When the idea of me writing a blog was presented to me, I thought that sounds like a good idea. Then I thought, what exactly is a blog and how does one do that? Then my very smart bride, Terri, stepped in and let me know we have a blog space on our website so here we are!

I have always enjoyed writing and the idea of writing. I liked writing while I was in school right through university and this translated to even enjoying authoring official documents such as search warrants during my policing career. I like the struggle of taking random, and sometimes too much, information and reducing it to a succinct and (hopefully) coherent story.

My intent with this space is to draw on my experience as a 30+ year police officer (I retired about a year ago) along with my very unanticipated wellness journey to present to the reader interesting stories along with tangible ways to find or continue your wellness path. Wellness will be discussed in the broadest sense!

Speaking of unanticipated paths, I would like to launch this first post by briefly talking about an event I am participating in on August 23, 2024. The event is called 29029 or "Everesting" and the premise is simple - I am going to hike up Whistler mountain 8 times over the course of 36 hours. That distance totals 29029 vertical feet which is the height of Mt. Everest. Why you ask? Excellent question. How this came to be is Terri and I were the support team for our friend Kim who participated in 29029 last year. I also volunteered a couple days on the mountain and I initially thought that there was no way in hell I would do anything like this event. After talking with virtually all of the 300+ participants, I left there thinking 'Dammit - I think I need to do this'. The universe concurred and I was lucky enough to get in along with Kim who is going to give it a second go.

The training has been awesome, arduous and interesting. I have been fascinated how my body has responded to training days lasting anywhere from 1 to 10 hours in temperatures ranging from -10 C to 37 C.

In the next post, I will provide more details about what the training has looked like, what was the impetus for this adventure and what I am doing to prepare as the day draws near.

Until next time - be well!

Scott