It's Really Humid Here

It's great to be home. The cooking is amazing (although I have absolutely nothing but praise for Delia's cooking) and sleeping in my own bed isn't too bad either. I got some york pizza the minute I got off the plane at LaGuardia. Probs the greatest meal ever. Then mom and dad took me out for a great meal in Chinatown. Probs the second greatest meal of all time.

So I've been home for 3 days now and the weather is really different from Montana's. I feel like I can take a bite out of the air whenever I run. But, I kind of like it. There's something really satisfying about getting ridiculously sweaty and I just never got that feeling in the past 10 weeks.

As for the altitude training, I'm sad that I won't be benefitting from the perfect situation of the ranch but boy does it feel easy running here. I feel like I'm floating. Interestingly, I somehow gained 6-7 pounds during the internship. I thought that running as much as I did would control my weight but I guess not hahaha.

Going Home

My Montana journey is sadly coming to an end. I'm currently waiting in the Missoula Airport for my 1:30 flight to Denver, where I will then get on another plan to LaGuardia.

It's bitter sweet feeling leaving this place but that's for another time. I will be sure to do plenty of reminiscing once I'm home.

Last Day of Outdoor Duty

It's taken long enough but I'm finally done with outdoor duty here at the ranch. I had the pleasure of staining the treehouse with Pete today. It was pretty sweet. Unfortunately, we did the lower level first and when we did the upper level, the stain dripped all over the freshly painted lower floor. Not the most even job but we got it done.

The various outdoor work I've done at the ranch:
splitting wood
deck staining
manure shoveling
burn pile watering
fence repair
plumbing/pipe repair
horse grooming

It's been a great time.

Coincidence

http://www.modbee.com/2010/08/01/1275271/back-on-track.html

There is no such thing as the sophomore slump - only coincidence along with an opportunity to surprise.

Rest is Training

There's comes a time in every runner's training he knows that rest is the next logical step in training. For me, it is the most difficult thing that I've ever had to admit to myself. The question of whether or not another week of increased intensity will be beneficial is an ominous cloud that waits to rain injury upon greedy runners. The only protection that can serve as an umbrella from this storm is patience. Patience Patience Patience! We must all accept that rest is a part of training. Only then will the barrage of question marks that stem from the possibility of pushing the hurt a little more, redlining for another week, will be abolished.

Keeping this in mind, I'm ready for a down week. Train smart guys.

To Bonfire Or Not To Bonfire

Twelve of the interns are leaving tomorrow morning and everybody is out at a bonfire. I contemplated going but decided not to. I didn't get much sleep last night since the championship volleyball team went out to Pburg to celebrate with a victory dinner. We got back pretty late, thus making my morning run a lot tougher than it should've been.

So, now I'm by myself in the lodge elevating my legs, getting ready for a long run tomorrow morning. Sounds terrible I know, but it's really not since the internet is ridiculously fast now that nobody's here.

Less Than 2 Weeks To Go

I only have 9 days left in Montana. I'm sad that it's coming to an end but I'm definitely ready to go home. That being said, there's still 9 days left to slam...

Garnet Ghost Town

We went to the Garnet Ghost Town, right outside of Drummond, yesterday afternoon. Compared to Granite, this town was a lot more preserved. Interestingly enough, this is where the term "arrested decay" was coined. All of the buildings in the town have been restructured and renovated but were done so in a way which has preserved the original look and feel of Garnet. Unlike Granite, Garnet was a drinking town during the prohibitionist era that was home to 1000 people. There were 13 saloons and speakeasies in the town! Fun stuff. Finished off the day with a burger steak at "The Wagon Wheel" restaurant in Drummond.

'Tis the Weekend

The annual PVS Olympics were held yesterday afternoon. It was Team PCT (Political Courage Test) VS The World (All the other Departments). Team World, my team nbd, took home the bacon. Events consisted of tug of war, dodgeball, pie eating, trivia, relay race and greased up watermelon.

Festivities were taken to the White Front in PBurg, where a Johnny Cash/ACDC cover band congratulated us all night long.

I've woken up, had a cereal bar and drank water. 20 miler time - Let's go baby!

Glacier National Park

We had a group of 25 interns roll to Glacier National Park this weekend. This was hands down the best weekend I've had in Montana. Yellowstone comes close but the sights along with my sunday long run tops anything I've done here. To the left is a picture of the entire group at Logan Pass, a cool 3 mile hike that we did up a snow bank. In the background is a glacier.

We left late on Friday after work. Most of the group left after lunch but I didn't want to have to make up hours so Brian, Graham, Darren and myself left later. We got to the campsite pretty late at around 12. We went to bed after eating hotdogs.

I woke up early to run on Saturdya morning. I started from St. Mary's campsite and just ran out and back to the left. It was my first time running on concrete since Yellowstone. Felt great.

The rest of the day was spent completing the 6 mile hike to Iceburg Lake. I've never done a polar bear plunge but this had to be nearly as hardcore. Basically, it was the greatest ice bath I've ever taken. There were freaking icebergs in the water!


As awesome as Saturday was, Sunday was perhaps even cooler. After completing the greatest long run ever, we went rock/bridge jumping into a waterfall. The water was cold but not as cold as Iceberg Lake. I had the wind knocked out of me immediately on impact. It was awesome.


We headed to Logan Pass after the jumping. Although it was only 3 miles, trekking through the snow was tough. The animals around got very close - only place in the world where you can see mountain goats! The drive back was only 4 hours compared to the 6 that it took us to get there.

Way past my bedtime

It's really late so i don't have time to update this tonight but...
the tempo went well and the basketball game was going well until my teammate tore his ACL going up for the game winning layup. he's in the hospital now getting xrays done. Feel better Matt. Now, time to get some rest for another big day. 14 miles or so in the morning and then a nice afternoon of most likely splitting wood.

The pictures of Glacier are sweet and I'll post them soon.

Basketball - Round 1

5 mile tempo on tap for this evening immediately followed by the first game in the basketball tournament.
The legs are feeling good; this bodes well for the court.

Glacier was a blast. Took the coldest ice bath ever. I'll post pictures soon.

Bball and Vball Don't Mix with Hundred Mile Weeks

Yea...not a good combination.

Heading to Glacier National Park for the weekend. Hopefully, I'll have the pleasure of getting a run in with Elliot.

Volleyball Champions!

We won, undefeated, nuff said

Pretty uneventful day otherwise. Oh, yesterday was cool - got to play with horses in the afternoon instead of working. Lots of brushing and spraying of the fly spray. Fun stuff.

Volleyball - Second Round

Missed the second round of volleyball last night while I was doing my tempo run. My team decided to replace me with no one other than my own roommate, Graham. Fortunately, he's dec so no worries. Round 3 is in 25 minutes. The winners of the tournament get a dinner at the Silver Mill.

One of those days

Sometimes you just feel terrible and nothing seems to click. Today was like that for me. I woke up late and had to run shorter in the morning. After work, I went for 11 miles. I twisted my left ankle for the first time since I've been here, stepped on a snake and almost got bitten, it was extremely windy and it seemed like there was grit and dirt being blown into my face the entire run. Worst of all I had to go to the bathroom in the woods in a state that only has pine trees. I mean seriously, is it too much to ask to get some leaves around here?

It was just one of those days. They're unavoidable. Everybody has them and it's no surprise that the overbearing frustration gets the best of us at times. But no matter what, we must not lose sight of the goal. For if it is kept in mind there is nothing that can rob us of the sliver hope that gets us through these types of days.

I'll be back on the trails tomorrow tempoing it up, hopefully feeling better. But if I'm not feeling that great I guess it really doesn't matter. Either way, it's going to be a great workout and a great day.

National Folk Festival

We went to the National Folk Festival yesterday! It was a great day of jamming out to Super Chikan and the Fighting Cocks, Silencia, and a plethora of other bluegrass bands. The music was real cool and I've definitely gained a new appreciation for folk culture.

When Cara, Hillary, and myself (there you go) were getting food, we were confronted by Peppermint Patty, an awesome retired construction worker. She's one of the freest spirit I've ever met. She smokes a lot of weed and drink lots of mountain dew.

Legs were dead by the end of the night. The training is going well.

7 Spots

It's wide open guys...
Let's get to work

Volleyball - First Game

Tonight was the first night of the annual PVS sports tournament. My volleyball team did a great job! Shoutout to Rebekah Prince for being a complete beast at the serve! We slipped a little in the second game but I'm sure it was just a case of the first game jitters. Game 2 is next week.

Workout Wednesday

Wednesday is always a great day for me. I only have to run once and I get to work outside in the afternoons. Last week, I split wood for 3.5 hours. Today, I stained the lodge deck. Me, Jay, Andrew, and Art did some serious work!

Granite Ghost Town

Rachel, Cara, Yuchen, Meredith and myself made a trip to the Granite Ghost Town on Monday. The town, most well known for its ruby mine, was inhabited by more than 3,000 people back in middle of the 19th century. However, executive orders that placed government rights on a large percentage of the rubies drove all of the miners out by 1930. The ruins of the mine were really cool, but the empty homesteads were even cooler. The town operated completely independently from Phillipsburg, although high schoolers did have to walk 4 miles to town if they attended school, and had its own general store, church, and hospital. Amazing stuff!

Here's a picture of us at the highest point of the mine. They don't call it Big Sky country for nothing'

3 Day Weekend!

This is coming a bit late, but the 3 day weekend was amazing. Saturday, we went to see the Missoula Osprey, the minor league affiliate of the Diamondbacks, play ball. This was the only other minor league game I've seen besides the Trenton Thunder so I was impressed. The game was followed by a really good fireworks show. At first I thought real life was as realistic as it came, but they gave out 3-d glasses at the front of the stadium since it was supposedly a 3-d fireworks show. It didn't work and just made everything trippy.

Sleeping In

I got to wake up whenever I wanted this morning! Just ate a bagel and now am ready to slam an 18 miler in two hours. I'm excited since not running within minutes of waking up should feel a lot better.
We'll be hitting up Missoula for a minor league baseball game and fireworks later on tonight.

Everything I Could Ask For

Yesterday:
Run in the morning, work until lunch, chop wood for 3 hours, play basketball in the evening
Today:
Run in the morning, work until lunch, work some more, run again, take the rowboat out and read Chaucer in the midst of a glistening sunset.

I guess Montana's alright...

Yellowstone

We had a solid crew of 17 interns roll to Yellowstone National Park for the weekend. It was among the most amazing places I've ever been to. Everything was picturesque and the wildlife was really cool, not to mention delicious. We made the 6 hr drive on Friday immediately after getting off of work and got to the park by 11. My car got there late so we didn't have to set up camp, but I imagine that setting up the tents in the rain and in the dark was pretty miserable.
Much of Saturday was spent looking at the breathtaking Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. We saw it from three different angles and every single one was just as spectacular. Saturday's 17 mile long run in the park was rough. I encountered a 27 minute long uphill. Also, it was the first time I've run on concrete in the past 5 weeks. Good run though. I got really sweaty and dehydrated and had to wait until we got to the campsite to shower. Unfortunately, the shower was located 16 miles away from the campsite so instead of driving to it, a couple of us jumped into an awesome sulfur mineral bath instead. It wasn't Caldwell but it got the job done.

I woke up early on Sunday afternoon a restful night on slanted bed of rocks. Saw two male moose and a bison on my run. Surprisingly, there was still chunks of ice in the river. Our next stop was Old Faithful. I'm not going to lie, the entire thing was a bit anticlimactic, yet still amazing to watch. I guess this counts for this weeks Summit Sunday. Although it does seem a bit superfluous compared to Mt. Ebe and Huff Puff, we did climb 200 feet to reach the highest point to watch the hot spring go off.

We were out of the park pretty soon after that. However, the trip was far from over. I ate my first buffalo burger on the way home from the park. It was leaner and a bit tougher than hamburger meat, but I couldn't really tell the difference other than that. Still, there is something satisfying about eating the animals that you see in the wild. We got back at around 8:30 in the evening and I went to sleep so that I could get up the next morning to run. It was a great weekend.

The Best Alternative to Caldwell

Mr. Weaver's hot tub up at his cabin was filled when we got there. Fortunately for me the water was 37 degrees.

Summit Sunday #3

We spent the past weekend on a two day hike led by expert outsdoorsman, and neighbor, Jim Weaver. We left on Saturday morning. The weather was nice out - sunny and warm. We drove out past trail 80 and started at the trailhead of Copper Creek. The first day ended up being 9 miles, all of it uphill and that took us about 5 hours. It was pretty snowy towards Jim's cabin. Andrew and I trailblazed the last 1.5 miles and ended up basically finding the cabin on our own.
Jim's cabin was amazing. He bought the land site unseen and built the cabin in one year, only working on it on weekends! The cabin itself accomodated all 21 of us comfortably. Also, the outhouse is the bathroom with the most picturesque view that I have ever had the privilege of using. I slept on the top loft along with 4 other people and it was very cozy. We had delicious burgers for dinner and went to bed pretty early.
Following morning was uneventful. Woke up, cleaned up, and got back on the trail. A few of us decided to try and go the long way - up through the biterroot pass, but after hiking a mile uphill, the three foot snowdrifts were too much. We ended up going back the way we came. 2.5 hrs later I was back at the trailhead. I ditched my bag and ran back to the lodge.

Weekend Status

Total Time: 27 hrs
Total Mileage: 42 miles (23 running, 19 hiking)
Total Climb: 1500 feet

Morning

Dread: it is the feeling shared by all runners on mornings when his body begs for ten more minutes of sleep, hopelessly wishing that somehow his legs will be rejuvenated if he simply thinks about them enough. The warmth of his bed inviting him to succumb to the grasps of mediocrity. He always thinks about it, gives it an undeserving thought and reaches into the depths of his imagination attempting to justify and rationalize the possibility of skipping the run.

He opens his eyes. It's bright outside. To the right is the window, the soft sunlight nudging him to wake up. His two roomates are still sound asleep at the left side of the cabin. He redirects his gaze to the ceiling and sees the scotch-taped piece of paper that reminds him why he's out here. Believe Believe Believe. His renewed resolve is enough to lift his tired legs out of bed. It always is because desire is as hard as diamond, it will never back down to any physical obstacle as long as there is finish line which MUST be reached.

It only takes him a couple minutes to dress. He takes one more look at his sleeping roomates as he turns the doorknob. He can't avoid feeling just a little sorry for them, knowing that they will never dwell in the pleasure of accomplishing so much before the other interns open their eyes. The next couple seconds are a blur - a combination of cold and drowsiness that welcomes the new day.

Jambalaya,Snow and Bears Oh My

The past couple days have been pretty crazy. It was freezing during my Monday morning run. I climbed a few hundred feet and it was snowing. Crazier thing was that I ran shirtless in the afternoon. I ran into a bear on my Tuesday morning run. Luckily, we were both scared and ended up running in opposite directions. Lastly, I ate some bad jambalaya and now my stomach hurts. Don't worry mom it's not too bad and I'm feeling fine.

Summit Sunday 2 - Huff Puff

Did a really nice long run yesterday - 15 miles at under 6 minute pace. With the hills and altitude, I'm happy with that for the time being. So I was going to take today easy but instead, succumbed to Andrew's offer of doing a time trial up Huff Puff Mountain.

The Climb: Easily one of the hardest things I've ever done and a lot more satisfying than the Miley Syrus song. We warmed up for it like a race and we were ready to roll. Unfortunately, Andrew didn't tell me that weren't taking a trail - we trailblazed the entire way and ran straight up the mountain. The first half mile was "runnable" as in we could use our legs but the rest of the way was done on all fours.

Distance: 1.75 miles
Total Climb: 1850 feet
Total Time: 31:44






Andrew's phone camera sucks but the great divide is still visible. It was breathtaking.

Liberty

My New Home. Don't know too much about the roomies but there names are Peter and Aaron. Peter was in the Navy for 3 years while I think Aaron is a senior in college. Anyways, it's a nice room with its own hot water heater. Only problem is, it's on the end of the water line so it's a drip. However, it's an extremely satisfying drip that is warm whenever you want it to be.

7 To Liberty

This past weekend was a great time. The temps got up to the lower 70s and it didn't rain at all. On Friday night I was asked to switch rooms because they needed mine for some non male interns that arrived on Saturday. I went from having a dark and creepy room with the smallest sink the world to sharing an amazing log cabin with two other dudes. Good deal.
Old room:






Seriously the smallest sink in the world. Also the greatest watch tan in the world.

The White Front

My first weekend on the ranch was a great success. Friday night, we went to both the Silver Mill and the White Front. The latter was awesome - a cowboy bar that has an interior decorated with confederate flags. My atrocious dancing skills were masked by the smelly drunkenness of the cowboys along with my own shouts whenever an old lady would bump and grab me. Pburg's social scene is a lot like Hooters - tacky, yet unrefined.

On a side note, here are a couple more pictures of the ranch: the main fireplace/living room, bar, dining area, and the outside porch of my room. Interior pics of my room to come once I clean up a bit.

Summit Sunday 1 - Mt. Ebe

The past two days have been absolutely filled with fun and excitement. I got a care package from my mom, which was awesome and also allowed me to do laundry for the first time. That comprised the latter half of my day while the first half was spent going on the most picturesque run I've ever been on. Andrew and I decided to try and find a loop that would spit us out to the other side of Moose Lake Road. The plan was to go on Trail 29, follow it to Trail 119, go past Edith Lake, then connect onto Trail 24. That didn't happen. Instead, we followed trail 29 and ended up running up a mountain for an hour.
Stuff I saw on the run:
moose
white water waterfall
top of huffpuff mountain
western edge of the great divide
death
Total Climb: 1550 feet.
Total Time: 1:51:20
It was a great run - we reached the summit and couldn't go any further due to 3 foot snowdrifts. I never thought I'd average 10:30 pace for a prolonged period of time and be exhausted. I did that today.

Brian Leung - Pro DD

Went out to the town of Philipsburg with a couple of the interns for the first time last night. We went to one of the two bars in the town of 900 people. It was a chill time. I used my amazing skill of remaining sober and did a great job of driving back- nbd. It was my first time driving out west and was awesome. There were no lights on the highway and I was going fast (but continued to practice safety). Driving on a twenty mile dirt road was fun as well. We'll probably hit up the other bar in town, I think it's called "The White Front", tomorrow night.

Suns Out Guns Out

So it's been raining on and off here the past two days and it's getting kind of annoying. I started my run at 6 this morning and got soaked. But then it was sunny by the time I finished. It's weird cause I'll be sweating and there will be a snow-capped mountain off in the distance.
Anyways, day 2 of work was slightly better. I used my afternoon break to go for an insanely short rowboat ride. Running still feels terrible but I did managed to go for >50 minutes this morning. I'm aiming for an hour tomorrow morning. All the interns drove out to Phillipsburg, which is an hour away, to play softball against some other team but doubling prevented me from going.
Oh, and I almost forgot to tie everything back to the title. Finished off my evening run with half a mile of strides. It was freezing out but I had to go shirtless since the sun was out. The possibility of impressing the interns who were outside didn't cross my mind at all I swear haha.

Leave Everything Exactly How You Found It

That's basically the rule of the West, or so I've heard. Doing chores around the ranch isn't particularly fun but all I have to do this week is clean the dining hall after meals so it isn't that bad.
First day of work wasn't too bad either. It's basically 8 mind-numbing hours of staring at a computer screen. I get a 15 minute break whenever I want in the morning and afternoon along with an hour for lunch but I can imagine it still getting pretty rough. I got to be best friends with my ipod today though so I can't complain too much.
Just finished a nice steak dinner, we were going to have a bbq by the lake but it started raining so we moved it inside. Food was great though!
I ran at 6:30 this morning before work started at 8. My alarm was set for 6 but I overslept and couldn't run as long as I wanted. Did 50 minutes on GDR right. There's this one hill that kills me. As my grandfather used to tell me as a kid, those false summits, they'll get ya. All in all, great day.

At first I was a lone wolf...

but then I found another...and it became clear that my wolf pack had grown by 1 hahaha. Up top are pictures of my new ice bath - probably colder than Princeton's slush buckets. I found a running buddy. He runs for Team Blitz, the running club at William and Mary. Did an easy 7 this morning. The hills on the way out were brutal.

Great Divide Ranch

Flew into Missoula at 10 last night. The plane ride was an hour and a half of me talking to an interesting woman named Cecily, who was returning from a couple years of doing service work in Costa Rica. She had a very heartfelt story and it was nice to meet such a pleasant person. Anyways, was picked up by this guy and the van ride to the ranch was a daze. I slept in the back seat for the majority of the ride, only to be woken up by a series of bumps on the road. Turns out that we had just entered the 12 mile long driveway of the ranch, a beautiful dirt road that I plan to log hundreds of miles on.
The ranch itself was completely different from what I had imagined it to be. Google Earth was wrong! I'm literally in the middle of nowhere. Also, there's another intern here who runs and we went for a run this morning. I'm not used to being at 6000 feet and it was harder and the combination of that and hills make normal runs challenging. It was freezing this morning as well. It was 40 degrees when I ran and it actually snowed last week. It's going to be a great 10 weeks.
Entrance to the Ranch:

Calling Big E. Deal

Waiting in the Denver Airport to go to Missoula. Really boring - I've walked around for a long time with nothing to do but I've finally found two friends. They're both interning at the ranch as well. Denver's a lot flatter than I imagined.

Good to Go

Bought my ticket and I'm ready to head out this Saturday at noon! There are no direct flights to Montana from Newark so I'll have to transfer twice, once in Washington and again in Denver.
Also, did my first run double since indoors today. I'm feeling great.