It’s late at night and I’ve got a lot on my mind, so there’s no hope for sleep anymore. I hit the wall with running races after Mat Peak and Lost lake, but in a sick way I’m really stoked about sitting around all tired and cranky because I totally found my physical limit without injuring myself or killing all of my motivation for the winter. There is plenty of new information to reflect upon, and after a terrifically fun summer of racing that’s a really good thing. Success #1

Sitting here at this moment with a slight discomfort in my left side, I’m really glad I’m right-handed. Funny enough, it’s the fact that we *have* a strong side that our weak side tends to pick up the pieces left behind by accidents and sloppiness. Every injury I’ve had in my life due to weakness of some body part other than skin has occurred on my left side. That includes tendonitis of the foot from over training, broken middle toe from a heavy machinery accident, meniscus tearing due to a genetically loose ACL, dislocated shoulder from instinctually choosing to ram the left shoulder instead of the right into the groomer run at 50mph. Poor left side, Daddy’s here, everything’s going to be aaaaalllll riiight. Oh wait, more on that later…

Welcome back to Alaska, Pat. After a warm welcome from friends and an extended 5-day birthday celebration, I’m back in Ancheragua, AK. The last part of the drive was pretty sweet, and I only got ONE speeding ticket in Fort Nelson. Awesome.

Sorry, I hate that phrase. But when you’re gettin it, you’re gettin it.

I finally got under way towards alaska, and now am sitting in my van in a sun-baked parking lot just below the Chateau Lake Louise. I took off two days ago through eastern Idaho and Missoula then crossed the border yesterday at Eureka, MT/Rooseville B.C. I managed a nice 1 hour mountain run through some rolling cow fields in Lima, ID then a 1.5 hour skin up the Lake Louise ski area yesterday.

Hey! I finally got this blog together, and just in time for some exciting stuff. I bought a new VW camper last week in Tucson and drove it straight to the Rendezvous 50K in West Yellowstone. After some scary loan check stuff and some time with a nice but stubborn seller, there was barely enough time for 7 hours of sleep and burritos at the Aphton gas station before starting the race. One piece of advice about racing - gas station burritos, of the breakfast variety or not, are *never* a good idea before a race. I’ve never been more uncomfortable in an event before, but by the second half I was feeling a lot better, and started to put the hurt on and ended up with a good result. Following about 15 minutes of kissing the ground in the finish chute and a nap in the EuroVan, I busted up to Bozeman to hang out with friends that were up there for some regional races. 

After two days home in Jackson Hole to get some work done and ski the sick pow pow with some Alaska buddies, I headed out to Reno for the great race. What an event! If you like going uncomfortably fast for about 20K and using your tuck muscles more than your breathing muscles, this race is for you! My Buddy Lee and I sported the Team OIA suits and finished strongly after the pack of factory skiers with a full-on knock-kneed and white-knuckle side-by-side gaper-style finish. Awesome!!

So after some sad good-byes to good friends I’m writing this from a Battle Mountain, NV casino/restaurant, and back on the road to Jackson Hole. The local Sandbag Series final 10K is this Saturday and I’ll be looking forward to hammering with my JHole training buddy Erich Wilbrecht one last time before some Colorado Sun and Tele-skiing fun in Crested Butte for Saint Paddy’s Day. Keep it real folks! I hope you enjoy the blog! P.S. I can’t stop listening to Ramble On by Led Zeppelin. Still Awesome!