Can almost see the finish line of 2012...

No, I am not planning to run naked for the next 90 days...

Something has to budge.  I refuse to acknowledge that the wear and tear of 105 ultramarathons is why my knees hurt.  It has to be my shoes.  It looks like the one extreme of running barefoot has moved far enough toward the other extreme of running in climbing boots for me to try something a bit different.

"Natural running" is the term that is gaining ground on "barefoot running".  This mostly because "natural running" accepts that shoes are not our enemies.  

Since I first became aware of Mount Hanover, it has loomed large as peak I had to stand on top of.  

Late July is a perfect time for a run in the mountains on Vancouver's north shore.  The weather is generally excellent, the snow is generally gone and the trails are generally mud-free.  The only challenge is picking a trail and running it!

North Shore Rescue

I knocked another one off my bucket list this week.  Yes, I finally dug a snow cave and slept in it overnight.

This may seem like an odd thing for someone to want to do.  But ever since my buddy Paul Quinn shared a story about the night he spent in a relatively comfy hole in the snow as a blizzard raged above his head, I've wanted to do the same.

It's beginning to look like a trend:  Start the year with great expectations, injure myself, and hobble through the rest of the year.  Although I didn't set any world records, or even set any personal best athletic accomplishments in 2011, I'm please to say I'm ending the year in one piece and happy with how things turned out.