The Grouse Grind

I hiked the Grouse Grind today in 50 minutes flat!

What a beautiful, action packed, sunny Vancouver weekend! I really hope I’m not rubbing it in.. or jinxing myself.. but Vancouver has literally been sunny for the entire past month (thus my lack of updates…). I’ve been waking up every morning to the sun at 5:30, hitting the gym, working in an office overlooking the ocean and watching the sun set over English Bay from my neighbourhood at night.

Life is incredible. I am so lucky.

This morning I hiked Grouse Mountain (aka. The Grind to locals)!

Trail Facts (from their website):

Length: 2.9 kilometres (1.8 miles)
Elevation Gain: 853 metres (2,800 feet)
Base: 274 metres above sea level (900 feet)
Summit: 1,127 metres (3,700 feet)
Total Stairs: 2,830

Statistics: Annually, over 100,000 people hike the trail.
Average Time: On average it takes up to an hour and a half to complete the hike (<– I did it in 50 minutes!). For novice hikers, two hours is recommended.
Participants: Hikers range in age from 7 to 90, with an equal male/female split.

(Un)fortunately (I’d rather hike when it’s cloudy than the hot sun!) it was cloudy on the way up and too overcast to get the real view of Vancouver. I had no idea what to expect going into it the grind, I just thought it was a lot an insane number of stairs to the top. I was very wrong! It was literally climbing up a rocky steap hill side… it was tough and I loved it.

All in all, I really enjoyed the challenge and am very glad I kicked my butt and pushed hard to the top – I can’t wait to do it again and aim for under 50 minutes!

Oh, look how amazing this latte was from The Coffee Bar in Gastown tonight:

A-MA-AING!

This cafe is adorable, the staff is very friendly and the coffee is outstanding. I highly recommend insist you check out it next time you are wandering around Gastown! I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to learn the skill of latte making. I really want to learn how to be a barista… I think it’s fitting!

Any barista in Vancouver willing to teach an eager latte-art student? Let me know!

Gastown-Yaletown-Granville Island

If this isn’t a more geographically-relevant post of Vancouver I don’t know what is!

At this moment I’m actually sitting in a cute little coffee shop in Kitsilano (my stomping grounds!) drinking some wonderful coffee (dark french roast) and getting some work done.

I’m sorry I didn’t post last night – I was crazy busy and decided to squeeze in Insanity 2.11 (I’m including the “days off” in my counts by the way) Cardio Recovery instead of blogging… forgive me?

So the exciting thing I have to share with you all is that Faith edited some pictures from the shoot in Gastown a few days ago! YAY! They are wonderful and here is a sample for you all:

 

 

 

Check out the rest of the shots here and like her facebook page while you’re at it!

Watch out people – this girl has got talent and big things are coming!

Food wise – yesterday was great! It started with breakfast early in the AM before heading to Urban Fare in Yaletown to meet with Clio of BoojeMedia! She’s a young entrepreneur doing ex-act-ly what I hope to do eventually! (Thanks for the advice/encouragement and orange juice Clio!)

 

If this outing wasn’t already fantastic – Clio suggested I take the seabus to Granville Island where I was meeting Faith instead of the bus… and what a wonderful idea it was! It was a beautiful day in Vancouver yesterday and the view of Yaletown from the water was incredible.

I still cannot believe I live here!

The rest of the afternoon consisted of veggie shopping at the Granville Market, lunch (turkey sandwich!), work and a nap! Whew – I’m still tired just thinking about it!

Last night ended with going to get my hair done at a cute salon on Granville St. called Caramel! When I was walking down Granville a few weeks a go a girl was walking around chatting to people and telling them to come see her to get their hair done (Yay street marketing!) So I decided if she was going to make that effort – I’m going to see her!

 

Thanks Amber-leigh I L-O-V-E what you’ve done with my hair!

I was totally craving some spicy thai food so Faith and I ordered in!

We got some lettuce wraps & I ordered a ginger chicken and veg dish (sans rice or noodles) and made lettuce wraps with both ingredients! Wahoo on the calorie cutting-solution!

 

As for today – emails, emails and more emails + lunch + Insanity and then out for dinner and a movie with Faith!

Have a great Friday everyone!