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now Emily can contribute, edit, and delete under her own name. Soon, Emily will click on that little pencil at the bottom right, and this will all be deleted and replaced with something we'll find witty and thought provoking. Or at least with a race schedule. Or perhaps just with this link to her schedule. I think she's running at the Beaver Classic. I don't know about the one in Clackamas.

Sisters trip

Emily finished her OSU cross-country running camp, and I finished my first week in our new office. She'll be red-shirting this year, and I'll be trying to figure out how to hang pictures on the wall.

I got in quite late, and we had an enjoyable breakfast with my folks before their big day at the temple. She drove while I slept. We didn't start running/hiking until after 11am. We knew we were missing a couple of the essentials (I left my good map and all but my back-up flashlight at home.) But this was as much about having an adventure together as it was about climbing. It had been three long weeks since I had flashbacks of dropping her off at the magnet school in inner-city St. Louis for her first day of kindergarden, hoping she'd get off at her bus-stop 7 hrs later.

We ran a bit at first, but not so much when it got steeper. We had to make a course correction to get onto the correct ridge. we sang some songs to pass the time, and made good time until right under the summit in the most dangerous region.

It was harder than I remembered, and I about got stuck. Emily was starting to make mental plans for how to get back on her own should I fall and break my neck, which would be funnier if it hadn't happened to other people in that vicinity before. So about that time we realized we were in the "false bowling alley." So we rappelled, happy to have brought climbing gear (note the helmet hair- we took them off for the pictures) and back-tracked a little to the significantly easier true bowling alley.

There's so much changing in Emily's life right now. I think she's a combination of excited and apprehensive. We've got a bit of a tradition of doing father's blessings at the start of a school year at the top of a mountain, so we did that on the top of North. It's a bit remote, and an effort to get there. It's the closest thing to a temple or the home, and we had it all to ourselves.

So after shedding a couple tears, by 5pm we were picking our way back down, this time staying on the South ridge. This involved a lot of loose rock sliding down with us and in our shoes. From the saddle we made good time to the top of middle sister. The weather was excellent, and the views are great. That's Washington, 3-fingered Jack, and Jefferson above my head.

We made it down the glacier (wishing on the steepest part that we had brought our ice-axes) before we only had moonlight. I found the climbers trail, but didn't worry when we lost track of it. We knew the direction we wanted, but unfortunately for Emily's ankles that meant bushwhacking on uneven terrain. When the vegetation got thicker, we got tired of that, and cut over to the trail we had come in on. The little flashlight was just enough that we were able to jog much of the way from there out. Hopefully Emily's ankles aren't permanently damaged- I wish I had thought of that in her blessing. I had to make some phone calls to coordinate young men's meetings for the next day, so I did that from the woods in wilderness in the dark. I can't get network coverage up high, but I could at 6500' and below. I guess it is odd to use a phone in the isolated wilderness at all.

Emily has now been to each site from Hood to Shasta that is > 10,000'.

lessons from the trail

The local paper did a nice article on my recent Where's Waldo run. It got me thinking how ultramarathoning is similar to life in several ways.
1) If you don't take in sustenance during the event you will bonk. My favorites are Gu, Heed electrolyte drink, prayer and scripture study.
2) There are trail hazards, and we can get lost. Guides can help us avoid these or find our way back, which can be long and painful.
3) We can be off track and not know the lay of the land even if we have a written map. We can be reoriented by radio or revelation.
4) There are truths (such as the position of the sun, and the message of Jesus) that we can't change by rationalizing.
5) there is a reward for every finisher. You don't get an award if you don't finish, even if you were ahead in the middle.
6) If we are faithful to true principles, we will have a renewing of our strength and bodies, sometimes after a period of feeling down.
7) The last 20 miles may be slow and painful, but as long as we move the right direction on the right trail, there can be tears of joy, rest, healing, and a welcome committee at the end.
8) The only pain that isn't temporary is the anguish of wasted possibility

I don't feed, I fuel!

It was decided some time ago that I would live with Grandma and Grandpa Olsen during my time at OSU. So, last week I packed up my room into 5 apple boxes, 2 back packs and a duffle bag. My family then dropped me off Sunday night at Grandma and Grandpa’s. The weather seemed to emulate my emotions and as the sky darkened and it began to rain I began to cry.
The next day I had my first taste of Singles Ward, I even watched the movie in preparation. However, it was not all that it was cracked up to be. People formed impenetrable circles as they consumed pie and my efforts of being friendly proved fruitless. I called home that night and cried, I haven’t called home since for fear of being a strain on my family, “The grown child that had to call home every day and cry to her parents” and all that.
The next day Sheryl came over and we had a splendid time picking blackberries followed by a birthday party for one of the girls on my new cross-country team. Instead of sitting around eating pie we sat around and ate cake and had a merry old time talking about things I don’t recall. There are several other new freshman and it was all jolly becoming acquainted with them.
Wednesday was the first official day of practice. They sat everyone (about twenty girls) down in a small room and had us sign a huge stack of papers that stated that they owned our body and it was up to us (since we live in them) to maintain good condition of them. Activities outside of our sport that could cause injury are prohibited, we must maintain excellent grades and we no longer feed. Athletes don’t feed their bodies, they fuel them for maximum performance. There’s a cafeteria where we eat twice a day that is covered in slogans stating: “Don’t feed, FUEL!” The food is on a color coded system, green light food is good, yellow light food should be eaten in small portions and red light food avoided at all costs. I went home and had chocolate cake that night. :DThe did give me a big duffle back full of cool gear and I get three pairs of shoes, two for races and one for training. There’s a weight room just for athletes and we can only wear Nike gear in it and we can not, under any circumstances, wear the color green (for fear of being mistaken as a Duck fan).

Where's Waldo, in more detail than neccessary

Saturday I toed the starting line at 5 am for Where's Waldo--the USATF 100k trail championship. This year was different for me than last in that it had been 3 long months since my previous race instead of 3 weeks, I had done more long training runs earlier in the year, and I was determined not to make any wrong turns!

But I couldn't tell how good in shape I was for this. I hadn't done any timed intervals or road races by which to gage. My training is different than most in that I typically run every other day, and many weeks I get in less than 35 miles. I had a lot else going on. I hiked with Zachary and the scouts for a week 2 weeks ago. Just the week before I did a 20 hr 140 mile bike-paddle-mountain bike-hike-bike trip with some friends from church. My long-run enthusiasm had dipped when the Western States run was canceled, and my longest run in the previous 2 months was a 4 hr 23 mile hill run that wore me out. When Brenda called the night before from Waldo Lake to report on the beautiful sun-set as I was speeding her direction but still 3 hrs away, she asked if I was going to win the race. I lost cell coverage before I could answer which I thought was just as well. I was going to tell her it was in the realm of possibilities, but it would be a stretch.

My plan was to make it past half way expending as little energy as possible, then pick it up from there. I modified that a bit, thinking perhaps to run a little harder early before it heated up. It did get hot, and drinking enough was an issue, but there was a breeze, and it clouded up a bit, and most of the course is in the shade (although I still got sunburnt in a few places) so the heat wasn't as bad as I had feared. From the start Hal Koerner, Nate McDowel, Sean Andrish and some others went out fast. My splits through the 1st 4 aid stations were about the same as last year but I quickly fell 10 minutes behind the leaders. Other than a calf that got very sore, and some tightness in the hamstrings (in-door soccer is not a good way to taper) I felt pretty good.

Sheryl & Brenda and their families and my parents camped together at Waldo lake. They came to the Charlton lake aid station, and it was awesome having them there as my crew! I had given them a sheet with estimates of where I would be when, and I was running a few minutes ahead of schedule. But from there it's hard to have any contact with the runners again until the finish, which would be 5+ hrs away. They told me Pam had called and had cut short her CAR campout to meet me at the finish.

In a couple places the aid stations are 7.5 miles apart, and there is 1 major and and 1 huge climb in the 2nd half. On trail runs you can think you are all alone, but with limited views there can be people just in front or behind. Without warning, I got caught by Jason Bryant while I was checking my map. I stayed close enough to him to watch him catch Sean, but I couldn't match their pace on the uphill. I passed them both on a down-hill, and later got caught and almost passed by a very strong Joe Grant. Somehow they didn't pass me on the huge climb to Maiden Peak. Hiking uses a little different muscles, so even though my heart rate was high, it seemed to be a partial rest for my legs. I was still 10 minutes behind Nate, but a couple people encouragingly told me I looked fresher than he did. I didn't feel all that fresh, as I had been having trouble keeping liquids down. The only solids I had tried was some pretzels at Charlton. I kept urping them up and spitting them out for the next 2 hours. I stuck mainly to electrolyte (Gu-2O) downing about 20 oz every 45 min. After the aid station that only had water (but thankfully had ice!!) I swallowed an electrolyte pill and tried to down an extra gel pack.

At the last aid station Joe was on my tail, which usually would have concerned me, but I was thinking forward, as they told me I was now only 7 minutes behind Nate. My calf wasn't any worse, my legs weren't entirely thrashed, and they weren't cramping, so I maintained hope and tore out of the aid station moving quickly. I thought it was going to take the entire last 7.5 miles to catch him, so I was surprised that less than 3 miles later I spotted him, then quickly passed Nate. In doing this, I had burned a lot of energy, had forgotten to replenish my gel packs, and now had to avoid bonking for almost 5 more miles. I slowed a bit, thinking I just needed to cruise on in, but a mile later on a switch-back I realized Nate was still only 40 yards behind me. So I picked it back up, and ran in fear, hoping to get a cushion but never knowing how close he was. I ended up 4 minutes ahead of him. Last year I was in tears at the finish, in relief that the agony was over. This year the agony was much less intense, and mainly limited to the last part of the race. But for the 2nd time in my running career I got emotional at the end of the race, this time with happiness. I looked around for my family. About 10 minutes later they showed up. I finished earlier than the estimate I had given them. Emily offered to go on a long cool-down with me, but I opted for a much needed massage instead.

I'm not sure why the course was so fast this year, with 7 of us under the 2007 course record. I know without Nate pulling me along, Joe and others pushing, I wouldn't have chosen to go that fast on my own.

The race directors put on a fabulous event on beautiful trails. The aid station people were extremely attentive to my needs and so up-beat. At one station I asked for vasoline and before I knew it the volunteer had a container open, a glob on her fingers and, with a straight face, asked where I needed it applied. The logistics of marking the trails, communicating, having people at intersections etc. etc. were huge. And I was overwhelmed by the awards. The 1st place plaque is stained glass, made by John Ticer, and is a piece of art. The masters award is a quilt (? also made by John). These are the most meaningful awards I've ever gotten. There was a jacket and a shirt that my kids quickly laid claim to. There were USATF medals, and the $1500 was cool too. Maybe we'll be able to afford Emily's college after all.

Back together, for now

Emily and Esther spent what sounded like a great week at EFY in Forest Grove. Then went directly (via Bend) to Steens mountain running camp for the next week. I think that was good, but I would like to think you could do most of the same running without leaving the area here, so we may come up with a home running camp program next year.

That same week Zachary and I spent a great week in the Trinity Alps wilderness area (the same wilderness area where a helicopter crashed killing 9 fire-fighters 2 days ago). The hike in was made more eventful by one of us missing a turn. Some of the group realized he was no longer on the trail, and got word to me where I was bringing up the rear. I dropped most of my pack and went over a mile back and down a different trail. I was confused by seeing the same footprints going each direction. Zach had waited, back-tracked, turned around, and was heading out again towards a place called Bear Basin. He said a prayer and a minute or two later I caught up with him.

2 days later we all did a 20 mile hike one day, and the next day only the 1 youngest and 3 oldest members of the group were willing to leave camp to hike. I got in a great 11 mile adventure run on remote trails complete with route finding difficulties requiring map, compass, altimiter, and GPS use. I never got lost for very long, and didn't see another human the whole time.

We got home just an hour before the girls, unpacked, and washed the cars. I had a weeks worth of lab results and paperwork at work that I finally caught up on yesterday.

Just your average, week....

So far I've had a pretty cool summer. Been places, met people, done things... ran a lot. It's been rather uneventful at times, where for example, my week would consist of me getting up at 8 to go on a run then doing almost nothing for the rest of the day. Between these weeks where I have the opportunity, nay, the pleasure of watching the grass grow I have also had many days of adventure.

It all started 2 weeks ago. I was shipped off to Oklahoma and Missouri for a C.A.R. conference, which went pretty smooth. (except for the parts where I got home sick, and when I overslept and woke up 30 min before my plane departed) I was on my way home. I had made it as far as Portland and was becoming quite concerned for the baggage claim carousel had not spit up my bag. As it turned out I had made it home alright but my bag had decided to go to Seattle with out me. I was assured that it would soon be Fed Exed to me and would arrive with in the next day and so with that I drove home.

Upon arriving home I learned, to great disbelief and disappointment, that my dad’s 100 mile race in California had been canceled due to forest fires. Seriously though, that’s like canceling the Olympics, it’s just something you don’t do. Anyways, so we decided to climb Mt. Rainier instead and were able to rope in Zachary as well. So I rushed to put what little clothes and necessities I have in another bag for my mom to bring up later. Right as we were leaving Fed Ex arrived. On the way up, literally we were reaching Portland when we made this decision, we decided we didn’t have enough time so we hopped on over to Mt. Hood instead. It was an adventure, highlighted with me getting sick and Zac complaining about Devil’s Kitchen (a sulfuric smell omitted from rock crevices about Mt. Hood). Upon descending we went to a friend’s house in Castle Rock to go to church and chill for a day. After church we left for Portland where we went to the arboretum and rose garden before my dad dropped me off for another C.A.R. conference.

The conference was a blast, Zachary won the coveted Regional Enthusiast award and I gave a speech on my state project. Once the conference was over my mom rushed us over to our family reunion which we had been missing out. We spent roughly two days there full of fun and excitement celebrating my grandmother’s 70th birthday, rushing down the zip-line and sharing our talents.

Shortly after arriving at the family reunion I learned that my car was no more. There was to be no resurrection this time. Suzy had passed the threshold and gone on to greener pastures.
Needless to say this left my family in a bit of a pickle, we had not taken the van up and where depending on Suzy for the trip home. I don’t even know how to explain all that happened the Friday following the family reunion only to say that God must have had a hand in it for how smoothly it worked.

It was the 4th of July, after the family reunion my mom had scheduled us to march in the Hillsboro parade with the C.A.R. float and I was going to run a race right before in Wilsonville and rush over there in time for the parade. With out a car this plan did not seem feasible. Fortunately Grandma and Grandpa where willing to let us borrow their car for the morning. The race went alright, (except the part where we overslept and made it from my bed in Corvallis to the starting line in Wilsonville in 75 minutes). I feel my conditioning has slacken the past few weeks, so my time was not all that spectacular but I finished second female overall. I changed into a dress in the car on the way over, the C.A.R. float was scheduled relatively early in the parade and my mom kept calling in panic to make sure we were on our way. Zac was with me and we almost missed the float, imagine: a girl in high heels and skirt running down a side walk her sleepy brother falling behind, she jumps through a crowd of people exclaiming, “Excuse me, State President coming through!” and jumps on to the passing float with an action that can not easily be described graceful. You can stop imagining, that’s what happened. The parade was a lot of fun, we threw candy to kids, I ate some of it, and afterwards we went to a picnic.

Due to the lack of cars we decided it was best to leave Erik, Gideon and Katie Mae with my mom’s mom. We had already planned to do this due to the trek, we just left them three days earlier than planned. So my mom left with Esther to safely deliver them to my grandma’s while Dad, Zac and I went to Grandma Olsen’s house to return their car and decide what could be left behind and what was necessary for survival for the next week. By being highly selective, we had just enough room for the essentials and a huge box containing the new printer I helped my dad pick out as an anniversary gift for my mom. As it got closer to 7pm Dad started to get antsy, he had wanted to watch the Olympic Trials at the Eugene Festival and my mom had not yet shown up. She soon did though and we packed some of our luggage into the back of our car, the vast majority of our luggage still resides in Grandma and Grandpa’s garage (THANK YOU!).

So we trekked on over to the Eugene Festival and where able to see the 1500 women’s trial, Jordan Hassay is amazing, as well as the women’s 5000 and men’s 10000. After we watched Abdi, with much amusement, jump in to the Steeple Chase pit we decided it was time to go home. And home is where I’m glad to say I’ve been for the last few days; and home is where I’ll stay… at least until the Pioneer Trek tomorrow. :D

So, how’s everyone’s summer going?

-Emily