If you're new to this site, you'll want to know the basics so here they are:

On June 9 & 10th I'll be climbing Mt Hood to raise funding to fight Breast Cancer. This is my second venture to the summit and this year I am joined by my good friend Eric Sullender and his brother-in-law Josh Pandolfi. Together we hope to raise $11,249 -- that's a dollar for every foot that Mt. Hood rises above sea level. And that's where you come in, please consider making a donation today by following this link to reach the official Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center donation page:  http://getinvolved.fhcrc.org/goto/erika

And for those of you that have been here before here's the latest news:

Go Get A Haircut!  Visit any of the 5 Bishops Barbershop locations in Portland and while you're there add a dollar to the price of your cut and you'll be supporting our climb.

Come Hear Great Music!  On June 2nd my good friend Trevor Rasmussen will be performing at the Green Room (2280 NW Thurman St) with Nick Peets, Garett Brennan and Tony Furtado. $1 of the $6 cover charge will go to the climb and we'll have a raffle for great prizes.  The show starts at 9pm.

You'll also notice some new photos on the site from our most recent training hike. We went to Table Mountain which boasts a 3400 ft climb in 5 miles. Dog Mountain has nothing on this hike!  It's rocky, it's steep, it's amazing!  Sure there aren't as many wildflowers as Dog, but in terms of training this was much tougher. We were joined by Logan, Shawn, Emily, Ericka and 5 dogs. 

Eric is itching to hike Mt. Defiance, I'm thinking it's time to taper my training a bit. Between boot camp and weekend hikes I'm putting my body through quite a bit and I think it might benefit from some down time before the big day. The compromise might be hiking without my fully weighted pack.

Speaking of boot camp... I met a survivor in class today. Daniel had us running hill sprints, some forward, some back (just try running up a hill backwards, quickly!) and we were all dragging today. My tactic for surviving is always distraction so I struck up a conversation with a classmate as we walked down the hill and learned that she is a 13 year survivor!  She told me a bit about her diagnosis and treatment and wouldn't you know it my shins stopped aching, my shoulder stopped bugging me and with a survivor at my side I sprinted up that damn hill three more times.

Thanks for reading!

Erika