motivation

hello to all! it's been a while since i've posted anything so i guess it's time. only about 3 months 'til we depart, and everything we need to do to be ready for the climb is already building. outside of the visas, passports, shots, flights, continued fund raising, gathering gear, and all the other logistical concerns that seem to weight us down...the training is coming along for all of us. we're at the point now, 90-100 days out, that our training is getting turned up a notch, or two. with short-term goals in mind, every workout means something. i've written previously about the inspirational aspects of the climb for me and its effects on my (our) training. motivation, though, comes in many colors. the picture i've included in this post is also a great motivator. as brian and i began our climb of mt. rainier last year, brian developed some severe cramping in his quads and we had to slow our pace considerably. he was able to work through the pain that first day and actually felt stronger as we continued to climb the following days. what was happening in this very picture has become motivation for both of us to not let it happen again! brian recently made 8 trips up the cathedral of learning stairs. that's 36 flights per trip. 288 flights. that's over 5000 verticle feet! oh...with a pack. and i'd be willing to bet that on almost every trip up that this photo was motivating him to never let it happen again. kudos to you brian!

livin' the good life

Just an update to all who follow what we're up to and have been wondering where we've been. This is a pic of kirk this past weekend climbing Crazy Woman canyon bluffs again. Some people are just livin' the good life! what a view.

A few things have recently happened for our trip this summer. Brad has been working out more, and has his boot thoroughly broken in... his new pack has also arrived.

We have chosen what route we are taking up the mtn. We are doing the Lemosho route, which takes an extra day, but has better views and helps to acclimitize better. So if you have interest, you can probably search online to find more out about this specific climb.

Brad will be out to visit me again next weekend, and we'll be down at Ohiopyle on the trails. We're going to get some good distance under our feet, as well as gain some elevation. that's all for now... keep lookin; we'll keep you 'posted'.

thanks

hello to all! i hope everyone is enjoying some spring weather. first off i just wanted to thank everyone for the donations we have recieved for vosh and the "climb for sight" to this point. the number of people who have contributed to this climb is amazing to me! though we still have alot of work ahead of us to reach our goal...we have certainly come a long ways. after reading brian's most recent post, i most certainly agree that our biggest need at this point is verbal and emotional support of our friends and families. we thank you for being there thus far, and look forward to your continued involvement.

as far as my training goes...alot of it has been shoveling snow. spring in wyoming has been pretty wintery this year! though it makes for some good training opportunities, i'm about ready for some nice weather. i just got dug out from this last storm, that drop another 15-20 inches, yesterday. other than shoveling, i have been able to get out and have some really good hiking and cross-country skiing workouts and am feeling good about where i am in my training. since i last wrote, i have also made it up the peaks at crazy woman a few more times. i am truly blessed to have such a beautiful "gym" to workout in.

as for the fund raising, training and motivational difficulties that are ahead...bring them on, i guess we're going to see what we're made of.
thanks again to all. we'd love to hear from you.

Startin' to gag on each bite of the elephant

For everyone who has been following our efforts and posts to date, i had one early on about the proverbial '...eating an elephant one bite at a time'. Well, guess what, i think that kirk, brad and i are starting to get tired of continually 'eating elephant', and we're starting to have the reflex gag that everyone knows all-to-well, when you are forced to eat or drink so much more than you can handle, or if you are not feeling well. As we expected, this long process of raising $ for the trip and the lengthy training is tedious and at-times stressful. I know i am starting to get a bit sluggish, and i think we as a group are not 'firing on all cylinders' lately. I know we had the 'flying high' attitude when we first started, and had a nice, consistent rise in donations until recently. Now, it seems we are down a bit from our initial 'high' and many of the 'quick kills' of the planning are over... which means we have to 'buckle-down', 'roll-up our sleeves', and work harder at it. Most of our friends and families have responded to support us with donations, but we need to dig deeper and find the others' out there that are willing and able to support a worthy cause such as ours. That most likely means face-to-face meetings with businesses, optomotrists, civic organizations, etc. This is much easier written than done, since we all have full time jobs, and training and our normal lives to live. This also goes for our training. I'm going to be traveling out to Brad's once or twice a month to do some serious training with him. It shouldn't be a suprise to anyone that it is harder for him to train for several reasons. First, he can't drive to reach a nice training facility, whether it is a gym, tall building or mountain. Second, he has never trained for an event such as this, so he needs some additional guidance. I know Kirk is really starting to crank up his training just in his everyday work duties. He's been trompin' around in snow up to his knees and waist in snow when out tending to his cattle; climbing hills with a full pack on, and climbing the bluffs of crazy-woman canyon with regularity. However, soon enough, his busy season will begin and i'm sure training will be tougher to squeeze in. All i'm saying is that i think we're in a lull right now, and we need encouragement from all of our friends and family, as well as each other to 'keep on keepin' on'. There is no doubt that we will all keep 'eatin that darn elephant' as long as we need to, but it's a bit easier to swallow when we hear faint chants in the distance. Thanks to everyone who has supported our cause financially and emotionally with positive words of encouragement. You all keep us going when times are tough, and we certainly don't want to let you down. keep watchin'... it's only gonna get better!

Little tid bits of info on our advancement

Well, we are just under 4 months to go... time is just flying by. Last week i ran a pre-race 3.5 miles on a race course i'll be trying at the end of April. I ran with two friends and we ran along US 40 as it ascends Chestnut Ridge. In 3.5 miles, we gained 1400 VF in elevation. My goal (since im not a die-hard runner) was to finish without stopping... which we all did. I did it in 46 min, 47 seconds.
Several days later, Brad came into town and he and i climbed stairs for training at the Cathedral of Learning on Pitt's campus in Oakland. This was a good measurement tool to see how we've been doing on our individual training efforts, and a good start on how to encourage each other. When training by yourself, the only person to convince is yourself, so we are learning how to positively encourage each other to meet and exceed our training expectations.
Another cool thing that has recently occurred is that both Brad and Kirk have been interviewed by their local newspapers on our fundraising efforts and training to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. We are really excited to see the articles published, and hope it will stir up additional publicity and support for us.
Finally, we are all purchasing additional gear for the trip. Brad and I got new boots last weekend at REI, and Brad ordered a new backpack. Kirk is still researching boot and has purchased a high-altitude jacket, since it will be close to zero degrees at the summit.
That's all for now. Keep on giving us positive feedback and encouragement, we long for it and appreciate it. -brian