I Live in Iowa: Week 150

150 Weeks!! I've been here for so long! I had no idea how long I might live in Iowa, and for some reason, tonight, 150 weeks seems like a long time.

This was one loooonng week. I worked, specifically went into the office, every day this week. Two hours on Sunday, I think four ten hour days, one almost 11, a nine hour day, and then I went in for a couple hours on Saturday. Now, I am on top of the world! Seriously, of all the major things I had to do before I left, they are all done. Now there are simply a slew of details left to iron out, but the major things have been taken care of!!!!

There are still quite a bit of things for me to do at work, but it is getting done. It's extremely rewarding. I mean I set out to do a slew of things before I left, and it's happening. I was so stressed out most of January, all of February and much of March. Getting close enough to see the end, and being as close to the end in terms of results as we desired, is a very good feeling.

My knee is healing! I ran 11 miles over three runs, did enough bicycling to set a Strava KOM on a nice category 4 that I've had my eye on for close to two years. It's the most consistent steep hill around, but I hadn't attempted it due to the bicycle shop owner having the fastest time, so I waited until someone else took it to go after it. There are ethics to taking down other's fastest times. Plus, I spent quite a few hours hiking around with a 30-40 pound backpack in the mud and on the ice patches in the parks around Dubuque.

Getting ready for Everest, I finished gathering all of my electronics stuff. There are a ton of things I am bringing, like GPS, communications, headlamps, and stuff to charge and power it all. This week I hope to put together all of my clothing and other soft goods to figure out what little things, like a neck warmer buff, I should get before I leave.

Wow, 150 weeks. I've changed so much since coming to Dubuque. If this much has happened so far, what does the future hold?