Quick Update

Yes, yes, I know...I'm terrible at updating this.  I say that every time I update.  Oh well.

Life has been busy!  The summer class of interns has pretty much gone...the only people left are the people whose internships were extended (there are about six of us).  New interns have started rolling in, too.  Last night, I did the Incline with a group of new interns.  I got my new personal best (43 minutes! Only three minutes to my goal!) and had a chance to chat with some of them.  I wasn't really around much this weekend, so it was the first real opportunity I got to talk to some of them!  I did have to laugh, though, because a couple of them seem a little intimidated by the fact that I hang out with a lot of athletes.  I remember being intimidated by athletes when I first got here, so it's just sort of funny seeing it from where I am now...now, I don't really even think about the fact that they're athletes--to me, they're just my friends!

I'm only working two days this week, then I'm heading back to Indiana for a few days.  Since I didn't plan on staying here until cold weather hit initially, I didn't bring much as far as winter clothes with me.  However, since I'll be here til December now, I have to go get some!  I did buy some wintery stuff at the Warehouse Sale (an AMAZING sale they have at the OTC post-Olympic Games...they sell all of the Olympic apparel for next to nothing...needless to say, I bought quite a lot and now have an extensive collection of official Vancouver clothing), but I still need my coats and boots.  Yay boot season!

And now, I'm back to work...so I'll leave you with some photos of my random things I've done over the past few weeks.

Intern ladies at the Modern Pentathlon Nationals reception

Me at Coors Brewery in Golden, Colo.

Celebrating Seth's 29th birthday (although no Seth in this picture)!

Weekend Update

Okay, I'm terrible at updating this thing.

I blame the fact that I'm blogging for TeamUSA.org, keeping a daily journal for internship credit, and keeping my usual personal journal on top of all that.  Good thing I like to write, eh?

This weekend, I headed up to Denver for the second time since I came to Colorado.  I went to a Rockies game with some of the other interns and my friends from Ball State, Steven and Josh.  Coors Field was amazing!  The view was incredible...you can see the mountains from just about everywhere!  It was a good game, too.  The Rockies ended up beating the Brewers 8-7, but it really came down to the last inning.  Everyone was on their feet at the end...the last at-bat took FOREVER because of four foul balls.  After the game, I walked around downtown Denver with Steven, Josh, and Jon (an intern), then Jon and I came back to Colorado Springs late.

Last week was a busy one at work.  Our cable wasn't working in the office, so I found feeds online for everyone to watch the USA vs. Slovenia World Cup game on Friday.  I updated the website all during the game so that people could get live updates, so it was a fun morning at work.  I'm still slightly bitter about the goal that the USA scored but the ref didn't count...

Last Thursday, a bunch of the interns had a random toga party.  It's a fun bunch of people, so we tend to do random things like that!  I've also made friends with a couple of athletes and they've been hanging out with us, too!  So, here are some pictures for you all...

Me (in a toga) and Alexy, one of the gymnasts

5th trip to the Incline...down to 52 minutes!

Interns at the Finish Line, a bar across the street from the OTC

Around the OTC

It's been a busy couple of days...I've worked two days, spent one day at Intern Assimilation, did the Incline again (cut my time down to an hour...and I ran all four miles down the Barr Trail to the bottom!), made friends with athletes and interns, and got my first taste of Colorado Springs nightlife.  I also managed to take a couple of pictures of the OTC for you guys!

The outside of my dorm...it's one of the older dorms

Courtyard where we spent a lot of today laying out

Back entrance of the Athlete Center...I ran into Michael Phelps right here yesterday!

The view...not bad, eh?

Me in my dorm room on move-in day

Life in the dorms is fine...everyone wants to be here, so they all take pretty good care of everything.  My roommate, Emily, is nice and we have pretty compatible sleep schedules fortunately.  Every night, there's usually a group of interns watching TV in the lounge...most of the time, they're watching sporting events but sometimes it's a movie.  The food in the Athlete Center is healthy and good...some of the other interns aren't big fans of it, but I like it.  

This weekend, I went out to two bars with most of the interns, the Thirsty Parrot and Cowboys.  The Thirsty Parrot is a pretty standard bar...Cowboys, on the other hand, is a three-story country bar with line dancing, a mechanical bull, and karaoke among other things.  It was certainly an interesting experience.

Now, I've got to get to bed cause I've got a long work week ahead of me!!

OTC and Manitou Incline

Today is my brother Jordan's last day in Colorado Springs...so he got to decide what we were doing today.  His decision?  The Manitou Incline.

Now, ever since I found out I would be spending my summer in Colorado Springs, I knew I wanted to tackle "The Incline" at some point.  However, I figured "at some point" would be after I'd had a few weeks to adjust to the altitude and get into a regular exercise routine...I certainly wasn't expecting to climb it on my second full day here!  But Jordan wanted to go for it, and Steven enthusiastically encouraged it.  Ruth and I were a little less optimistic but we still went for it...even though it meant waking up at 5:45am.

A little background on the Incline for those of you not familiar with it...it consists of the remnants of an old cog railway that closed in 1990.  Following the railway's close, hikers, athletes, and people looking for a unique workout took over, turning it into an unofficial hiking trail.  It is technically illegal to climb because it's private property (so hiking the Incline is trespassing), but you'd never know that by looking at it.  On any given day, there are plenty of people climbing up and down it.  The Barr Trail to Pikes Peak meets it twice, once about halfway up (providing the "bailout trail" for people who don't think they can make it up to the top) and then again at the top (so most people take the Incline up and the Barr Trail down).  The Incline ascends over 2,000ft in a mile and a half...so it's a very challenging workout but gives you a lot of personal satisfaction when you've reached the summit!

The Manitou Incline...and me regretting my decision to climb it

Believe it or not, this is the easy part.

Made it to the top!

Jordan, Ruth, and I made it to the top in just under an hour and a half, which surprised all of us, I think (we were half-expecting to have to use the bailout trail).  I'm already anxious for my next trip to the Incline...climbing stairs up the side of a mountain has to be a good workout for speedskating!

And, as promised...here are a a few pictures from our trip to the US Olympic Training Center yesterday!

Ruth and I imitating the short track speedskater statues behind us

Jordan hurt himself trying to imitate the above karate pose

This is for you, Hillary!

We mainly just goofed around with the statues, obviously...we drove back by the dorm that I'll be living in, but we weren't really sure if we were allowed back there or not.  So, after our exploratory drive and our goofing around, we headed back to Ruth and Steven's apartment!  

We ate dinner at Trinity Brewing Company, which was excellent...I unfortunately didn't take my camera, though.  We had cheesecake made with beer!  And more surprisingly...it was really good!  Jordan and Steven were more interested in the beer that Trinity brews themselves, though.

That's it for now...tomorrow probably won't be too interesting because I'll be recovering from the Incline!