Round 2 with the Mountain of Death...

Remember this post about the Incline?  That day I only made it half way to the top of that beast.  Today I conquered the entire thing!  I hit the half way point today and walked right by it...  I figured out the secret to Incline success, my iPod.  From all my years of skating, I've been trained to step to the beat.  Whether it be a step-cross or step-step while running or climbing the stairs of the Incline, I do it faster and more consistently when there is a quick beat.  That really helped me today, I would climb for a song and the rest for a few seconds to catch my breath and then keep climbing...  Then we ran down the trail back to the car so that we could get back for dinner.  We soon realized that we weren't going to make it even if we ran down the entire thing, so we called our friends and they got us some dinner from the Caf...  We had some yummy quesadilla when we got home!  Now its off to bed for this girl :)

5K Crazy

I don't know what it is about living at an Olympic Training Center, but it makes you want to work out all day everyday!  That is what I have been doing :)  After work we usually head home, change, and go straight to the weight room.  On Tuesdays, we take our workout clothes to work and do the Jack Quinn's 5K.  If you run this 10 times you get a t-shirt.  Let's be serious, I am not a runner.  Before last week, I had only run the distance of a 5k once before (Salt Lake Marathon 5K which I finished in about 46 minutes).  Last week, I beat my Salt Lake Marathon time and came in around 43 minutes.  This week, I came in at 40 minutes, which still isn't the greatest time in the world, but it's pretty good for a non-runner :)  There are 11 Tuesdays left of my time here in Colorado Springs, so by the end of the summer I will have run 55K or 34.1 miles, on Tuesdays alone!  If I am not in better shape when I leave this place, something is wrong...

Nights Out...

We are trying to experience everything that the Springs has to offer, including the night life...  Here are some of the things we've been doing after work:

My awesome roomie on the Bull at Cowboys

Singing Karoke at the Finish Line, where the crowd consists of "athletes, interns, and homeless people" (direct quote from Ian Jaray, my predecessor)

Chelsea wears her sunglasses at night :)

The Incline

I promised that I would post about the Incline, and that was over a week ago, sorry about that!  I am going to preface this post with a disclaimer: I only did half the incline...  I know LAME but I literally thought I was going to puke and one of the guys in my department was proud of me for even attempting it after the weekend of fun the interns had.

We started out with a pretty good pace, but after a little but I started counting stairs.  Making myself do 20 stairs at a time and then 10, and then just taking one step at a time.  By the halfway mark I was feeling a little lightheaded (the air is thinner up there) and my legs were protesting very loudly!  Three of us decided to take the bail out trail and head back to the car.  Needless to say, the trail down was fantastic!  Here are some of the pictures I took...

The girls before the trip up...

Yes, that is the trail going straight up!

The view from where we bailed!

Rachie and Katie my fellow bailers :)

So beautiful!

Headed down

Intern Assimilation

The title of this blog is all that we were told as far as what today's events were going to include.  Wikipedia tells me that assimilation comes from the latin word assimilatio meaning to make similar, but from our perspective it seemed like a strange word to use, how about orientation?  I personally like orientation better, but that's just me, I never have been good with latin :)

Today promised to be full of team building exercises and being told for the 100th time that we are not allowed to have alcohol in the dorms, which can sound pretty boring if you are expecting the run of the mill ice breakers and what type of personality am I tests.  Here in USOC land we team build by watching an awesome 1990 plane crash video, which I am confident inspired the ABC hit TV show LOST and then do the traditional "what of your supplies do you use first" exercise.  Why is it always the stupid little things that always are the most important things for those exercises?  I need to remember this for future team building experiences, the dumb mirror in the cosmetic case can help you live in the desert for at least 3 days after a plane crash.  My team did really well.  Two of us got to pick our teams and the rest were just assigned...  I got to pick my team!  And we kicked some major ass, well the closest team to us was within 4 points but everyone else was WAY off!  Not that we are competitive or anything...  It's hard not to have a competitive energy when nearly everyone in the room competed in intercollegiate athletics on some level.

We also heard from some amazing speakers, and if you know me you know how passionate I am about the Olympic Games, I get goosebumps and teary when anyone talks about it because I believe in it so much and I love seeing and helping people succeed.  Anyway, Kelly Skinner spoke to us and he could not be more inspiring, he was an intern 14 years ago and apparently he is one of the most helpful people around the USOC, he's a pro networker and made me feel like I really was doing the right thing by pursuing things that I am passionate about and not necessarily what is going to make me the most money when I get done with school, love it!

Planning on getting lots of bonding in over the weekend including a nice little run/walk/survive of this...

It's called the incline, its a mile and half hike that climes over 2,000 ft in elevation, rumor has it that Apolo Ohno ran it in 17 minutes...  I am just hoping to survive it and live to do it again!

Happy Weekend!

Roomie!

As some of you may know, I have not had the best of roommate situations in my life, especially when sharing a room with someone.  I also haven't shared a room with someone since freshman year in college (2003-04).  So naturally I was a little worried about what was going to happen this summer sharing a room with someone for 3 months in essentially a dorm type situation.  

I met my roommate on the second day that I was here and the first day of work.  She is awesome!  We like the same things (think bad reality tv shows ala Toddlers and Tiaras and The Real Housewives of New York) and neither of us are really into the people pleasing scene so we get along very well!  I am excited for the summer :)

Movin' on Up

Second day on the internship started out well.  This week I am working on some informational interviews to get to know the people in my department better.  It's really been good to get to know everyone and let them get to know me.  Today I had two of these interviews and they both worked out really well.  I learned  a lot about the two people and they got to learn more about me and where I am in my current educational/job search.  The thing I like the most is that the people in my department really want me to get the experience that I need and want to get where I want to go with my career.  I love that!

Today I also worked on organizing the photos that the 2010 Olympians took with President and First Lady Obama.  The photos need to be signed by the President before they go out to the athletes.  I am also working some stuff for the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore in August, the Pan American Games for 2011 and the 2012 Summer Games in London, and the department is planning for 2014 in Russia!  You have to look that far ahead to plan for ALL those athletes, coaches, staff, and extra people.

Anyway, I am loving life in CO Springs so far!

First Day

Today was my first day on the job, it started out with me getting lost!  Once Katie found me, everything went up from there.  I met everyone that I will be working with and got a tour of the new offices.  I have my very own cubicle, name plate, and compter (which I hear is rare).  I already got some projects to work on and I am excited for the rest of the summer.

It was a very long day, as I have been living a life of leisure as of late, sleeping in and doing whatever I want on my own pace.  I really loved it but I am about to CRASH!  Early bedtime for this girl...