Testing The New CamelBak

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    This past Saturday was my first chance to hit the trails in this new year. Up until then, I had had this miserable cold and godawful cough and it's only been in the last couple of days that I thought I might be able to get out for a run and actually survive. I've also spent the last three weeks on the couch and feel so much better now that I'm back in my own bed.

Me, feeling a little more badass

   This then was also an opportunity to use my brand new CamelBak! We had ordered it online as my Christmas present back in early December and then watched it sit around in Auckland, New Zealand for almost a full month. It finally made its way to London, Canada a week ago today, to my great excitement (my wife thinks I'm very easy to please...)

The paved trail leading
to Kains Woods.

   I drove to the nearby Kains Woods, parked, and began a brisk walk to the start of the trail. I had brought along an empty water bottle stashed in one of the front pockets of the vest just to see if it would get in the way of my arm as I ran. This was not really an issue but I did find that my arm action tended to squeeze the bottle out of its pocket but it could very well be that a full bottle and a tighter cinch will fix that. I also found that I needed to extend the straps to their limit, just to get them done up. What I have is the Camelbak Circuit, so not the largest hydration vest and I am a large man (hopefully getting smaller!) The overall fit, however, was quite comfortable!

...but ice was a little different.

   

Mud I could have handled...

We've had quite a warm spell here in London the past few days and almost all the snow has disappeared. Because of this, I was under the assumption that the trails would be reasonably clear but, alas, this was not the case. The trails had been used while the snow was still there and consequently were packed down. The recent thaw had done nothing more than turn them into wet, slippery ice. The only white stuff in the whole forest was on the exact same spot I wanted to run on. Had I known about this, I either

A small animal skull, attached
to a tree. It probably meant
"go no further"...

would have worn more appropriate footwear or I simply would have stuck to the streets. I have had a couple of horrendous falls due to ice this winter and the prospect of any more greatly distressed me. So gingerly I stepped! I actually managed to run just off to the side of the actual trail up until the forest seemed to close in on me and I basically turned my run into a hike. Still, it was wonderful being out in the woods and be able to wear shorts, no less! Can hardly wait for spring!

What in blue blazes?!

Down by the Thames

Ran on that boardwalk
into the forest, returned
by a different route.

Running up the side of a hill.

The obligatory coyote warning

The afternoon was not without incident...

One missing Yak Trak---they
probably went through the
dryer...