A Little Taste of Winter

A bit more than a lot has happened since the last time I updated you all. Now where to start?

One: It snowed!!! (twice actually) It snowed so much we got in three days on snow, that's right the first college in the lower 48 on groomed ski trails. Bohart Ranch, which is about 18 miles out of Bozeman just past the Bridger ski area, received almost two feet of snow. I don't think I've ever been on snow this early, and that was October 12th. Eileen and I went out skiing with Sarah Willis for a solid three hours and then monday and thursday we had ski practice on snow. The transition from rollerskis to the real deal is always a little tricky but it gets easier and easier every year, plus it was a nice taste of winter. Rumor has it takes three snows for the white stuff to stick and we've already made our way through number one and two.

Two: I was recruited onto the women's cross country running team. That's right me, a division one college runner, what? That rather close to my reaction as well. After running well at the Homestake Lodge race near Butte the running coach (coach Kennedy) talked to Grethe and I about running a few of the meets for the team, and it truly is few as we are now well into the last part of the cross country season. I ran a race on the 18th of October for MSU in Pocatello, Idaho, and it went better than I expected. It was very strange dusting off the old racing flats and pulling them out of retirement, and of course it was hard to convince my legs that going fast was truly ideal, but it was fun. The course was an horridly hilly 4kms, to say the least I was relieved to cross the finish line. I think I ended up finishing as the 5th or 6th girl for MSU, and I'm ready to race harder and more aggressively next time around. This friday (yes Halloween) I will fly out at 7am from Bozeman for Portland, Oregon for the Big Sky Conference Champions on Saturday. It's been quite the ride, but I'm enjoying myself, hopefully my race this weekend will be even better than the last one.

Three: We just finished up our second intensity week as a team and I'm incredibly happy with how it went. My week started a little early than the rest of my team mates with the race in idaho, but I was still able to hold my own through out the rest of the hard work outs and time trials as the week wore on. Monday greeted us with classic rollerski intervals up Hyalite Canyon, I did one less set than the girls team but I still felt strong throughout my three sets. Wednesday brought us our Jackson Creek skate rollerski time trial, and lets just say it was a little bit colder than the last time we were there. We might have been able to ski in the fields along the rode we were barreling down, I could see my breath, and everyone walked away with the early forming-s of skiers hack (yum). My time trial went alright, I was a little disappointed with my time but it seems that everyone's times were slower this time around, perhaps it was the 30 degree drop in temperature...who knows. I really have to pull it together and focus on my technique because when I get tired it really does fall to shambles. We finished up the time trials with the run to the "M" on saturday morning, the weather wasn't exactly ideal, windy as all get out, but we managed to pull through. Bernhard led the entire men's team, and I brought it in for the women's team followed by Mellie and Claire. We finished off the time trial with 3x3min L4 which were surprisingly pleasant after the up hill effort we had just finished. Yesterday I finished off my week with a run up Bear Canyon with Ryan and Eileen, it is one of the last trial heads we haven't run yet and it was cold and beautiful. We made it up to this ridge that looked out over the valley to another mountain ridge and lake, supposedly you can run from Bear Canyon all the way to Bozeman Creek so we've put it on the lists of early season runs for next fall.

That's about it from here. Bozeman is beautiful as always and I starting to really have to fight my lack of patience itch to get on snow, but I know winter is right around the corner...after all in a little less than a month we will be in West Yellowstone!

Life is good.

A Handful of Adventures

We finished up our medium volume week today with a two and a half hour run out on the Bozeman Creek trail this morning. Bozeman Creek trail is an old logging road that follows a creek eleven miles up to Mystic lake in the Sourdough Canyon, of course we didn't make it near the lake but it was none the less a beautiful run. It felt like fall today, cool, a little damp, with that crisp october breeze...excellent. The fall colors are in full swing, a whole lot of yellow that is (aspen I believe). It really makes me miss the red and orange maples we have at home. And since this in reality is just a facilitator or a "non-guilty form of procrastination" I won't say more and just post some pictures from a few of this last months adventures.

These first two are from the Yellowstone "lets go camp under the stars and make rice pasta" adventure the first weekend at school. We spent the day hiking in Yellowstone (Mt. Washburn) and geyser gazing, tarp-camping under the stars, and spent the following day smelling like camp fire and surprise middle of the night fall rain storm.
[photos courtesy of Ned Gall]


(From left to right: Ian, myself, Karina, Ned, David)


post script:
The police station had its annual bike auction yesterday and I managed to pick up my official college junker, she's a real beauty grey with black and white paint speckles for that ultra textured look and a pale purple fork. $20 of stunning power, quiet the catch, I'll try to get a picture of it soon! Eileen and I also ventured on the streamline bus service across town with the hopes of finding a new beta fish (xena warrior princess,RIP, passed away in her sleep this last week and so a replacement was necessary). And so the beautiful blue Kikkianimal came into our life, and fills xena's once empty bowl nicely. Not to mention the gator hunting warmth seeking mountain men we met as we waited in the rain to catch the bus back to campus...

Life is good.