I have found that lately, my mind, untethered from the strain of essay writing and choosing what to eat for brunch at Driscoll, has started to turn to mush, kind of like the middle of a green-bean casserole. In this state of raised mushiness, I've started to forget some things, so I decided to make an acronym to ensure I keep track of what season it is. (I'm sure many of you are feeling something similar so feel free to adopt this helpful memory aid.)
Sweating - With the volatile mixture of following the training plan, hot and humid weather, and just generally existing outside of air conditioned spaces, sweating has become one of my daily (hourly?) activities. But don't worry, I've been getting in the proper hydration by having a sip of water or sports drink every 15-30 min round the clock.
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| Sweating it out on a run in June |
U-betcha! - Despite the sometimes cringey sayings and lack of mountains, it's good to be back in the midwest, where people know what 'hair binder' means and don't sleep in alcoholic beverages (I like to sleep in my room, not my rum).
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| Oh for cute, what a nice midwestern sunset! |
Mosquitos - For the month of August, I'll be working at the same summer camp Nick Gardner works at up in Northern MN, leading kids on canoeing and backpacking trips and swatting away the numerous mosquitos and black flies that call the Boundary Waters home.
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| Photograph of Nick G. from 6/31/17 |
Mountains - Minnesota might be pretty great, but I had to get a dose of the mountains in sometime this summer, so I flew out to Truckee, CA for a training camp with the group that I've been training with this summer, Loppet Nordic Racing. We did lots of amazing mountain runs and uphill rollerski sessions and overall, it was a blast. The highlight of the trip was, of course, seeing Dylan's smiling face and having him join us on the run to a sick-gnarly waterfall.
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| Rollin with the crew |
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| Just some midders juggling massive pinecones |
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| Running with Dylan at Royal Gorge (You could probably already tell but I'm the one in the orange tanktop with a black backpack and Dylan is right in front of me) |
Escape - Unfortunately, the Truckee camp wasn't all fun and games, as the group was hit by a stomach virus midweek that successfully knocked out 16 of the 33 athletes present. Sugar Bowl Academy had been kind enough to let us stay in their dorm for our trip, but as many know, this style of living does tend to encourage the spread of sickness and paranoia. One full day of training was canceled and instead devoted to being very sick, cleaning, and generously applying lysol, bleach, and hand sanitizer to everything. I fortunately was able to escape the plague, but lived in fear for the rest of trip that I was going down next. (Perhaps the third wave is still coming...)
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| Margie and I, a couple of the uninfected, taking a hike on the sick day |
Racing - Racing the New York Times mini crossword, that is. As we all know, summer is NOT the time to be getting in lots of L4 race efforts, but I have to let my competitive spirit out somehow, so the NYT mini crossword has become the new arena.
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| Yesterday's mini. Spot that time of 0:38. |
Summer's been a blast so far, but I'm also excited for fall to come- new classes, new teammates, new coach, new friends, and, best of all, a new acronym!
Get psyched,
Ingrid
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