On Friday, when my husband and friend decided we'd run an unplanned 20K, they also decided we would hike the Grouse Grind on Sunday. You might recall I have tackled this beast a few times, most recently 2 weeks ago with a friend. My husband had never climbed it before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about as this hike is very well known and popular among locals and tourists.
We were out the door by 6:30 AM Sunday morning (so much for sleeping in at all this weekend). It was pitch black when we left, and still very dark when we headed up the mountain.
My husband, having never climbed it before, wanted to see how quickly he could do it - so he headed off ahead of us. He's the speedster. Last time I went was a bit of a "courtesy hike" with my friend and the pace did not challenge me. So I also headed off on my own.
We were expected to get 50+mm of rain, but were blessed with just cloud cover. It makes the trail almost spooky with the mist and the water droplets.
I knew I would not PR for this trail (and didn't even plan to attempt that), but still wanted to get my heart rate high and challenge myself. After running 12 miles the day before I knew my legs would be fatigued. The third quarter of the trail is steep and this is where I felt the fatigue, but it wasn't horrible - just noticeable. However, this was also the point I picked up the pace so maybe that's what I was feeling.
My time was 57:44, 7 minutes off my PR of 50:40, but still my second fastest time on record. I'm VERY happy with that. My husband's rocket time was around 48 minutes.
The thing I'm most pleased with is the first half of the climb was quite a bit slower than previous climbs. But the 2nd half was almost identical to my fastest time. I really picked it up in the 2nd half - compare it to negative splits for running - YAY!!
We knew the other two would be behind us a fair bit, so instead of taking the tram down as planned due to time constraints, we decided to be rebels and walk down the mountain (which is prohibited). LOTS of people were walking down this day. In fact, we were asked by a few people if the tram was shut down because they had seen so many people walking down. Seems we're not the only rebels.
However I'm a clutz and it takes me as long to climb down as it does to climb up. I'm VERY careful. My husband held my hand pretty much the whole way down. Good thing too because at one point, while talking to a passerby, I slipped on a root and banged my knee on a rock - nothing serious, just a scratch and a bruise.
My husband loved the trail and definitely wants to do it with some frequency. However, I was met with two e-mail messages from the mountain Monday morning:
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Subject: Grouse Grind - Time change as of Oct 29
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:38:20 -0700
Effective Oct 29th
The Grouse Grind hours will change Friday, Oct 29 to:
Trail hours:
OPENING TIME: 8:00 am
CLOSING TIME: 4:00 pm
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The last two times we started up just after 7AM. With both my kids in soccer I usually have to go this early to be back in time. An 8AM start will just add a bit more of a time crunch.
Then there was this message:
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Subject: The Grouse Grind is closed
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2010 10:35:06 -0700
The Grouse Grind is temporarily closed due to heavy rainfall. The trail will be reassessed over the next couple of days.
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The 50+ mm of rain they had been calling for on the weeked arrived Monday! Seems we got that climb done just in time!
I was happy that I got another tough workout in, and it too did not wipe me out. The rest of the day was packed with soccer stuff (meeting/pics/exhibition game/team dinner) and I was running (literally) around all day. In the evening I also managed to get over 4 hours of bookeeping done too. Don't ask me how I crammed all that into a day, and still got to bed by 9PM.
Keep Active!
Heidi
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10 comments:
You really WERE active this weekend. Great job on the climb - especially negative-splitting!
We're headed to the NC mountains in a couple of days, and now I have my sights set on a good hike :)
What a great active weekend!
We took our kids on their first hike not too long ago. Hubby and I use to hike every weekend before life got so busy!
sounds like a great hike, I know how much you like it, so happy for you that you were able to experience it with hubby!
You really are super-woman!! What a weekend. I am so impressed!!!
Wow! They closed the trail due to rain. Bummer. I wish we got out more often to hike. I loooove it. Even when we take the kids and just go slowly. I love being in trees out in nature.
Glad you got out there and did it!
I'm completely tired just from reading about your day. Then add the 20K in from the day before....I'm having sympathy leg pains. :-)
Hope you can get back up the Grouse Grind soon!
I love that trail too...
It's such a pleasure to read about your active weekends. It's also motivating for me to do things too again (and I did last night, went to Pilates).
Sounds like another great hike!
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