Almost Avoided Dorm Disease: Balancing Health and Riding.

With only a little over a month left of school, I thought for sure I could last the rest of the year without getting sick... but I was wrong. I actually posted a blog last year called "Dorm Disease" when I had a bad cold and case of pink eye. Thankfully this time around I only have a cold, but it's not fun nonetheless.

The illness started coming around right after spring break. It was very mild then and I mistakenly ignored it. After stressing a bit about the Academy Snowboard Scholarship I recently applied for, as well as a 7 minute speech and Legal Environment of Business test, the cold made its presence known. So much so that I had decided to cancel plans to go on an adventure in Boulder with some friends the weekend before my MN friends came out, which I was not happy about.

Now the reason for this blog isn't for me to whine about being sick, but I thought I could offer some advice on ways to fight dorm sickness and well as boredom, along with some ways to hopefully avoid it.

I hate to say it, but a lot of time while you're sick is spent in the dorms, which means one needs to entertain themselves the best they can. The best way to pass the time as I'm sure I've recommended before somewhere in this blog is to watch The Office. The Office is by far my favorite show ever and I have definitely spent quite a bit of time watching it over these past few days. Movies are also a very solid way to relax and try to kill a cold.

The other day, I watched A River Runs Through It, a movie based on the memoirs of Norman Maclean. It stars Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt and is the story of Norman (Sheffer) and his brother Paul (Pitt) and their lives as Norman pursues a career as an english professor and Paul becomes a journalist but also gets into trouble with drinking and gambling. It was a really good movie and I would definitely recommend. The next movie not so much.

Later in the afternoon I watched the movie Eagle vs. Shark. A short summary from IMBD says "Eagle vs Shark is the tale of two socially awkward misfits and the strange ways they try to find love; through revenge on high-school bullies, burgers, and video games." Sounds like it could be funny enough but as it turns out, it was just super weird and awkward. Normally I like that type of humor, such as The Office, but this movie was just weird. It actually won a few Indie movie awards, but I just wasn't feeling it.

Lastly, movie night was finished up with 50 First Dates. Starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, this movie is hilarious and is the story of Lucy, who can't make any new memories, and Henry, the guy who tries to get her to love him everyday. Definitely worth seeing.

However, after that relaxing weekend was when my friends came to town on their spring break. Don't get me wrong, I'm super happy they came and had a great time, but entertaining friends for a few days isn't quite the best way to get healthy. We were lucky enough to get an epic powder day the last day they were here, so that was awesome.

While here, my friend PJ told me of his dream to do a little backcountry hiking and riding one day, so I looked at him and said, "We can make that happen." A good portion of the rest of the night was figuring out how to make that happen. We compiled a list of things we would need, including many of the things I knew were required from my avalanche safety class such as a beacon, probe, and shovel.

Luckily for me, between my friends Chuck and Derek, we ended up with two probes, two shovels, a beacon, and a nice backpack. All that we needed now was one more beacon, one more pack, and two pairs of snow shoes. The next morning we rented the snow shoes and beacon from Backdoor Sports here in town and borrowed my roommates hiking backpack. After checking the avalanche report and seeing that it was only moderate risk, we set out for Rabbit Ears Pass to find the right spot.

After driving only about 10 minutes, we found a great looking spot for the hike. We unloaded all out gear, made sure we had everything, and began the trek. I will admit the snow was not the best since it had been very warm recently, but we were both excited nonetheless. Unfortunately for me, this is where my sickness decided to poke its head out.

The night before we had all stayed up pretty late hanging out and reminiscing, so for starters there was a lack of sleep. On top of that, I felt the beginnings of an ear infection coming on, so my head was not feeling the best. Finally, doing some strenuous hiking in increasingly higher altitude all caught up to me. We reached a point where we could ride down the backside of what we had just hiked, so we decided to take a break. Here is where I began feeling increasingly light headed and nauseous. After eating a bit of a sandwich I bought and drinking some Gatorade, my body gave up and I vomitted it right back up.

As awful as this was I definitely felt better, but no where near good enough to continue hiking. I apologized to PJ and felt really bad about ruining his first backcountry experience, but thankfully he was cool about it and was just stoked to be there. Once my head was feeling good, we rode back down from where we came and called up our other friends to pick us up. Overall I think PJ enjoyed, I guess he'll just have to visit me next year in Utah and we'll go for round 2.

So that's been my life for the past week or so, a blur friends, homework, and congestion. All the advice I can really offer is eat healthy and if you feel a sickness coming on, take care of it right quick because you do not want it sticking around for as long as mine has. Peace.