July can be a tough month.
I remember in 2010, when I was running five marathons a week, after a brutal winter and wet spring, I was looking forward to long summer days running along the Bow. It didn’t happen.
July and August were wet, wet, wet. However, this year was different and I managed to get some long-overdue yard work done. I have one of those “zero” maintenance gardens. Not a blade of grass, just lots of shrubs and rocks.
However, weeds don’t know it’s a zero maintenance yard and they pop up everywhere. After three days of removing the little devils, it was time for the “pičce de résistance”: 12 cubic yards of mulch.
Now that’s a lot of mulch. Wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of the chopped-up bark was carefully laid and the front and back garden were soon a sea of mulch. Weeds be gone! Hopefully I’m good for a couple of years.
July is also a busy month for events in the Cochrane area. Last year, I won a registration for the TransRockies Gran Fondo Highwood Pass and this year’s event was scheduled for July 12. Gran fondo means “big ride” in Italian, and this is one of the biggest.
The route was 134 km, starting at the Stoney Nakoda Resort, and heading out along Highway 40 to the top of Highwood Pass. This is the highest paved section of road in Canada. At 8 a.m. a group of 400 of us headed out. The winner came in at three hours, 48 minutes and 31 seconds, and I rolled in at seven hours, 10 minutes and 50 seconds. Good value for money.
The next two events were on the same day, July19. In the morning, I headed down to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. This was the setting for the 5 Peaks Riversong Run at the Ranch. Volunteers from the Rotary Club of Cochrane organized the parking and participants were shuttled down to the event site below the park building.
Over 400 runners were involved in a number of races including a three km for Kids, eight km trail Sport, 13 km trail Enduro and a half-marathon. I tackled the Enduro. Starting at 9:30 a.m. I finished at 10:50 a.m. and hiked my way back the parking lot. Time to head to Canmore.
The annual 24 hours of Adrenalin has taken place in Canmore for the past 16 years. Teams and individuals cycle the Canmore Nordic Centre trails non-stop for a day, starting at noon on Saturday and finishing at noon on Sunday. The highlight of the weekend for me is the kids’ 24 minutes of Adrenalin. This year we had over 150 children aged two to 12 participating and we raised $3,895 for Right To Play.
July has also been a planning month. I have one quest left in my “Quests for Kids” initiative, to complete 10 Quests in five years and raise $1 million for Right To Play to help 20,000 children. So far over $600,000 has been raised and now it’s time for one final effort.
On Monday, Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. I will be announcing my 10th and final Quest at the Town of Cochrane council meeting. Stay tuned
© 2014 Martin Parnell
[email protected], www.martinparnell.com
