End of the season

Another Mad Trapper season is done. I came in last again with a time of 1:27:26. This time I can defend my placing by mentioning I`m only last because I went out on the second lap. Overall I came in 9th out of 10 men to do at least 3 10k races this year. Not last! More importantly it was challenging and fun again this year. with excellent after race food! Saturday I ate two bowls of delicious chili, a big chunk of delicious hot casserole, a handful of potato chips, 3 cookies and three mini croissants. When I got home I ordered a pizza for supper and ate the whole thing. Then I woke up early this morning hungry again. Nuts.

So what does this tell me? It tells me that I might be fat and slow but I`m no quitter and that`s how I`m going to thu-hike 3500kms of Appalachian Trail. I just hope it doesn`t take 9 months and 11 tons of food.

I think I`m going to sign up for the 5 peaks this summer too even though that means I will have to buy a new pair of trail runners. I know what you`re thinking - I can get by with old road shoes for trail running. Well another thing I learned this weekend is that when it comes to ankle support a half an inch is HUGE. I ran this race in my old road shoes and on the unstable snow surface the lower ankles were killer. I blame my poor time on it. Honestly. So if I do the 5 peaks I`ll have to budget about $400 - $100 admission, $150 shoes, and $150 for gas.

Today I tested the Vargo Triad Titanium Stove. It seemed hard to light but it actually wasn`t. It`s just that I couldn`t see the flame. It took a little over 10 minutes to bring my two cups of water to boil but it was near zero and a slight breeze. I figure if I make a wind shield for it it will boil a litre of water on one stove of fuel which would be pretty sweet. At one ounce I may have to get another one just to get two burners going - coffee and breakfast in the morning, tea and supper in the evening. Leave more time for hiking. I also need a better fuel container - something with a small spout. The bottle that paint thinner comes in is not so good for pouring fuel into the stove.

I figure a $4 bottle of fuel will fill the stove at least 25 times which is pretty sweet. So one litre of alcohol should cook all the food that will fit into the bear barrel.