QM BOLC Week 1

Before we get started on the past two weeks, we'll start with the normal stuff.

Song of the Week: "Crazy Kids" by Ke$ha feat. Will.i.am. A song about living life on the edge and having fun. It's quite a fun song.

Run of the Week: Petersburg National Battlefield. Very nice trail system close to where I'm staying. It's a mix of paved and packed dirt trials and its all in the shade.  The trials work their way through the park and provide a great way to see some history along the way.

So two weeks ago, I drove all the way from Missoula, MT to Petersburg, VA to attend QM BOLC-B at Ft. Lee, VA. It was quite the drive not including the fact that my air conditioning went out somewhere in Ohio. I got to see a lot of the country I would have never seen and drove some roads that were very worth it. One of the highlights of the trip was driving the Midland Trial, aka US Highway 60, from Charleston, WV to Lewisburg, WV. It is a very curvy road that works it way up and down a few of the Appalachian  mountains. It goes through a state park and is very beautiful the whole way. After that, I took some of the back roads (mainly the Glascow road) in Virginia. I got lost and went down a service road of a golf course  (oops) but it all worked out in the end.

I took a few stops along the way, but by far the most interesting one was Appomattox. The thing that stood out to me the most was how the battle and the surrender of General Lee was portrayed. History text book put a very Northern spin on it, so I felt there was a very Southern spin at the battlefield. But hey, history only remembers the winners.

A bridge over a stream at Appomattox. Notice the design of the sides.

I just completed the first week of QM BOLC-B. To put it lightly, it was really boring. We did a lot of paper work, took a PT test and did some health screenings. I can't wait to do more this next week. I'm not quite used to having nights and weekends off during training yet, but I will get used to it. I have adapted to the weather quite well and am starting to enjoy it. That's all I have for now.

Going, Going, Gone.

I'm posting early this week because I don't know If I'll have time the in the next week, most likely not in the next two week. I'll be real busy driving and getting settled in at BOLC. I am starting my road trip in two days and really excited to get going. Before I start though, I am running the Missoula 1/2 Marathon tomorrow. I'm not racing it, I'm just running it to run. It took me a while to come to this decision and I have been waffling back and forth all summer. It started out as I was going train hard and race it for a PR and the win, but as the summer wore on I realized I was burnt out from college. Then I was debating if I even wanted to run it or not. I finally decided I was just going to go out and try to have fun while running it. We'll see how it goes and I'll update the post. Link to tomorrows results here.

Update: I ran a 1:19:26, or an average of 6:01 min/mile. Good enough for 14th place overall.

Photo from my first post college race.

Starting Monday morning, I will be driving across the country, headed to BOLC. I'll be driving all week, although some days won't be very far. A lot of the trip has been planned out and I'll be meeting up with a few friends on the way. I will also be visiting a few museums and, battlefields, and other places on my bucket list of places to go. I'm going to try and take a lot of pictures along the way and post them to my Photostream. I also may add a page later about the trip.

Song of the week: "For the First Time" by The Script. What else can I say, its about rediscovering yourself and those you love. I have been doing a lot of self discovery since graduation and I'm about to embark on a lot more.

Run of the Week(end): The Missoula Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. If you ever get the chance or have the desire, come out to beautiful Western Montana and run it. It was name the top Marathon in the US by Runners World in 2010 and is a really well done event.

If your wondering about the layout change, I had to switch it up because the other template would not save as desired. It may change again.

Leaving Paradise

I don't know what to say other than I am leaving my little corner of paradise and I don't know when I'll be back to visit. It's going to be hard to go, harder than it was during college. At least during college I knew when I had time off and I could come home. I knew I would be able to see it in the winter in its perpetual whiteness and the spikes of green from the pines poking through. On these nights, I would look up at the cold, crisp sky and count the stars and the moon. If I was really lucky, I could catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

While winter was nice, it was nothing compared to summer when Western Montana is in its full glory. An abundance of sunshine and blue sky to go with a million places to go and explore. From hiking a new mountain to floating down a river, this place has it all, and I sure will miss it.

My corner of paradise

You see this paradise is going to be hard to compete with, sitting a stones throw from a base of two mountains and if I was any closer, in a river, is hard to find anywhere else. I can enjoy nature at its finest with out even having to leave my back porch.

I know every place is what you make of it, but it will be hard not to compare. I hope to find another little corner of this world that I can call paradise, but this one will always call me back. Because it has captured my heart, this is the place I will always call home.

Song of the week: "Rebel Beat" by the Goo Goo Dolls. I have always liked the Goo Goo Dolls ever since I first heard the song "Better Days" and as I grew to explore their music more and more, I was slightly disappointed that they hadn't come out with new music in a while. But last summer they came out with a new album and this is the song that has stuck with me since then.

Run of the Week: Northern Pacific Railroad grade. From Lookout Pass down to Taft, MT is 9 miles of very smooth trail. It would be an easy run to complete and offer a great experience. From a tunnel to scenic views, this trail offers it all. To top it all off, if you can have someone drop you off and pick you up, its all downhill on a genital grade. Also see my page on the Route of the Olympian for more detail.

The tunnel, about 4 miles down from Lookout Pass.

Update: To the post Heat Wave, I finally got all my paperwork in order to be able to travel. It took a bit and talking to quite a few people, but its done and now I just need to pick it up on my way across the country.

Heat Wave

News first: I finally got a new laptop. It took a bit as the first one I ordered got lost in shipping. I have a Lenovo S400 touch screen running Windows 8. I have to say I like it a lot and Windows 8 is great with a touch screen.

An Update: To the post Nervous Energy: I am now 50/50 on if I am deploying or not. I am going to wait a bit and talk to a few people I know and see what they have to say. I also plan on talking to my TAC at BOLC and getting in contact with the 4/10 S1 at a later date. Don't worry, I'm still really excited about just being on Active Duty in general.

Song of the week: Since I've been slacking off on the past few posts here is my new pick; "Letting Go" by Lupe Fiasco featuring Sarah Green. Its from one of my favorite all time albums called "Lasers". This song is about change for me, since I'll be experiencing a lot of that here soon. Have a listen.

Run of the Week: Downtown Missoula. If you don't mind a little stop and go running you can have quite the interesting run on the Sidewalks of downtown. I remember doing this in high school and no one seemed to care or get mad. Just follow the rules. Missoula is a really runner-friendly city and I can think of at least four races that they close down a portion of downtown Missoula for sometime during the year. I'm going to miss it.

Sorry, Its not of downtown. Enjoy the view of the M from the Madison street Bridge.

First off, I can't believe its July already. My new adventure starts in 2 weeks. I guess I better get on the push-ups and sit-ups. Everything has been coming in hot and fast since last Thursday. Emails, letters, and the such. I was really excited to get an email from my TAC about BOLC and that has set in motion the events of the next few weeks, I'll be rounding up paper work, uniforms, and everything else I'll need. Speaking of heat,  It has been hot out here in Missoula, record temps for this time of year, and I'm not use to it (yet). I guess having AC for the past 4 years spoiled me in to forgetting what a house with no AC is like. Give me a couple of days and I'll be good. Now for Virginia and then Louisiana, I think i might be in trouble. (Adapt and overcome!) Now to get that paper work....

The last post, I really had to get that off my chest. Its hard to talk to anyone about it because we all don't have  similar experiences with running. For example, my mom only views a burn out from running as an injury and it could never be mental. Former teammates are hard to get a hold of and there are a grand total of 4 that I ran with that graduated while I was there. I decided the best way was to write about it. I have decided not to force the issue of running and let running come to me. To say, I will run what I want, when I want (the one exception being PT runs). I will train and compete again, but I can't say when. Maybe when I start the new chapter in my life.

I think everything is starting to look up and I am getting really excited to go. It has put me in a much better mood and I really don't care about much else right now. While the past can shape us, and we can plan the future, we can only live in the here and now. You have to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way. I plan on doing so to the fullest extent.