Timed my hip replacement perfectly, 6 months ago today, so that I could recover in time to delay the need for a cantilever system by at least 1 more year.
Happy Easter y'all 🐰🍫
And then they went and did the damn thing ♥️
My mother still can't talk about it without crying. They aren't and never were athletes nor hikers or backpackers nor particularly athletically inclined. They've just always kept moving and they've never sat still, but signing up for the SQ23 km race at 73 & 72 years old...well they had about a 50/50 shot at finishing....
They said they'd just keep going until they couldn't. At only 5 kms in Mom's knee started to hurt, and by 6 kms she thought it'd be impossible, but they kept going. At the half way aid station a few people suggested she might not want to continue, but they got back up and kept going. Dad's legs cramped up on him right before Linda caught them in her 50/50 run, and she was able to guide them through it.
The terrain was steeper and more technical than anything they'd ever seen before, and mom said "that was more than 1000 feet of climbing!" and I said "yeah it was 1000m actually, not feet, which is only 3x as much as you apparently thought it'd be!".
Every runner that passed them cheered them on. They literally held hands for most of it and helped each other almost crawl up and down the steepest bits, yet at 9h31m, with a 9h45m cutoff, they crossed the finish line holding hands together, and I lost my shit 😭
They finished because they worked together every step of the way, just like they've done through 51 years of marriage. I love them more than I can put into words & have never been so proud of them & of a finish.
Moms gonna lose 1 toenail, and not due to her shoes, but because our finish line clock attempted to murder her 😳 *very end of the 1st video*
@celester12 yelling "NOT GARY'S PARENTS!!" still has me in tears with laughter. What a weekend! Truly the greatest physical accomplishment of their lives ♥️
I cannot thank everyone enough for how much they supported & cheered for my folks out there on Sunday. 🙏
This is a day we'll remember forever as a family. My mom said she only wished she'd tried all of this sooner. It's never too late friends.
@squamish50
Video thanks to @marievelegrand
Check out this fun little video by @liamdueck of our start car roll-out—yes, that’s a classic Shelby Cobra leading the way, driven by our local awards maker, Chris Flavelle.
The car belonged to Chris’s father, who recently passed away from cancer, and we thought this would be a meaningful tribute to both a beautiful legacy and a beautiful machine.
A special way to kick off the race with some horsepower and heart. 💙
Still absolutely buzzing from everything we experienced in Valemount for the inaugural Alpenglow trail races.
35km / 60km / 100km
Who's in for 2026!?
Big ups to @liamdueck for his work behind the lens here.
A dream realized as the inaugural Alpenglow 100 races took place in Valemount, BC this past weekend.
There are far too many people to thank in an initial posting right now, but as a start, to every single citizen of Valemount, thank you for being so incredibly wonderful and accommodating. You live in one of the best places on the planet, and it shows. The runners were as blown away by the people of the Village of Valemount as they were by the mountains that surround this area.
There are just so many highlights from start to finish, and my heart is overflowing with gratitude right now ♥️
@coastmtntrail is officially back in the high alpine again friends. We hope you'll consider joining us for our Alpenglow races in Valemount one day. We absolutely promise you it's worth the journey, and Vale, in case you don't know, is actually in the middle of everywhere 😉
Huge thanks to all our photographers with this specific photoset from McKirdy Ridge via @tyholtanphoto
Congrats to all the runners who joined us here for our inaugural event. We kinda like it here and we can't wait to do it all again next year 😊
#alpenglow100
#cmtr
So many great memories and incredible performances from this past weekend's 27th edition of the @diezvista by
@coastmtntrail
Glorious weather, along with the included BBQ, sushi and post-race massage ensured people hung out in the sun all day long. What a vibe! Love it so much!
Congrats everyone, and thanks for making what we do so incredibly rewarding.
Huge shout out to the 140 volunteers who make it all possible.
Thanks to Coquitlam SAR for being literal life savers.
We always do a "best blood" award, and well, this one was no contest 😳
We had two men who turn 78 later this year finish the race, along with one woman who turns 70 in the coming months. Just incredible stuff all around!
As always results went live on the day, and photos will be posted to the site in the coming days. Who's in for the 28th edition of the race next year!?
We can't guarantee nice weather, but given 3 of the last 4 editions of the race have been sunny and warm, who the heck knows. Maybe the other 20+ versions of the race in slightly miserable weather are a thing of the past now 😂
Photos thanks to Liam Dueck & Ty Holton
Awaiting a new hip and sidelined from running for about 2 years total, when all is said & done. Surgery expected this Sept with a return to running in early 2026 if all goes well.
Thankfully I own bikes and skis, and both are super fun and low impact. The challenge of trying to get better at a sport such as mountain biking as I close in on my 50th b.day next year has kept my fire stoked and allowed me to make the most of this forced break from the sport I've always chosen as my number one. I probably chose running as my primary sport based more on just being half-way decent at it, vs the fun factor, cause in order of fun it goes skiing, biking and then running, though I do miss getting up into the alpine and tagging peaks, that's for damn sure.
What I miss most about running though is the flow state that I was always able to achieve while attempting to run down really steep, really technical terrain, as fast as I could. Enter mountain biking. This feature in particular had been turning my head inside out for a few months as I processed my likely ability to be able to do it vs the cost of messing it up. Surprisingly my hip feels pretty good while riding, as long as I don't crash of course.
This feature is 12" wide as its most narrow, and 5 feet off the ground at its highest point. I don't think this is super gnarly all things considered, certainly not here in BC, but for me, someone who had quite literally hardly ever ridden my mtb solo prior to about 5 months ago (weird I know, but just another one of those mental hurdles I had to process and move past to improve at this stuff) it was a giant leap above my experience level. I finally committed and went for it a week ago, while doing some work with Jeff Pelletier on a new film, and the reward of cleaning it and confirming belief has been surprisingly fulfilling. As good as any finish line I've crossed over the years. I'm in a good space, considering the significant surgery that awaits, and I have bikes to thank for that. Here's hoping the hip holds up for the next 5.5 months till I hit the operating table.
*sound on*
Six months & just shy of $50,000 later we have finally received the long awaited phone call that we've been holding out for all these months.
Our pup Arty's ongoing, underlying medical issues have been resolved!
Two emergency surgeries, a whole bunch of medications, blood work, supplements, special foods & multiple ultrasounds, the latest of those being just 7 weeks ago.
$40,000 of these costs were covered by insurance (15k) and most importantly the incredible support of friends, family and even complete strangers who stepped up to contribute towards Arty's medical bills fundraiser (25k). We cannot thank you all enough! He would not be here without this support when we needed it most.
The full resolution and positive outcome was in doubt for us as recently as early February. What a rollercoaster ride, but what an incredible feeling of relief knowing how fortunate we are to have ended up with a positive outcome and clean bill of health, minus one gallbladder, going forward. An incredible gift before his 6th birthday in just a few months time.
Arty will be at all CMTR races and SQ50 orientation runs this year so he can thank everyone personally, for helping him get back to full health again :)
*the garbage pile behind Linda, if you're paying that much attention, is our spring cleaning donations pile that hasn't quite made it out the door yet lol
Our 2025 Coast Mountain Trail Running stickers are out
Included with every @coastmtntrail entry
Proudly 🇨🇦
If you're not running one of our races but would like to rep a sticker, fire us an email and we'll hook you up
Playing in the rain at Sasamat Lake with 500 of our closest friends today.
Great kickoff to the 2025 @coastmtntrail season 🎉
Thanks to all who joined us, hope you're drying out & enjoying kicking your feet up in celebration tonight 😊
*this is an unedited full colour photo. A beautifully moody day out there, in Port Moody
2006 is allegedly just shy of two decades ago.
My first @diezvista 50k with my first pup Roxy-roo ♥️
It's been quite the journey these last 19 years from there to here 😊
