Day 45: Grinder with a Mission

Vancouver has many famous and remarkable attributes. The 2010 Olympics, the spectacular panoramic ocean views and our mountains. If you are a hiker this is a dream place to live or to come for holiday. Choosing a different hike a day, each one would be unique in it’s own way from waterfalls to river gorges, suspension bridges and steep rocky climbs. One that has become very famous is The Grouse Grind. It’s been referred to as “Mother Natures Stair Master” featuring a natural set of rock stairs that will take even the fittest Ironman’s breath away. It isn’t the prettiest hike in Vancouver but the reward at the top is a spectacular view of the city. If you do it at the right time of day, a cold beer and best plate of nachos around.

The average item it takes to climb “The Grind” as it is so fondly reffered to, is 2 hours for a novice and 1.5 hours for a fit person.

My personal best is 47 minutes. To put this into perspective the record was set just this past year at 25.01 minutes by a local man. The women’s best recorded time is 31.04 minutes. I have a long way to go. The great thing about The Grind are the people you meet, people doing their best every item they go up. We are all there for one reason – to get to the top and be proud that we did it, person best or not. You always feel as tho’ you had a great workout and accomplished something in your day.

There is one thing I do every time I go up the trail and it is my GIVE for today.

DAY 45: GIVE 45

This week my dear friend Rob was in visiting from Toronto. If you have ever been to Toronto it is remarkably flat city in comparison to Vancouver. Being an ex-Torontonian I was used to training and running on this flat terrain. Rob decided that one of the workout adventures he wanted to do while visiting Vancouver was grinding up The Grind. I was the perfect person to take him. I don’t get to do it as often as I like and escaping for a few hours to enjoy the fresh mountain air was exactly what I needed.

Up we went with a bounce in our step and air in our lungs.

Over 100,000 people climb The Grind every year. With so many people climbing, unfortunately some garbage left behind. I like to do my part to help with the clean up when I do the trail.  Today was no exception. There is always little pieces of garbage from tissues to water bottle caps and energy bar wrappers dropped by people as they head up. I don’t think for a minute anyone purposely drops garbage on their journey but it happens and I feel compelled to pick up the pieces as I go along. I even got a peice of glass today from what looked like a beer bottle. You are suppose to wait until you reach the top for that reward!

So today was my personal Grouse Grind garbage day to honour Mother Nature for the beautiful trail she gave us to enjoy for free, any time we want to take advantage of this unique and challenging trail.

Time Commitment: 3 minutes to bend down to pick up the garbage on route

Cost 0:

Extra: Every time you bend down to pick up a piece of garbage you burn just a few extra calories!!