School Break
With one year of college completed, I decided to keep the ball rolling by taking classes this summer term at Dartmouth! I used the two-week break in between terms to cherish the little time I get to spend with my family during our annual family vacation to Cape Cod and a trip to our new house in the Dartmouth area. I have been dealing with a small elbow injury so the timing worked out really well since it gave me more time to spend with my family and enjoy different modes of cross training. My grandparents came from Germany and my sister from San Francisco for these two weeks so I was really glad I had a lot of time to spend with them since I get to see them for only very short periods of time.
I spent the week on the cape doing some of my favorite activities such as beach running, beach volleyball, surfing, road biking, mushroom picking, hammocking, and just reading a book on the beach all day. It was so refreshing doing activities I can’t do most of the year, and most importantly, doing them with my family! I decided to sign up for my first triathlon since there happened to be one on the cape and my whole family tagged along to cheer me on in some stormy weather. It was fun to put a race bib on again and dig deep in a way I am not used to. Unfortunately the storm that rolled through the morning of the race left the ocean too dangerous to swim in so they replaced the swim with a beach run (I guess I can’t say I have really done a triathlon yet). I am looking forward to do more sprint triathlons later this summer!
After the Cape I headed up to Fairlee, Vermont with my family to check our new house! I assembled chairs and tables (I love doing this kind of stuff), went on runs to get a lay of the land (I discovered the perfect bounding hill out my door), and went for swims on our pond. I am really excited to have a home so close to Dartmouth and I can’t wait to paint it!
Before I knew it, my break was over and the first classes started. I extended my break a little by missing the first few days so that I could go to Bozeman, Montana for the wedding of my teammates Erika and Andy! The SMS PG group (Julia B, Lauren, KO and I) reunited in Bozeman and Julia was kind enough to let us stay with her and show us the most amazing hikes in the area! We tackled two 10,000 footers, encountered mountain goats, snow, mud, big ski fans, lakes, and incredible views. Hike/runs are one of my favorite things to do, especially with such a fun adventurous group of people in such an incredible place like Bozeman. On Saturday evening I celebrated Erika and Andy’s wedding and danced my butt off. I am so glad I was able to be there to celebrate their special moment with their friends and family at such a gorgeous location.
These past 2-3 weeks reminded me how important it is to keep training fun and light and that a training plan is a guide, not something I always have to strictly follow. Now I am headed back to school for summer term and I am excited to train with my Dartmouth teammates and spend the summer in Hanover, one of the best places for summer training in my opinion. I am feeling refreshed after a nice school break and I am ready to tackle summer classes and training!
-JKern*I plan on blogging in the summer, but it may not be as consistent because of school.