Seeing *Stars*!!

This morning I finally made my return to the North Shore trails!!  And boy did it feel good. I ran with some great runners; Tom, Duncan and Kevin. We put in a solid hour and half as we ran the long Lynn Loop trail. I could not have asked for a better February day in Vancouver, the sun was shining on a cloud free day and the temperature was warm enough that I didn't need a jacket or gloves. There were parts of the run where I wish I had my sunglasses on because the sun would beam through the trees and almost blind you.  Running with these guys is always entertaining and full of laughs.  Which is the reason I push myself to keep up with them:) After the run we went to Delanys for coffee and sat outside on the patio watching Olympic Skiing on the big screen that is set up in the plaza.  Which is when I was able to snap probably the best photo taken during these 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

The Lazy Figure Skater

Aside from the standard training this week Olympics mania continues to grow in Vancouver with each day getting busier and busier in the city.  Here's me in full sprit (wearing my gold medal, Yahoo cowbell and Canada flag) cheering on Canada at Yaletown Brew Pub.

I was fortunate to see two brilliant bands live as part of the Cultural Olympiad.  On Monday night I got to see City and Colour with special guests The Rural Alberta Advantage Queen Elizabeth theatre.  Dallas Green is the lead singer of City and Colour is also part of the band Alexisonfire.  His vocals were amazing live; before going to see this concert I liked City and Colour but I would not have put them on my list of favorite bands.  Seeing them live definitely increased their place on the KT like scale.  They were super engaging with the audience and really intelligent.  They probably have some of the most passion fans of any band I have seen.  I have never heard people yell "I love you" so much at a show before.

Dallas Green

And Friday night after months and months of waiting I finally got to see one of my favorite bands (who did not disappoint at all!!  They only made my love for them grow - yep I'm full of cheese) **Stars**.  We had center row two seats which were amazing and where we sat for the opening act Hey Rosetta a great band from St. John's, Newfoundland.  Who were really good live and I have a feeling this is going to be one of their last tours as an opening act the crowd went nuts for them.

Hey Rosetta

Stars are also a Canadian band from Toronto and Montreal. As soon as Torquil Campbell one of the lead singers came on stage there was a mad dash of people to the stage...I immediately jumped up and ran to a spot right at the stage completely forgetting about my jacket or purse luckily the Napster was more composed and tailed behind me with our stuff.  As I mentioned Stars did not disappoint; the way that Torquil and Amy the lead singers interact with each other and engage with the audience was awesome.  They were so appreciative and truly loved performing.  My photos below show you just how close we were and that the band puts white roses all over the stage.  My night was completely prefect as they played almost all my favorite songs, I was given a rose and I scored one of the set lists from the band!  I'm off to see Stereophonic now at the Victory ceremony oh and I'll be watching Canadian Jon Montgomery's receive his gold medal for the Skeleton.