It's Not Rocket Science: Week 13

Sorry for the late post, I'll get to that...

First in the world of running: I had a good week. Only 88 miles but that included a mediocre 4 mile tempo in around 23 minutes then I had a good 10 mile tempo in a little under 66 minutes. Considering that mmore than half of both of those was above 9000 feet I am pleased. Tempo runs (somewhat hard runs for several miles) are the bread and butter of a long distance (half marathon and marathon) runner's training. So continuing to get two in every week is a must. In fact if I can get up to three per week that would be better. Sunday I even got in 23 miles of running over two separate runs. I did have a bad day of running Tuesday, because I had a good day of climbing...

In the world of my climbing: Monday my friend turned 18 and Tuesday we hiked up from Glacier Gorge to the Petit Grepon and proceeded to attempt the standard south face. It's an ultra-classic 5.8 grade III. We had the whole route to ourselves. That was a little surprising as it is supposed to be so popular. We made it about 500 feet up the route a little over half way. Then after a particularly hard 5.7 pitch we decided that between the weather, the time, the difficulty of that 5.7 and the lots more 5.7 and some 5.8 to come that it would be best to rappel off. So four double rope rappels later on slings, bolts, and pitons and we were down. We then hiked (and ran a little) out. The best part of the day for me, besides having a very safe trip, was the fact that my newest climbing partner hiked so fast. We were really moving up and down the trail. That is exactly the kind of thing that I am looking for right now. I want to know how fast I can approach, climb and descend a route safely. This is all part of my greater plan to take this to the greater ranges so that I can move quickly in the mountains. The advantages of fast movement in the mountains are the ability to cover more ground in a day or between snow storms also to spend less time exposed to objective dangers like avalanches, rockfall, wind, cold, and darkness (not specifically a danger but it sure doesn't make things safer). I also climbed the 5.12 again and was video taped doing it. Which should appear in the next few weeks. I also took two more traditional climbing newbies up a pitch on the first flatiron. So the total of newbies I have taken trad climbing is up to 18. I hope to hit 20 by the end of the summer.

In the working world: I worked every day. Some days more than others like Tuesday I only did dishes after supper.

In the world of internet access: no internet. We were warned in the middle of June to cut back and I did. However, someone or some people did not and we ended going over the limit. Now we are on a revolving limit so even though the month ended our internet is still super slow. What is slow satellite internet? Slower than dial up. It won't load a lot of pages. One of the staff members at camp is taking an online class and it won't even load the webpage so he is getting farther behind every day. Not cool.

As far as future employment: I talked to a sponsor about a possible charity run/hike that would take the better part of two weeks in early August. I just have to decide if that's what I want to do.