So I got back from Steens Mountain Running Camp sunday evening. It was the most intense experience I've ever had. I faced things that helped me not only get physically tougher,but mentally and emotionally as well.

The first day at camp wasn't much. We just set up our areas in the tents, ate, and got acquainted with the camp counselors, coaches, etc. We also found out what days we had k.p. and what it consisted of. I made a few friends...Ashley Doughty from North Carolina and Justin Webb from Nampa, Idaho. Me and Ashley shared an air mattress since hers was HUGE! It was a HOT bus ride up the mountain but we had fun doing "UNFORGIVABLE" impressons. [It's a youtube video]

The second day we did a few acclimation runs, [short ones, like starting with 2 minutes and working to 8] to get used to the altitude. We had one girl pass out just sitting in a chair! We also went on a hike...the view into the canyon was amazing! It was the weirdest thing too...their was snow but it was super hot! It didn't make any sense! After the hike we had to run back to camp. We did have the choice though of running 7,5,or 3 miles back. I chose 7 and very few girls did...very few people did period! I ran most of it by myself, at a slow pace...I was in the VERY back. The chaser car though had to pick someone up and they dropped the guy off to run the last mile or two with me. I beat him back to camp...ha sucker! I was so excited...I only used my inhaler once!!! Back at camp I jumped in the ice cold mountain fed crick to ice my legs and get cleaned up a little bit before dinner [no showers]. Turns out I was supposed to make a pb&j sandwich before dinner...I ended up being the last one to make mine and getting chewed out by "The Hammer". Apparently we're supposed to eat BEFORE we get cleaned up...oops! At dinner I made a few more friends [all guys of course lol] and hung out around the campfire until it was bed time.

The Big Day had arrived. 30 miles in one day. After getting woken up by spanish music at 5 a.m. and eating breakfast we were dropped off at 9,000 elevation. It was about 7 or 8 am. We had to hike down the side of the canyon/mountain. Unfortunately there was no path and walking down a steep, slippery, dusty, rocky, sagebrushy mountain side for 3 hours really pulls a number on your thighs. When we reached the bottom we were given time for a snack and a chance to change our socks before we took off again. We hiked some more until we reached our lunch spot. It wasn't really hiking for those of us in the back though. We were continually having to run to ensure there was no gaps...ugh! We got a 15 minute lunch break. I was so exhausted already it wasn't even funny! My legs were dead, I hadn't had enough time to eat a full lunch, and blisters were taking over my feet! I felt disgusting...everytime i wiped sweat off my face on my shirt it was brown from all the dust. So we begin walking again, about a half hour and we reach some campgrounds for a water refill and potty break. The lines were so long I didnt get my pee break [darn]. Now was the running time. We had to run 9 miles doing 60-60's. That is a 60 second sprint with a 60 second jog. We had four groups 1 being elite boys 2 elite girls 3 easier than those but still difficult and 4 "walking". I started in three but had to drop to 4 thanks to my asthma. Well their walking turned out to be my jogging...not helpful when your having an asthma attack. So i created group 5...when a chaser tried getting us to catch up my asthma kicked in so they had me walk the nine miles with a trainer. Then when I thought I was almost done there was this hill. You can't even imagine it. Your legs are so dead that you don't think you can walk and you look up and up and up, this hill that you can't see the end of. A mile long. The last mile. The longest mile of my life! Tears were streaming down my face as I walked that last hill. Step by step, one foot in front of the other, waiting to collapse. I was physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. When i finally reached the top I was so excited. Until I realized I had to walk 400 more meters to the bus...I was heart broken and pissed! I got to the bus and collapsed...my legs could not move...I barely ate when I got back...I had to force it down and went to sleep ASAP!

The 4th day we didnt do much...a lot of short recovery runs and then predicta mile. It was a tent activity and my team didnt do as good as we thought we did ;p I think that night was family style dinner as well. We had to sit with out tents...and oh my god my tent was ANNOYING! They were so loud, and rude, and obnoxious...there was only maybe 4 girls I actually got a long with.


The rest of the week wasn't too interesting to go over in details...so I'll just mention the highlights!

We had "olympics" I was kina pissed that I didnt get signed up for any of the events in my tent other than the mandatory team events. So the only thing I did was tug of war. My team was good at that but not much else. We were shocked when we took 3rd out of 4! After the relay we jumped into the mud pit for tug of war and mud wrestled...it was a blast! It was some serious wrastlin...we drew blood...mwuahaha!!! After though we realized that it had been a mistake...the closest we had to a shower was a freezing crick and equally cold hoses...talk about cold!

There was also turkey dinner...I had a date with a kid from germany. He was kina nerdy but he was 14 and I couldn't say no since he had the balls to ask. It was hillarious seeing the guys scrambling for dates since there were more guys than girls! The dinner was DELICIOUS and my date was akward and funny but cute. He had tons of cute card tricks but he kept tryin to make a move...poor kid!

After we left camp we went and visited Jordan Valley...I missed it so much! I got to see grandma, aunt bobby and uncle leon! The shower was amazing though...felt so good to be clean! I got to see josh terry...I had missed him so much! He has a recording studio in the ghetto and he gave me a cd with a couple songs. I'm pretty sure one of them he wrote for me. It's SOOO cute and I love it. Kind of hey there delilah/bob dylan mix cuz he can't really sing.

We came home the next day [sunday]. I wish I could have stayed there.

"If home is where the heart is then I'm out of place"




This is one of the girls in my tent I got along with...I love her so much! This is Nicole from Brookings!