Sunday, May 31, 2009

Spring in the Springs

(Pretty cliche title).

Colorado is my new favorite place to be during spring, it might be my favorite place to be year round if the ski resorts weren't so far away from most major towns... and if the snow was as good as it is here in Utah. That aside, Colorado has way more to offer this time of year, most of the snow is melted and there are a ton more lower elevation trails that have dried enough to play on. Plus, the people are flippin' awesome compared to most I've come across on my outdoor excursions in the past year. I hiked Pike's Peak's Barr Trail and saw more people in one morning on that trail than I have on all of the trails I've been on in the entire 11 months I've lived in Utah (pathetic Utahn's)... not only does Colorado boast more healthy and athletic people but they were all super friendly, none of the competitive, local pride BS.



I stayed in Colorado Springs with some So IL homies and scoped out the Barr Trail for the PACU/AirMed running crew's next adventure. The trail is in pretty great condition considering how much foot traffic (and one bike while I was there) it gets. It has spectacular views and could be run-able with the right training. The only sucky part was the outrageous elevation gain. My house in Salt Lake is at 4400 feet and the Barr Trail head is at about 6900 feet so I was at a slight disadvantage from the start but by mile 4 (8800 feet) it seemed like my heart was working pretty hard for a 3 mph-ish hike... by mile 6 (10000 feet) I was hiking with my mouth open. Barr Camp is at mile 6.5 (10200 feet), I stopped to read all of the bulletins and the topo map and ended up talking with the woman in charge for the day. She was kind of a bad ass hippie, we talked a little about the trail and how most of the locals train for the Pike's Peak Marathon. There was a fair amount of snow a few miles past Barr Camp and my new hippie friend mentioned waste deep snow at the Summit House so once the snow was ankle deep Sydney (my four-legged hiking partner) and I turned back for the nine-ish mile hike back down. I'll definitely be registering for the 2010 Pike's Peak Marathon... I just need to convince the rest of the crew that running up and down a mountain could be fun.



I'm pretty much in love with Colorado for now, maybe it's a good thing I can't shake this school girl crush.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Official Note to Self:

I here by promise to not do anything stupid... after next week.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Summer Vaca

School starts again tomorrow, my summer will entail chemistry, trig, and work. Super Duper. But I did get to spend my week long summer vacation with my family and friends in Chicago. A few highlights:


Made my way to a Sox game, super fun (and cold). They won, I got to hang out with an old friend, and it was super rad being around real people. Salt Lake is so sterile and doesn't have much culture outside of Temple Square. I didn't realize how much I missed diversity.


My Dad and I rented a pair of 29'ers and went up to Kettle Moraine. We rode the the John Muir blue trail, the connector trail, and the Emma trail for a total of about 24 miles. Those trails are filled with all kinds of flow-y goodness and they're well maintained. It was pretty awesome to ride with my pops, even though he still kicks my ass (embarrassing). We had a few beers and ended up bringing home a Gary Fisher Cobia. Oh, and he totally hit a tree.


My little broha is growing up... and my mother is shrinking. I was able to make it to Eric's band concert but missed his prom pictures.


Aside from all of that trip biznass I finally found out I got into the Chequamegon 40! 40 mile mountain bike race in northern Wisconsin. Around 2000 racers, only about 150 of them are women. It's been called the roadies off-road adventure because there's absolutely no technical but there is a lot of climbing, it's basically a road race on knobby's and grass. Last year's winner went an average of 19 mph... and it was all mud. My goal is to come close to what my Dad normally finishes it in, which is about 2 hours and 45 minutes. We'll see. I have to stop all of this running garbage and start riding more. Except for the fact that I'm registered for the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon (July) and the Moab Other Half Marathon (October). Apparently I have a bad habit of getting sucked into sporting events.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

The Eight Similes of Illusion


The Radiant Buddha said:
Regard this fleeting world like this:
Like stars fading and vanishing at dawn,
Like bubbles on a fast moving stream,
Like morning dewdrops evaporating on blades of grass,
Like a candle flickering in a strong wind,
Echos, mirages, and phantoms, hallucinations,
And like a dream.