Day Trip

Yesterday the whole team packed our 3 vans and made the 3 hour drive down to the McKenzie River area about 45 minutes before Sisters and an hour outside Salem. It is really a quite beutiful area with an epic running trail that we got to explore! We also got to experience the spring of the McKenzie river which comes from the ground and a volcanic vent into Clear Water lake which really is pretty darn clear and also pretty darn cold. I think the official reading was 48 degrees.



Some of us jumped in and let me tell you it was cold enough to shut down my brain! We only have 4 days left until our frist official meet and the team seems really nice and everything has been going really well! Our team has pretty much doubled in size since we had 8 freshman girls come out and 7 freshman boys. It's nice to have such a large team for the first time ever. We had our time trial on Saturday and it was a good start!



We have our first real hard workout tomorrow and today I am just giving the legs a little rest after running 4 days in a row by biking and running in the pool. I also meet with Holly Goodman at 11:00 to talk to her about my internship with the Oregon Wine Press. It will be exciting to hear what she has in mind and get to finally meet her.

New House

Hello!

I just got moved in a couple of days ago to the house we are renting here in McMinnville. I thought I would post some pics and show you what I got.



First thing to notice is why hasn't the landlord cut our dead grass? BUT... once you can see past the dead grass you will see a 9 bedroom, 3 bath house, fully equiped with 2 fridges, washer and drying, foosball table, and a trampoline (which you can kind of see in this second picture of our backyard.



You can also see th big porch. The house is still pretty dirty it was full of frat boys last year and was a big party house... or atleast that is what the neighbor lady has told us. But the kitchen has cleaned up really well and so has my room. I wish we had a vacuum and I wish I would have brought some old towels to wash the floors. I did some of the floorboards and walls and the counters and such So it is coming along.



It still feels really empty since it is such a large house and we don't have a surplus of pictures to hang on the wall or anything like that. But I'm sure that will improve with time. I am sharing a bathroom with 2 boys that have decided since there are 2 of them and one of me it is my responsibility to lower the toilet lid and so that is something I guess I will have to deal with but atleast the bathroom has a stall around the toilet so that it is more functional for 3 hyper-hydrated cross country athletes to use.



All in all it has been really fun and really nice living just off campus. It feels a lot more private even though we are only 100 meters or so from campus because people are wandering around the house at all hours like the dorms and because the house is so much like a maze and is just a collection of additions the house is really broken up and I don't even see anyone really since I am way off at the very end of all the additions around a bend in the road. I think it will work really well. We had already had some team get togethers here and baked some cake the first night here for one of the freshman boy's since it was his birthday. We have our team time trial in about an hour and a half so I should go get ready for that. It will be really interesting and fun to see the fitness level of all the athletes after a summer of training. I will keep you poseted.

Preview

Hello All.

I just thought that this would be a nice way to keep everyone updated on what has been going on in my life recently and also through out the year. I am going to do my best to post a little bit atleast once a week and so if you are ever sitting there wondering to yourself, "I wonder what in the world that crazy girl has been up to.." you will now have a resource... if that is something you are interested in.

So first of all to catch up...

This is my Junior year in college. I have decided to finish up my last 2 years here at Linfield rather than transfering after all. I did attend several classes at SOU last winter and made the trip down to New Mexico State to check out their programs but in the end I am finally content and happy to be stay where I already was. SOU was too familar and New Mexico was too foreign being only half an hour from the border and I just plain missed the color green after only 3 days. SOU is however the right school for Cory who graduated this last June and has since been accepted to the honors program for pre-pharmacy this coming fall. He is all registered with 17 credits for his first semester featuring biology and chemistry! He has a full load ahead of him, but I know he is going to do wonderfully!


This summer has been full of searching for a job but only coming up with work, atleast I have managed to pay the deposit and first months rent on my house and still have some money in the bank. I have just been saving from working for my family and friends and whomever else will offer me a couple dollars to weed their yard or vaccum their living room. It's been good though, lots of variety and I got to work for people i enjoyed being around.



Also I have successfully come off my injury and am back to running most days of the week and workouts and even a couple of races this summer! The injury came down to tendonosis in the arch of my left foot, a tear in the sheath around the muscle belly of that tendon (the posterior tibialis tendon), and some kind of stress reaction within my left shin bone. After 2 months of strictly running in the pool with my floatation belt I got to move on to another month or biking and more pool running before I got to start ever so slowly running again. I have learned that my conective tissue is not designed for too much pounding and so I get to utalize a lot more cross training and weight lifting, which I actually enjoy and really compliments all the mileage and produces a more well rounded athlete anyhow. So I am happy to make the adjustments.

Well, some things I am really excited about this coming school year and will keep you all updated on as I get more involved with are...

- Internship with the Oregon Wine Press.
- A big group of talented freshman coming out for XC.
- Our big 9 bedroom house and my 5 roommates.
- My work study job as an Anatomy Lab Teacher's Aid.
- Taking classes for my Marketing Major.

I will be posting pictures of the house as soon as I get to see it the first time when I move in Next Wednesday!! Until then try and enjoy the summer sun and the growing heat. Love!