The Day of theTurtle

Of course, there is not a breath of wind in the Pass today -- not a whisper. It's one of those 4 out of 365 days in the year where there is no wind at all! :)

Saturdays are my days off, but yesterday I had taken off instead as I was fending off some kind of nastiness. I slept a lot, took a lot of zinc, and felt like total crap all day long. Today, I awoke refreshed and ready to go! YAY!!

So, I drove over to BC to this lake I always swim at. It was beautiful -- no one around and I counted 5 turtles swimming around beneath me! They were so cute -- a couple just lay on the bottom of the lake with their heads and legs tucked in so all you could see was a shell. Then, when I would swim by, they would pop out and swim a little.

I used to go into a minor panic when I would arrive at a lake and have no one there to help me zip up my wet suit - but I have since perfected the technique of zipping up my own wet suit -- Anyone who wants a full on description, just ask! :) :) I was quite pleased with myself as I zipped up and went into the water. LOL!

The swim was great! I got used to swimming in a wet suit again -- I took my time and had a really good warm up, then sort of piddled (well, I only piddled once LOL!!) all around the lake -- swimming to one point and then the other. It was a little cold, but nothing too bad -- it was very zen-like! :) :):)

After I returned home, I decided to hike Turtle Mountain to stretch out my calves. You know how just walking uphill really gives a nice stretch to your calves? Well,I grabbed my gear, threw on my pack, and off I went.

It was a beautiful day for a hike and I had a fantastic time. All this triathlon training really helps with hiking too -- I wasn't timing myself or anything, but I chugg-a-lugged up that sucker like it was nothing. In true Julie fashion, I lost the highly visible trail a number of times, but you can't go wrong with heading UP. When in doubt, just walk up! Same goes for the downward journey -- lose the trail? No problem! Just go DOWN! Works like a charm every time.


About half way down I stopped to eat a quick snack. I bought this awesome backpack at the second hand store in Sparwood for 50 cents!!! It's small, but roomy, and even has this built-in seat mat that you just unzip from the pack. There I sat, chewing my jerky and looking out over the mountains... BLISS!!

I was sending some positive energy to Keith for his 1/2 Ironman today -- Keith, I hope you had a great race, buddy!!!!!