Camp Tahosa #2

I have good news, then bad news, then good news.

First, my interview for Camp Tahosa went fine. It felt great to get back in the scouting environment and be able to wear my uniform again. This year's camp director at Tahosa is Collin and he is the guy who interviewed me. He wasn't much older than me, and, while he has loads more experience than I do in Denver council, I'm confident that I could take his job in the next few years. I'm not saying he isn't good for the job -I'm saying I'm encouraged by how young he was. If anyone my near my age is qualified to run a camp, I am. And after my life-changing experience running Thunderbird NYLT (a leadership camp for scouts in Illinois), I'd love to get to the top of another totem pole and be able to run another camp.

When I'm in front of a large group people, and I can inspire and energize them with what I say, I get one of the best highs I've ever had. The only other time that I get that feeling is when I run: the moment you take over a race and move from second to first place, or realize that you're going to finish a new ultra distance, for example. There isn't much else in my life has come close to the feelings running and scouting have both given me. And nothing else could compare to what the two things have done for my developement as a person.

Second is the bad news. A counselor job (the job I expected to work) at Tahosa only pays $75 per week, although they do house and feed you. Thats only $600 saved after working all day, six days a week, all summer -and that's assuming I could save it all. I guess that's the price you pay for working at a primier scout camp -probly second only to Philmont Scout Ranch. As I sat on the numbers for a few days I realized that it wouldn't work. It's just not responsable for me to only bring in $300 a month. If I send my earnings to my girlfriend to pay half rent then I won't save anything all summer long. That's not something I can do right now with an 800+ dollar insurance bill coming at the end of the summer and a car that's gona need a new engine soon.

Thankfully, a bit of good news came a few days ago. I got a call from Collin asking if I'd like to be the Archery Director -a job that would pay at least double the original $75 per week. Suddenly, Tahosa is a option again.

God, watching this video makes me realize how ready I am for the simplicity of summer running. There's something magical about throwing on shorts and leaving, without the need to suite up.

thank you topozone.com for the map

Real mountains are back on my summer menu.
More to come as it unfolds

Camp Tahosa #1

I've applied to be a camp counselor at the Camp Tahosa High Adventure Base near Ward, Colorado.
When I was 17, I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout (Boy Scouting's highest honor), something that 3% (or less) of scouts ever do. I've had the honor of leading a National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) course. And  I was sent out to Philmont Scout Ranch by my home council to go through the National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience (NAYLE), which is essentially scouting's ceiling as far as youth leadership training. So, by applying for the position, I can plan on being at Camp Tahosa all summer.

I have an interview on February 18th with the new director of the camp and should be leaving with the formal offer for the job.

My blog is about running though, not scouting, so I'll get to the point. Camp Tahosa is at about 9,000 feet elevation and sits next to the Indian Peaks Wilderness south of Rocky Mountain National Park. The location has miles upon miles of trail and 12,000 foot peaks are as convenient and plentiful as you could ask for. Other just a great opportunity to develop myself as a runner and a human being, it will be a great chance for me to refill my savings account which has dwindled to nothing over the past months. I don't ever plan to be rich, but when my finances are stopping me from racing I know I'm too poor.

http://anodynerunning.blogspot.com/2010/08/pawnee-buchanan-pass-loop-27-miles.html -there's a ton of pictures of the trails I'll be calling home on Jim's page here, thanks for carrying a camera man!

Part two to come after my interview on the 18th

Moving Closer to the Mountians

Thankfully, February marks the end of my lease at The Golden Nugget Apartments. When we (my girlfriend Sabrina and I) moved from Illinois to Colorado six months ago, the only two solid requirements for our place to live were a cheap price and an immediate opening. So Golden Nugget, at Broadway and Belleview Avenue in Englewood, it was. At $555/month and less than two miles from Arapahoe Community College (ACC), it seemed close to perfect.

In May, two months before I eventually moved out to Colorado, I had visited the property and meet the manager. She offered to waive my application fee since I was going to be a student at ACC, which seemed nice but also gave me a pretty sales'y vibe. When I came back in July, she told me that they "can't do that anymore." Ah, sharky sales at its finest.
But I had the money so I payed it. Sleeping in my backpacking tent was getting old for Sabrina. And a place other than the car to keep food was necessary so we could stop eating all of our meals out.
We moved in on July 20th.
By August 20th, we had seen just about every person in our building intoxicated -including our landlady Suzanne. By September 20th, I had seen two people get arrested on our complex.
None of that bothered me in the slightest, but getting bit every night by mystery bugs got a little annoying -they turned out to be bed bugs in case you haven't read my other post about my living conditions. Other than those funny, living-with-the-under-class events, there were dozens of random events that happened almost too quickly to notice how strange they were.
One night a hideous, leather skinned, 40'ish year old woman that we were somewhat familiar with (we'd seen her most nights drinking and smoking in the courtyard) knocked on our door at around 7:00 pm. She stared at me for about five seconds before telling me that she must be at the wrong apartment. Yeah. Sorry. no drugs here.
One of the most quintessential fixtures of the Golden Nugget is the people who sit on the steps all day and night (smoking) and try to make you feel bad for asking for a way past them. There's the woman that came to our door, but also another woman who wears exclusively black pajama pants and a hoodie and sits on the staircase we use most often. Worse even than the smoke, is her backside. Presented to every person bold enough to walk down the stairs past her is her dark, dirty, cellulite clinging, ass crack.
Unfortunately, not all the people are totally benign. Take a minute to read this article, as sad as it is: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19073450 -Deer Creek, where the body was found, is my favorite place to run. And I've been living here for six months without knowing any of this. I suppose the area turned around a bit after the Englewood Police "established a presence" at the Golden Nugget. -Score one for the good guys.
The worst thing I've had to put up with since moving here has been Suzanne's (my landlady's) male "friends." Just this morning I had a 30-some year old intoxicated man, he said his name was Bull, wanting to come into my apartment to show me where I must be leaking water into the room below me. As it turns out, it wasn't even his room, and he doesn't even live here. He was just there visiting a friend while Suzanne got some work done, and in his drunken mind he felt the need to show me the water dripping into the room below me instead of talking to maintenence about it.
The water was coming from a busted pipe -not my place. And, in my assumtion, the reason his friend, the one who was living in the drippy room, hadn't complained about it earlier is because he couldn't speak english. ...

Anyway, despite all the antics the reason where moving is mostly to get a better location. We're too far from the mountains, too far from work, and too far from our grocery store, and they're all in the same direction. So we're moving to Lakewood, Colorado in a month and I couldn't be more excited.