Grouse Grind

This photo of The Grouse Grind is courtesy of TripAdvisor

For the last 15 years or so, I have pretty regularly done the Grouse Grind or the BCMC trail in North Vancouver. I still have a faded T-Shirt from the Grouse Grind Mountain Run in 2001. For a few years early last decade, I would do the Grind two or three times a week, and my times continually got better ... I tried to break 40 minutes, but could never reach that mark regardless of how much I "believed" I could get there. My best time was 40:35 somewhere in 2001 or 2002. Up until the stroke, my times were in the 45 minute range.

If you've ever done this insane climb, you know there is no training for it ... except to actually do it. Bike riders seem to do better than most, probably because of the cardio and the heavy leg exercise involved. I've been able to walk since December 2009 - about 20 months - and I have been able to hike our local hill - Minnekhada Park - with Bruce leading the way. Minnekhada is about a quarter the distance and elevation of Grouse Mountain, but it's a good warm-up for the main event.

As part of a ruse to get my brother Rob out of the house for the day (his surprise 50th Birthday Party was this Saturday) I asked him to come with me up the Grind - which he does it pretty regularly in the summer. Besides, I needed someone to spot me and make sure I didn't kill myself. Two other friends, John and Grant, as well as my nephew Alex, joined us. I have been pretty apprehensive about trying this again, as I didn't know what I'd do if I got half way and couldn't go any further. Oh well, damn the torpedoes.

As it turns out, my lungs and heart felt good the whole way up. Only my right foot gave me some problems - sometimes foot placement wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be. I had said to myself "if I could do this thing in under 90 minutes, I'd call it a success". I did it in 72 minutes. Pretty proud of myself....