In preparation for the marathon we had planned to run 24km today. After the last two runs in the hot weather, we realized that our bodies had not quite recovered and decided that tomorrow would be a better day to run. This was an expensive decision.

We have a few hikes planned for later this year and an adventurous trip to the Grand Canyon (if we get permission) next year. We have most of the equipment we need; however, it is always fun to go to the Mountain Equipment Co-Op in Toronto to peruse what we might have overlooked. Both Linda Y and I have been thinking about getting hiking poles and had been putting it off. Today we looked at almost all of them that MEC had. Lots of choice and lots of styles. Some were too heavy, some could not bear the weight and had too much flex, yet others had a shock absorbing qualities built into the handle. We thought that we would buy durable ones that would not only perform well at the Grand Canyon but also the Laugavegur (most likely) in Iceland. The latter would include river crossing. The elliptical Black Diamonds seemed to be most fitting. I picked one that had a carbon fiber upper portion with a lower portion that was aluminum – this reduced it’s weight but still retained the durable qualities from the aluminum. I thought that the bottom portion would get too banged up from contact with rocks and such for the full carbon fiber to be durable. I could be wrong there and if so let me know how durable the complete carbon fiber ones are. Linda Y chose a set that was completely aluminum, and the lower portion had a push button release. Both sets should work.

These are the ones we bought. Linda's are compressed and mine are extended

We then went to dinner and a movie Cave of Forgotten Dreams at the Bell Lightbox. Wow! 32,000 year old cave drawings in 3D no less. That piqued my interest in caving – short lived after a quick search of caves in Ontario. We did discuss a little of what to do in Reykjavik on the day we arrive at 6:20am and leave for Heimaey at 4:30pm – if you have ideas, let us know.

Back to the planning and what to pack for the upcoming trips.