For ages and ages I have been meaning to take pictures of my favorite run that I seem to go on every day now- it is through rolling hills along the mountain in what looks like a field of wheat. Today I finally brought my camera along, and it died after a picture of the flowers, before reaching my field. Boooo.

Also, I am steadily remembering how tiring being a student is. Wow.  And I have decided to make some important life changes.  I have to keep it short because my bedtime is now, but here goes.

Problem:  Fun tasks like investing have become dull chores, as well as keeping in touch with friends and other things, because they are on my to-do list.  I think of them as work. I have negative associations with it, and I am depriving myself of enjoying my productive time or play by labling it as such.

Solution:  I am eliminating the word “work” from my vocabulary.

Problem:  I ride the bus and walk to school, and it takes a combined thirty minutes.  I can’t read, because I get carsick.  I can’t sleep, because I will miss my stop.  Not relaxing enough to unwind. What is a girl to do?

Solution: Podcasts.  I can quench my desire to learn about other stuff like renewable energy and world happenings without cutting into study time, yesssss.  I need good ones though.  Let me know if you have recommendations.  It’s bed time.

This weekend was my last before school. In a mere twelve hours, I will be in Physics lecture, awesome! Anyhoo, I took this work-free opportunity to attack my to do list, and it really has been highly satisfying. I conquered many a task, such as vanquishing bad Dirt Devil assembly instructions, planted plants, started my journey to wealth, kept in touch with old friends, plotted for the future, and went out and had fun. Now, I have a clean house, a clean conscience, and some fresh homemade muffins to show for it, and let me tell you, it is satisfying. I have spent so much time searching for leisure time this summer, but I had forgotten how much I love productive time. I think I started blocking it out, because I get too excited about everything.

Like too excited to sleep. After this weekend, I can’t wait to start a bunch of volunteer projects, keep learning about renewable energy, hit the punching bag at the gym, and about 500 other things. I keep having to tell myself to calm down because there is so much that I want to learn about and do, but I have to focus on school. Funny how the intent of my weekend was to get things done so I could simplify, but now find myself in the mood to conquer everything. Sigh. It is definitely better than having a zest for nothing though, so you can call me lemon. Or orange. Or lime if you are really feeling festive. Aye!

Afterthought:  I am spending all this time compiling tips and tricks for life, as well as embarking on a personal finance journey of investing my IRA, and generally discover cool stuff all the time.  So, I will begin to share these savory and sweet tidbits with you, the glorious reader.  My first tip:  Rocky road ice cream.  I suppose it is more of a recommendation, but Dreyer’s Reduced Fat version is a fluffy, marshmallowy delight.

I finally got pictures! Yeah!
The day started off so happy, so naive…

Then I remembered I was 12 miles in and way above treeline, a little grumpy

But, there was a pretty lake that I had never seen before

And then I got to sit on a rock and was happy and tired

And then life was back to normal

The End

My good friend Al had a theory last spring that all of her drama came from alcohol and going out at the bars since the advent of her 21st birthday.  I generally agree with this conclusion, and coupled with my grandma-esque lifestyle as well as general desire for good health, I avoid bars on a regular basis.

Today was different.  My friend Audrey is stopping through on her way to California, and I was persuaded to go out and enjoy a somewhat savory but certainly overpriced glass of wine.  Driving aimlessly took us to the Purple Martini.  I should have been clued in when I heard the blasting Carrie Underwood that it may not have been my type of place, but we decided to venture in anyway.

Needless to say, it was hopping at a Monday night at 11pm.  Within minutes, we were the only people there, save for a slippery character named Jake “Duckie” Sketchball McGee.  He made his not-so suave appearance in a wife-beater, some classy baggy jeans, and a baseball cap, and topped off his sultry appearance with a smoldering cigarette.

I will admit- I thought I had become immune to the strange sights of Boulder after living  here so long.  Duckie, however, put up with an hour of us telling him about our lifelong passions of becoming salmon farmers and creepsters.  Amazing.  I will now stop underestimating the absurdity and creepiness that can result from leaving the house, and will concentrate on finding sweet catches of Alaskan salmon and old men with handlebar mustaches.

Yesterday I did my first ever Pikes Peak Ascent.  It has been looming ominously over my summer fitness program, daunting as a winged bear and ever present as the scent of asparagus in pee (or so I hear).

It was an interesting experience.

Basically, it is a leisurely jaunt up 13.3 miles of smooth then rocky terrain, that covers a vertical distance of about 7,800 feet to a summit at an elevation of greater than 14,000 feet.  I am a rockstar.  Just kidding!  An awe-inspiring 1162 men, and 485 women completed this task yesterday, and a fair few of them are doing twice that today during the marathon (up and down).  I am so impressed by the level of fitness, training, and dedication that it must have taken for all of these people to do this.  I know that it dominated my summer evenings, and I didn’t do that well in the grand scheme of things.

My race overall was swell, no bad weather and no serious digestive problems to be had.  I spent my morning running when possible, dodging tree roots, scaling rocky stairs, and trying to figure out the optimal food consumption that would get me up the mountain in as good a time and shape as possible, while passing as many spandex and hot-short clad commrades as possbile.  I was doing pretty well for the first seven miles up to Barr camp- I shimmied up in about two hours, but my unpreparedness for the second half of the course, as well as O2 deprivation didn’t do me any favors.  I ended up doing some serious walking up to the top, clocking in at 4:39:41 ish.  Unfortunately, this was quite a far cry from my original goal of 3 hours and my revised goal of 4 hours.  Maybe next year…

Overall though, I was very psyched that I did indeed finish the race without stopping, except to grab oranges, and that I didn’t get last place, hooray! It felt great (mostly) to push my body and see that it could at least accomplish that mountain.  The only thing I would have changed were the crowds of walkers and allowing them to influence me for the slower.  Another highlight was running away from event staff like a renegade- I will keep my headphones thank-you-very-much.  I will put up more photos when I get them.

Now I find myself somewhat confused, without running goals.  My focus for the whole summer, and even since March when I registered, is gone.  I need a new challenge now! Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

Exhibit A: Mountain in Eagle, CO

Exhibit B: Wedding in Vail Sunset

Exhibit C: View from the Rio Rooftop in Boulder

So, I know I have been totally slack about updating this blog of mine. Things have been hectic with the training and the friends leaving and the two jobs, yikes! So, my life in a sentence: I don’t work at Six88 anymore, I do work at the Kitchen, I trained for and completed the Pikes Peak Ascent (woohoo!, and more on that in the next post), and my friend Reed left for the Caribbean for med school, I am trying to go to med school, and I am getting ready for school, and my bestest girl Al is back! Quite the run-on.

Tonight I have been struck by so many different influences and I am having an odd moment of clarity. I don’t know I have the eloquence to pull all of these thoughts together- but I will try. For some weeks now, there has been a vision in my head that seems to be the end all-be all of my life, or at least the cumulative result of my upcoming years of hard work. I see myself in Africa, doing Doctors Without Borders, using my skills to make a difference in the world. (oh yes, I plan on becoming a doctor, fingers crossed). It embodies my favorite things- making a difference, challenging myself, and travel.

So, my revelations of the evening. First, I met up with Ben (please see fourteen is my new favorite number) who is in the process of becoming the most intense and awesome mountain conqueror ever. He nonchalantly informed me tonight that he wants to climb “The Diamond”, a 2500 foot vertical face of rock at 14,000 feet, no biggie. As we perused his pictures of the Colorado fourteeners, I was not only stunned by their beauty, but their difficulty and danger as well. Ben and his climbing partner Stu, are intense. That is when I realized, I love being a soft-core adventurer. I love climbing mountains, but more so if I can sleep in a little first. Big waves, bring ‘em on, as long as they aren’t too cold and I can lay on the beach afterwards. So, I may be a grandma, and feel like a lame-o next to my hard-core friends, but I have found out what makes me happy.

Continuing on. After enjoying some delicious boba on The Hill, we watched Life Is Beautiful. And it really is. And I have it so easy. So why, oh why, do I get so entangled with the small things,those that really don’t matter? I know deep down that I would like to dedicate my life to making the world a better place, but I get so caught up in my forty hour, rat race, Boulder bubble that I hardly get around to doing good, am totally selfish 99% of the time, and even forget to enjoy myself. I need my Aussie mantra back, no worries! I am also reading Leaving Microsoft to Change the World- a book about a guy who did exactly what I want to do. Where did he find the resources and courage? How can I find those things in myself?

So, my question that I pose to all is such: how does one contribute to the world in small ways with limited time and resources (for the next 11 or 12 years) while fulfilling a desire to travel and lightly adventure, as well as be successful at becoming the doctor with the mostest and still having good relationships with friends and family? If you can answer, pretty please tell me, you hold the key to my life. Comments welcome.