March 8-21, 2010

Another couple weeks in the books...

Monday started out crazy as usual. I ride the transit bus to work and it's becoming increasingly popular. It's a shorter 15 passenger bus and on Monday morning it was stuffed full. As we were leaving a parent with 3 kids drove up wanting a ride to school because they were late and had missed their bus. During my workout hour at work I decided I wanted to run up the mountain on the back side of the clinic. Just a couple weeks ago I snowshoed to the top of it. So, I headed over the same way as before, trudging through the mid-calf deep melting snow getting my shoes and socks wet. On one particular step I felt my foot get especially wet but didn't think much of it. The next step I found myself standing in freezing cold water up to my waist. Apparently under the snow here was a creek. And since it was a nice day out in the low 40's I was wearing only my running shorts and a sleeveless shirt. So I climbed out of the creek and decided to find another way across. After trudging back and forth along the creek bank through snow and thorns and finding no way across, I decided to just run the mountain on the front side of the clinic. It was a nice run with a beautiful view of the rez at top. My shoes are still drying from this adventure....

Monday night I attended a vegetarian cooking class/seminar on sucrose, fructose, and high-fructose corn syrup and the horrible damage HFCS causes, including being a main factor in the global obesity epidemic. To watch the seminar online go to you tube and search for "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" by Robert H. Lustig. I highly recommend everyone watch it.

Tuesday I run up 4 more mountain tops on the Rez during the day, and as soon as I got home I ran to the college and rock climbed for about an hour, ran back to the apt., and then hung out with Heidi, Emily, and Emily's brother and sister at Emily's house. Wed. I ran up the same mountains, except I had a dog run with me. After work I taught boot camp and then went to The Bridge, which is a building where the youth from 5th Avenue Christian Church meet. I hung out with the kids from the church and played a game called Smash Face. It's way fun and involves spiking a volleyball as hard as possible into other people. The kids love it.

Thursday I taught our Learning About Diabetes Series (LADS) class and cooked lunch for the class. We made baked sweet potato fries, kale chips, veggie quesadillas, hummus, and salad. They loved the food and the class. Thursday night I went running and hung out with Heidi, Emily, and her sis and bro again. Friday after work I ran up to the church and hung out at the big youth rally they were having.

Saturday was a busy day. First, I woke up super early to drive a group of Diabetics from the Rez to Great Falls (2 Hours away) to run in a St. Patty's Day Dash. It was a lot of fun and I got 3rd place overall in the 4 mile race. After lunch we drove back to the rez and I played basketball for about an hour, went hiking in the Bear Paw Mountains, and then went to the youth rally and played on inflatable games all night. They had a bungee run and a huge boxing ring where 6-10 of us would be inside with jousting sticks and boxing gloves and just pumble each other. It was quite the fun and exhausting time. Sunday I went to church, rode my bike, and went ice skating.

Highlights from the next week include: Boot camp, Seeing the Rez with most of the snow melted (it looks completely different, but still very beautiful!), starting the 1/2marathon training program at the Rez, hosting a salad luncheon for the clinic called Big Green Salad Day, playing football and soccer, running around Havre seeing a completely different town now that most of the snow is melting. As I ran from the gym to the youth group at The Bridge Wed. night I several four-wheelers zooming around on all the grass and dirt hills, found some horshoe pits, saw kids playing basketball on a couple outdoor courts, found some baseball fields, saw a kid hitting golf balls from his house into a cemetary, and found some cool running trails. Had fun with the youth learning about God, playing foosball, and playing more Smash Face. Thursday entailed cooking and teaching for the LADS class again. Friday was cold, icy, and snowy so I played basketball with the locals during my workout break. After work Heidi, Emily, and I hung out at the Manuel family's house. They have 5 really fun kids and tons of cattle. They took me driving around their land where the cows are kept and we looked for newly born calves (this is calving season). Then we ate a delicious meal of halibut and salmon caught in Alaska, a great salad, and pesto pasta. Dessert was a raw banana cacoa ice cream type dish with dandelion coffee (not really coffee...it's made out of roasted dandelion root- they say it's a good replacement for people trying to quit drinking coffee). Oh, and this family is very health conscious as they make lots of raw dishes, eat mainly organic foods, raise organic, free range cattle, and grow organic veggies. They also home school. I played drums, guitar, battleship, and knee hockey with the kids and then we all played some game called Last Word (I think). We had tons of fun and stayed up late. Saturday morning we woke up early and Emily, Heidi, and I drove up to Canada and went cross-country skiing. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the trail. We skied for about 2 hours 45 minutes up and down huge hills. Sunday included running up and down hills and around town followed by church, more running, watching some March Madness, and catching up with old friends via the cellular.

All in all it was a fun-filled, exciting week!

Don't forget to check out ventureexpeditions.org to donate towards my mission trip in Turkey this summer. Thanks.

Staying Busy....Having Fun... 3/8/10

Many people ask me what I do up here, so here's a brief summary of the last two weeks.

These last couple of weeks have been crazy busy and oh so fun! On Monday March 1st I taught my first boot camp and it went great! Tues I rock climbed for 1.5 hours and went to a gathering of small groups from a church where my two newest adventure buddies Emily and Heidi presented on their mission trip to Ethiopia and Heidi talked about he future life in Papa New Guinea. The owners of the host home were so fun! They made authentic Ethiopian food and even let me try some raw foods they made. The wife is a natural health enthusiast with a certification in holistic nutrition and loves raw food. They raise their own organic cattle and garden. Wed. I ran about 5.5 miles on the reservation and taught another boot camp, and I met a cyclist at the gym who wants to bike with me when it gets warmer. Thurs I ran another 5.5 miles at the rez, made delicious hummus for everyone at work, and got offered the position of District Eagle Board Executive for the scouts by the District Senior Executive of Boy Scouts here. Montana wants me to do everything! It was a very busy weekend: Friday I went snowshoeing with my friend Emily, watched a beautiful sunset over the Bear Paw Mountains and ate a delicious raw dinner with those 2 very cool Montanans Emily and Heidi, then went to the Havre High School hockey game. Sat I ran 11 miles with the other RD in town and her husband and daughter, then hung out with E and H again, bought used ice skates for $4 at thrift store and went around the Bear Paw Mts. taking pics and trying to find a lake to skate on. We saw some people ice fishing but couldn't find a good place to skate, then our car got stuck and we had to get some nice people driving by to help us push it out. For dinner I made super garlicky (5 cloves) asparagus soup and salad for the 3 of us before we headed to the hockey game that night. Sunday I went to church with Heidi and Emily. While they were in their “meeting” I went home and ate lunch. Then I picked up Emily at the church and took her to her house. She lives about 20 miles from town out in the country on a farm. Her family grows organic wheat and peas. How cool is that??? One of her brothers took me and another guy around and let us play on the big farm equipment like tractors, combines, and huge trucks. Then we went four-wheeling in the mud. While the boys were out playing in the cold, the girls (Emily and her sister and a girl named Chloe) were inside baking fresh bread from the family's home grown orgnaic wheat “kernels.” They ground them up right there on the spot and made some healthy bread using raw honey. Sooooo good! After snacking on the yummy warm bread and playing a card game called Pounce, we sat down at the dinner table for a nice family meal of zucchini soup. Then all us youngsters rushed out and headed to town. We picked up Heidi on the way and went ice skating!!! It was packed! We had a blast and I crashed hard once as I superman dove on the ice sliding a good 5 feet when racing Emily’s sister Liz. Monday rolled around again, but I don’t mind. It just means the start of another incredible adventuresome week in the Hi-Line of Montana. It seems something crazy is always happening up here. This day during my workout hour at work I ran for about 20 minutes, jump-roped, and then swam in our newly fixed pool. After work I taught boot-camp class again and had tons o' fun. Tuesday brought forth more adventures. I was out running on the rez and decided to try and find a trail going up the mountain. Well, I couldn’t find a trail so I decided to just run through the snow up to one of the peaks. Woah man does that burn your legs running up hill in knee deep snow in running shoes! Not to mention your feet get soaked. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to run down and over to the next peak I saw. Then I kept wondering what was beyond the next hill so I kept running. On one of the down-hills I came across a dirt road which was apparently used for horses because I slid on the snow and fell on to a big pile of horse manure. I was having so much fun though that I didn’t even care. As I ran through more snow all of the nastiness came off and I was pretty clean by the time I got back to gym... still took a shower though. Tuesday night is rock-climbing night and so I decided to run there this time. Well, I got there and it was locked. Apparently the whole gym at the college was closed for the MSU-Northern basketball playoff game that night. So I watched the game ( MSU-N won) and then hung out for a while. Wed. I taught boot camp and had a blast as we did jump-roping and other cool stuff. Thursday the boys basketball team from the high school on the rez, The Rocky Boy Northern Stars, were playing in the state playoffs in Great Falls, about 2 hours away, so most of the rez was emptying out as people headed to the game. They are crazy about basketball up here. So, since most of the clinic was getting pretty empty, we cut the day short and headed out to Great Falls as well. We had scheduled a meeting there for Friday morning. After cruising around the town trying to learn my way around I went for a nice hour long run and then hit the weight room in the hotel. Friday morning we had our meeting, then went to a great health food store, had a picnic by a river and fish hatchery, and watched the boys when the semi-final game to clinch a place in the championship. Saturday we went on a diabetic adolescent ski trip. It was a blast. I used snow-blades (really short skis with no poles) and hit lots of jumps, moguls, and black diamonds. That night we watched the Rocky Boy Stars battle their way through a tough game. They trailed most of the game but fought hard in the last 4 minutes to take the lead and win 58-49. The arena was packed with people from theRez and it was booming loud. They were chanting and throwing confetti and dancing. It was so fun. Sunday night I went ice-skating again. It’s so fun! My stopping needs some work though. I tried skating really fast and then doing a “hockey stop” (where you stop by turning the skates sideways). Well, I didn’t exactly stop... I just slid along the ground as my skates slid out from under me and I took out 2 of my friends who were standing along the wall. It was hilarious. And now another week of crazy fun and adventures begins!

First Few Weeks In Montana - 2/17/2010

Hi friends!

Many of you may or may not know that I recently moved up to Havre, Montana. It is a small town of around 10,000 folks located about 45 miles south of Canada. I am working on Rocky Boy Indian Reservation doing nutrition counseling, primarily with Diabetics. I teach group classes and prepare Diabetic friendly meals. Last week for breakfast we had green smoothies (with spinach and fruit) and boiled eggs. Every single patient loved it and my supervisor even got her kids to try it a they beg for her to make them one every day! It's really great here and everyone is very friendly. Montana is absolutely beautiful and is currently covered in a thick coat of white fuzz. The rez is huge with lots of mountains, wild game to hunt, a fitness center I use every day, and even a ski resort, which I've already used 4 times. It is small but very cheap and never any lines. I even bought a used snowboard and boats from a friend last weekend. My town is one of the coldest in the state with lots of snow and cold weather often below zero. Last week it was 22 below zero with a windchill of negative 40. After forgetting my jacket one day when the windchill was negative 30 I learned quickly to always make sure I have a heavy coat, hat, and gloves. I ride a free transit bus to work (which is about 30 miles away) most of the time.

My apt. is Huuuuuge! It's really nice. Two bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, and a giant living room/exercise room complete with dumbells, kettlebells, weight bench, golf clubs, pull-up bar, bicycles and trainers, radio, and treadmill. The people before me left a pool table, treadmill, weight bench, couch, and dart board. I also have an outside balcony overlooking an alley behind me where I will hang a hammock this summer and I have access to the roof. I live downtwon on the 2nd story above a radioshack that is next to the movie theater and a hardware store. I'm in walking distance of pretty much everything in town, and for everything that's not in walking distance, I just run there.

I am slowly starting to make more friends outside of work. Next week I will begin teaching a boot camp class at a fitness center in town. There is a small college in town (Montana State University North) that has a disc golf course, a small weight room and gym, and a open once a week. I went last night and climbed for an hour straight until I had no grip left and it hurt to even open the handle on my car door. After climbing I headed to a young adult group from one of the churches in town. They have a really nice setup in a building with raqcuetball, air hockey, ping pong, Wii, Guitar hero, pool table, homemade dinner, carpet ball (bet you've never heard of that one), and a giant projector screen that we're going to watch the olympics on Sat. night after the college regional wrestling tournament.

Other fun things I've been busy with: My friend Cody (who rode his bicycle across the country with me last summer) moved to MT in Dec and lives about 4.5 hours south of me. He came up to visit and we went snowshoeing (super fun!), participated in a tribal round dance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of some couple we didn't know but welcomed us, played "stick game"....which we never co played basketball, and went skiing. I've gone running a few times at night when it's above zero degrees and can't wait till it gets warmer. Someone gave me some cool rubber things with metal spikes that go on your shoes to keep your from sliding on the ice. They've been a life saver. Last Sunday I went to a fundraiser for a chapel that had Chuck and Loraine Buck (owners of Buck Knives) as the speakers. They told the story of how the business got started and their personal testimony as a couple. It was good. Last weekend I drove to Billings for a work conference, shopped at a co-op and loaded up on organic veggies since we have very few in Havre, and watched the high school state wrestling tournament (where Havre won their fourth straight state title). Then I went to Livingston to visit Cody again, drove to Bozeman where I bought my snowboard and boots, shopped at another food co-op, and connected with a UNT BYX (Brothers Under Ch I headed back to Havre and drove through some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in the US.

Things coming up:

My head boss lives on the rez and offered to take me fly fishing, elk, deer, and antelope hunting, maybe bird hunting, and horseback riding up in the mountains on his horses.

I'm taking some of my diabetic patients to a fun run/walk in March for St. Patty's Day and planning a community garden for this summer. We are also planning a 4 day diabetic retreat at some cabins.

I'm running the Nashville Rock N Roll Marathon in April.

This summer I am doing a mission/biking trip with Venture Expeditions (who puts on Ride:Well). We are going to bike around Turkey for 3 weeks and help a church there that has a big ministry with refugees from Iran and several other countries trying to get into Europe. The leader of the trip was one of the leaders from Ride:Well last summer. There are only 3 of us going and we are all really excited! The trip will be at the end of May and last till the middle of June. I have to raise about $4,000 before the start of the trip.

After that I will be working, training for more races this summer, running and biking all over the mountains of the rez, visiting the nearby lake to ski/wakeboard, etc, and lots of camping. The reservation has a big Pow-Wow this summer which is supposed to be incredible! I look forward to learning more about the culture and traditions here and hopefully changing people's lives.

To see pictures of Montana look at my albums on: http://s763.photobucket.com/home/Batmanrunning/index I will be updating it with more pics and videos periodically.

Also, if you want to learn more about my biking trip through Turkey and/or are interested in donating, please let me know and I will send you my support letter.

Serving Him,
-Brian Elliott

PS. Add carrot juice to your gasoline for Beta mileage!!! Hahahhaha. (This is a joke by the way...don't really try it)