scuttle scuttle
the month of june is almost gone, and apparently i haven’t updated since the beginning of may. i guess it’s no secret where the previous two weeks or so have gone, but before that i had quite a bit going on (relatively speaking).

on memorial day weekend i made my first trip to the UP for a weekend of wedding-related festivities, and had a blast. while the wedding was a lot of fun, we made a long weekend out of it and managed to do some hiking and sight-seeing. it’s pretty country up there for sure, and marquette was as pleasant as i hoped it would be; plenty of food options and even a local coffee roastery and a brewery or two. also seemed like all the locals i came across were super fit, especially for the midwest, but i think you’d have to enjoy an active, outdoorsy lifestyle to reside in the UP because there isn’t a whole lot else going on (and apparently they get a lot of snow!)

we did some car-camping on the return trip and i finally got to break in the new tent that i bought last year. naturally it got a trial by fire as the campground was hit with a series of storms pretty much right as we had finished dinner and were settling around the campfire with beers in hand. didn’t have much choice but to retreat to the tents and ride it out. it rained all night, but as you can see i stayed perfectly dry, and got a little reading in. oh, and i saw a bear on the drive home, but sadly, wasn’t quick enough with the camera.
the following weekend was the annual dam-to-dam 20k back in iowa. i think this made the 4th year in a row i’ve run it, and while we’ve had perfect weather every year, this was the first time i’ve experienced rain. i love running in the rain, but it apparently wasn’t enough to push me past last year’s personal best, not that i’m disappointed. i finished just inside the top 170 overall (out of almost 7000), with a ~1:26:00, good for a 6:55 mile pace. not too shabby.
from that point forward it’s been a bit of a blur, involving a lot of world cup - watching and feeble attempts to write proposals and thesis chapters. and while it was a tad painful to watch the US crumble in that last game, i could take comfort in the fact that they made it out of group play, while italy’s lawn-diving team went home early. now i can watch the rest as an unencumbered fan of the game, who is, at least for now, on a more normal sleeping schedule than before =)