Keeping Busy!

I apologize for my extended absence...I have been keeping VERY busy!  Even my weekends have been jammed full of hikes and events!

In some pretty exciting news, my internship has been extended to December...this means I will be here during ski season!  I'm pumped!

This past weekend, I worked at USA Modern Pentathlon National Championships as a photographer...it was pretty cool.  I knew very little about modern pentathlon prior to the weekend, so it was quite a learning experience.  For those of you who didn't know, modern pentathlon consists of fencing, a 200m swim, equestrian show jumping, and a combined 3k run/shoot.  Through each event, handicaps are assigned based on points and the combined run/shoot (the final event) has a staggered start based on those handicaps.  Whoever crosses the finish line first is the winner.  It was particularly cool because two athletes who I've become friends with, Margaux Isaksen and Will Brady, won the women's and men's national titles!  So, here are a few photos from that for you...

The last two are Will Brady, a resident athlete/friend of mine here and the national champ!

Eli Bremer, Will Brady, and Dennis Bowsher, the men's medalists

Margaux Isaksen, another resident athlete/friend and national champion

Suzanne Stettinius, Margaux Isaksen, and Samantha Achterberg, women's medalists

Two weekends ago, I climbed Pikes Peak with a couple of other interns.  We opted to take Crags Trail, the shorter (seven miles) trail up the back side of the mountain.  We had quite an interesting hike!  We got to the summit, but it took longer than we expected and we ended up getting there right as a storm started brewing.  The trail we took goes right through Devil's Playground, one of the most active lighting spots in the world, so we weren't too keen on hiking down the same way.  So, we asked an old couple from Kansas for a ride part of the way down and they gladly obliged!  We made it well below tree line before it started storming and everything worked out great!

That's Pikes Peak behind me...it sadly has no snow right now.

The trail intersects the Pikes Peak Highway, then becomes all rocks...

We carried champagne ALL the way up the mountain with us...then forgot about it and had our celebration at the bottom.

Well, that's my update for now...enjoy this and I'll try to be better about updating from now on!

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!

Tourist Day

Today is my first full day in Colorado Springs, and I spent it as a tourist!  Ruth took Jordan and I around Colorado Springs and the surrounding area to see the sights.  I'm sunburnt already because of the sun being more intense here.  It's been a fun day so far, and it isn't over yet because we're going out for dinner in a little bit!

The first stop of the day was Garden of the Gods, a park with a bunch of neat rock formations.  Instead of talking about it, I'm just going to post a couple of pictures cause that does it better (although still not fair) justice!

The Balanced Rock

Jordan doing some "scrambling"

Next stop was Pikes Peak, which was not an easy stop to get to!  Pikes Peak is a "fourteener," meaning that it is over 14,000 ft in elevation (14,110 to be exact).  There's a highway that goes up to the top, so Ruth drove us up that.  The drive is quite an experience in itself...there are switchbacks, steep drop offs without guard rails, parts that aren't paved...it's nineteen miles long, but it takes a bit of time to get up to the summit because of the grade and the 20mph speed limit!  And, again...here are some pictures for you!

This picture was actually taken at Garden of the Gods, but that's Pikes Peak in the background!

View on the drive up

Brother and I at the summit

Ruth and I at the summit

After leaving Pikes Peak, we ate lunch in Manitou Springs.  Manitou Springs is a cute little town in the foothills with lots of fun shops...I didn't get to visit any, but I'm hoping that there'll be a group of USOC interns willing to shop with me!

We ended the day with a quick visit to the US Olympic Training Center so Jordan and Ruth could see where I'll be living and working...but I'll post pictures of that later!  Off to dinner!