Every year around the middle of April I start running again. Part of it is to get in shape after spending the winter fattening up. But I think I major part of it is the stress of finals. Pretty much that only way I can get to sleep at night during finals is if I’m exhausted. [Un?]forunately I seem to have to run more and more rather rapidly in order to get as equally exhausted and thus fall asleep so I seem to spend more and more time running and less time studying. Maybe I’d be better off to just give up sleep during finals and adopt the coffee method that everyone else seems to live by.

Either way, I’m done now… yeah that’s right! So now I need to find other reasons to keep up this running momentum. I keep rereading the description for the Absoroka trip slated for the end of August and I think I’m going to need to be in freakin’ marathon shape to pull this one off. It certainly won’t be as wet, bug infested, and trail-less as Purcell, but the elevation sounds insane!

“After getting to the top of Speculator Pass you won’t need to hit the Stairmaster machine for a while. But if you want to get ready for this trip, you should spend three hours a day on it.”

It’s not like there’s a lot of hills to run up around here….

In other news, I finally ordered a tent. Big Agnes Seedhouse SL 3 - should be here this week I hope.

Looks like I’ll be going on at least two major backpacking trips this summer. The main one being with Aidan and Mike to Montana at the end of August. To prepare for that fairly difficult trip (read: very difficult) Chantal and I have been planning a trip to Kootenay National Park, which of course is in BC. I’m hoping to take a total of 6 people, and so far 5 people have signed on. The trip is 34 km in total over 4 days. There is also a good chance of a day hike to a mountain lake and possibly a summit on the second day (Mike, you should be happy). Estimated cost of the trip is $160-$200 depending on how many people come along (and the gas price situtation at the time).

If you want to come on the trip email me asap. Also a $100 deposit is due on June 1st - no exceptions!

I’ve put together a information sheet for the trip, you can read it here: Rockwall.pdf