The Grouse Grind Challenge

At exactly 1:00 noon, July 10th, the day right after graduation is officially the start of summer for me!!! What better way to celebrate more than three months of hard work than go Grouse Grind with an awesome bunch of co-grads aka Thomas, Andrew, Maria, Rikki & Gabe?

We shall let the photos do the talking, shall we?

If it isn't too obvious yet, I was having an affair with neon workout clothes that day. Not to mention, I hopped on the Nike Roshe Run bandwagon for Grouse hiking! I know it's not best for hiking but homegurl needs to be on trend 'ya know! 

Here's Tom and I for green team! We purposely wore bright colored shirts for emergency reasons, 'cause we thought Grouse Grind was going to be the end of us! LOL

.... and the rest of the gang!

Not that I counted, but I basically had to take 34928984 breaks to get to the top. (photo credit: Wikipedia) 

I was catching my breath every step of the way and even had to snack on my granola bar halfway through but voila! Here I am with a massive smile after 1.8 miles of steep trails!
I think I did pretty good despite having weak lungs and finishing in, more or less, two hours!
Aaaaah, the feeling was one for the books! Everyone should try it at some point!

And here's the rest, all smiles despite a gallon of sweat, blood and tears.
Nah, not really, we just got sweat... and awesomeness, of course!

Check out this download lift which we could not hold our horses for because we were all excited to swing down and devour All-You-Can-Eat Sushi! Yes, we were counter productive because we ate a bunch of sushi cones, sashimi, tempura, etc. before heading home! (photo credit: Wikipedia)

Overall, awesome is an understatement of my first hiking experience in Vancouver. I had so much fun with a great bunch of lovely humans! Right now, all I know is I am excited for what the rest of summer has in store for me! 

To whoever is reading this, I hope you had a great summer starter as well or whatever season you have at the moment!
'Til the next, 

Mace