This part I wrote before the skyrunning event, so it’s in first person but it was a week ago.

I’m on a flight to Calgary today to go to the mountains and do the race/climb on Saturday. I’m starting to see the tops of the mountains already, with the jagged edges and snow peaks.

I feel like I’m waiting there for me.

The last few years have been hard on everyone. The last few months have been hard on me, with losing my job and my arm injury. It’s hard to look forward to things when applying for jobs and no one calls back, or going to physiotherapy and there are no improvements.

I booked this trip at the beginning of the year and paid for it with airline credits, so I couldn’t cancel. I paid for the hotel and the race and everything already. If I chose not to go, I wouldn’t be saving any money or get it back. So I have been looking forward to it, even knowing that I wouldn’t be able to do the race due to the injury. I knew I would visit a friend and get away from the ocean. I would see the mountains again. The mountains were where I would find peace and I can’t begin to explain what that means to me.

Plus fishing. My friend and I are also going fishing. So I got my pirate hat and put it on and wore it at the airport while going through security and waiting to board. I had people ask me about it and the main three theories about why I was wearing it were that either I was a super artsy/creative; coming from or going to a Renaissance Fair; or I am a stripper. Considering I got up at 5:00am, I’m impressed that someone thought that me in jeans and a hoodie and pirate hat thought I was a stripper, and I’m not sure I would go to a Renaissance Fair as a pirate (they were actually horrible people back in the day, there’s no Jack Sparrow here). As for all of it, I don’t know if pirates drank lattes.

Whatever I look like, I’m glad this weekend is here. I’m ready to have my feet on the ground, real ground, not just an island. I’m ready to be surrounded by trees and snow and all the sights/smells/sounds that a forest offers. I’m excited to try to find redemption after sliding down the mountain in Victoria last year and I’m excited to see the mountains from a peak. I’m ready to run and climb again and honestly, even if I start and can’t finish, I’m happy that I’m on my way out here and willing to take the chance. I haven’t given up entirely, not yet. The mountains call me home.