Ventures...BERGulary,escapades, and proclamations.

It's been awhile since either N or I have really had any time to post anything about our latest misadventures. Luckily, that means we actually have quite a few to fill ya'll in on. I guess a good place to start from where N left off, after the Pre-invite.

Immediately, after soaking up enough inspiration and pumped-ness to last us for the rest of our running careers in Eugene, we road-tripped to Manzanita beach for the fourth. It's still up in the air if our night was robust, but it was definitely epic. Let's just say that if an airplane pilot were to fly over the shoreline of the Oregon coast that evening, it would have been literally and utterly, a sensory overload. The plane would have had to dodge fireworks as it hurdled through the velvety black sky that was smothered in clouds of curling smoke.The only thing keeping the pilot from ramming the jet into the heaving surf was the beach that was writhing with teeming masses of adolescents congregated around bonfires like moths clustered around streetlamps. Let's just say, it was a good thing there were no planes flying around that night.

Over the course of the evening , we walked around a nearby town called Gearheart for many hours, witnessed one of N's ex-classmates suffer from alcohol poisoning (all the while arguing with some blubbering buffoon "friends" of his that he needed immediate medical attention.)Afterwards,proceeding into a ridiculously sloppy party, where we were hoping there was going to be dancing going on. Unfortunately, we just got stuck with some guy trying to hit on us. Over the course of the night, he offered us low-carb foods, chicken salad, and vodka while at the same time, bragging about his recent cocaine usage and weight lifting. My guess is, he thought that after hearing this, we would undoubtedly wanna make out with him. Umm, no, nice try buddy. Anyways, we ended the night locked out of our friend A-town's house for quite some time. We ended up sneaking outside of her house, trying to seem as unsketchy and burglar-esque as possible, banging on windows and doors, attempting to awaken A-town(while simultaneously being mindful that her grandmother might be sleeping within one of the very rooms we were bombarding with raucous knocking. Luckily, she wasn't wearing her hearing aids at the time...)Finally, after scaring the living daylights out of a slumbering A-town, and brushing our teeth, we headed off to bed, but not before thoughtfully chewing whole grain blueberry pancakes and climbing sluggishly into our respective bunks (which were illuminated by multi-colored glow sticks.)

Fortunately, not the entire weekend was compromised. We had put in a solid run the previous day, which contained hills that made the ones in VCP look like pimples. And before the all-too-familiar, scenic, jam-sesh back to Manzanita, we had the opportunity to have a much- needed blow-out run on the beach (which was now filled with horses and lovers instead of bonfires and bimbos.) Eerily, there was zero evidence on the shore that last night had even happened. Soon, we reached a little inlet that marked the halfway point of our run (which Pierre claims is five miles....well, Pierre, I certainly would be thrilled if it was actually five miles, because we just smashed it in 26 freakin' minutes. ) Upon arriving at the halfway mark, we took a little siesta and climbed the tall pile of boulders that made up the protrusion of the inlet wall, and gazed across the ocean to the other side of the beach. The sight was so majestic and our poses atop the summit, so cliche, that N and I locked eyes; and after proclaiming that our lives were freakin' awesome, I announced that, "This would be the perfect triathlon workout. You could run on the beach, then climb this wall, then swim across the canal-thingy, and then have your bike waiting on the other side, and you could just ride on that road right there." Ignoring the sheer randomness of my comment in response to the breath-taking view, N rationally pointed out that the waves would most likely kill me against the jagged rocks at the base of the cliff.I quickly pointeded out that the tide was high and that the surf was rough. "Well, maybe when the water's calmer, it would be more feasible...", she said. The run back was pleasant enough, but the car-ride back was even more so. N pretty much slept the entire time, while Pierre, M and I had some quality bonding time.