. It was a hot mess kinda day, and the overpriced popsicle at the top was well worth it.

5.Mt. Cheam 

Warning: do not attempt this hike unless you have a 4x4 vehicle with a high clearance to make it to the trailhead; that is the hardest part of this hike. We saw some truly sketchy things happen with vehicles trying to make it to the parking lot. Once your vehicle has made it to the parking lot, the rest of the hike is great. The day we hiked Mt. Cheam, the clouds were covering most of the way until we made it to the summit, and it was blue skies, alpine flowers and glorious sunshine. It felt like we had entered another magical universe. 

4.Joffre Lake

 I backpacked here with my sister a few years ago, definitely not as easy with all the overnight gear, but very doable. The best part about camping overnight is that after all the day hikers have gone, you can sit at the top and enjoy sunset and sunrise with very few other people.

3.Garabaldi Lake and keep going to Panorama Ridge

We backpacked to Garabaldi when the kids were 6 and 8, it was a lot of effort since the kids couldn't carry much at that age. We camped at Taylor Meadows and other than 6-year-old LittleBro almost throwing up inside the tent after eating the freeze-fried mac and cheese, it was a really successful backpacking trip. We did it again a couple years later when the kids were 8 and 10 years old and camped at Garabaldi Lake this time for two nights. We hiked to Panorama Ridge the second day and the view from the top is just as breath-taking as all the Instagram photos promises it to be.

2.Highnote trail 

I don't usually like paying to go hiking, but my husband surprised me with a Whistler trip for me and my besties for my 40th birthday. We took the Peak2Peak gondola, which isn't cheap, but wow, this is one stunning trail. Alpine wildflowers and the views are gorgeous the entire way. One of the most beautiful and relatively easy hikes in Whistler.

1.Wedgemount Lake 

This hike has been on my bucket list for years, but it's a challenging one, and we finally conquered it this summer! It is just as hard as I thought it would be and I am glad the kids were 11 and 13 when we did it. This one required poles and navigating creek crossings and a super steep scramble for the last section. Lots of marmots along the trail and when you finally make it to the lake, the turquoise color of it will take your breath away. I packed a candle and roasting sticks and the highlight was making s'mores at the top. It took our family 8 hours of moving time. We left the parking lot at 9am and didn't make it back til 7pm. So nice to drive the 20 mins back to Whistler and crash after. 

Honourable mentions but didn't make the list:

Hollyburn peak 

The kids hiked this one fairly easily during the winter, it took us a few hours up and down and they loved the whiskey jacks at the top. 

BCMC or the more popular Grouse Grind. 

Personally, I prefer the BCMC trail versus the never-ending stairmaster of the Grind but both are a good short but steep hike that will get your heart pumping fast. The first time LittleBro hiked the Grind he was 3 years old, I promised him a popsicle if he made it to the top by himself, and he succeeded. 

Cypress Falls 

This is a nice easy hike in the forest, nothing super epic, but perfect to get the family out on a Saturday afternoon

Lighthouse Park

Not an epic hike but really easy for the kids when they were younger, we told them they could take their dragons for a hike and it kept them going the whole way.

Not worth the hype:

Tunnel Bluffs 

Our kids love a challenging hike, steep incline, big rocks to climb on, creek crossings, big logs to climb over and this trail is mostly wide and gravel...you could probably push a stroller up the whole way if you wanted to, the kids were not impressed and although the view is nice at the end, it wasn't very stimulating as a hike

Mamquam Falls 

Again, this one isn't worth the hype because it's not even really a hike. It's just over 1km long on a gravel road. You get to the viewpoint (the waterfall) in less than 15 minutes and you didn't even elevate your heartrate at all.

Quarry Rock 

Yes, the view is nice at the top but way too crowded for me. I'd rather hike somewhere further out and more difficult, so there aren't 200 people at the top all trying to take a selfie

So there you have it, we have been hiking with our kiddos since they were born. SuperDad has been chucking them on mountain tops before they could walk. Here is our baby girl soaring to the sky at the top of Pump Peak at Mt. Seymour

Our kids have been hiking as soon as they could walk. We started hiking with them when it would have been easier to jut stay at home and when they didn't even make hiking poles or hiking boots in toddler sizes.

When they were younger, it was a lot of effort. We played games during the hike, endless hours of "I spy", the alphabet game, and "I'm going to Mars and I'm bringing..." We made up challenges for the kids to find the next trail marker. They brought their stuffies along. We pretended to be ninjas together in the forest and climbed rocks. We harnessed powers like the Wild Kratts and pretended to have special animal powers. Unspeakable amounts of Sour patch gummies were involved. There were times when there was whinning and complaining and we questioned why we thought this would be fun. But I'm so glad that we didn't stop climbing mountains because now the brainwashing has worked, and our not-so-little kids enjoy the great outdoors as much as we do. So what are you waiting for? The mountains are calling. Go and take a hike. #Adventuresawaits