Welcome! I’m so glad you’ve found your way here. You Get-sy is a project I started to share the things I like — a way to connect good people to good people and share the love. It has also evolved into general recommendations of things that have made my life sunnier and full these days. Because this project is new and very much a work in progress, it is so helpful if you subscribe (thanks to those of you who have!), share with friends you think might enjoy, and please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you liked, what you’d love more of, or just a bit about yourself.
Hello! I’ve had very little time (or, let’s be real in these grey winter days — inspiration) to get these missives out regularly, but as I’m home today with a feverish toddler, I have some unexpected free time as well as some mental space to write to you! This month’s You Get-sy brings recommendations for trying something new and a new Substack I’m loving.
I am also very interested in what you might be interested in hearing more about in this space. Please feel free to leave questions, comments, or whatever you’d like to share in the comment section below. Happy to try and provide recommendations for anything from where to get a good hot dog in Montana? (Try hidden gem, Mr. Hot Dog’s in Butte, bring cash & be prepared to wait) to what are the best winter pants for cold days? (Stio Fernos Insulated) and more. Try me!
Alright, let’s get to it.
[You Get-sy] Rec 1
Trying Something New
When was the last time you tried your hand at something completely new? As someone with perfectionist and anxious tendencies, I often shy away from new experiences in favor of sticking with what I know. Lucky for me, a good friend and I schemed up a plan this fall that involved putting a biathlon race registration on our calendar to sign up to shoot targets and ski laps, and we got to give it a go this past weekend.
Some backstory to answer your question “Why would you want to try biathlon?!”:
As a kid, I was obsessed with my sleep-away summer camp. Couldn’t go long enough, couldn’t get enough, counted down to the first day of the coming summer when I left on the last day of summer. This camp was focused on wilderness backcountry trip experiences, but it also held hallmarks of your traditional summer camps — archery, sailing, canoeing, horseback riding, and riflery to name a few. I was always pretty terrible at riflery due to the fact that I’d have to remove my eye glasses to wear the safety glasses, which meant my precision was just about nil because I couldn’t see the target. BUT! I loved it.
Skiing in all the forms has always been one of my greatest passions. From the day I got my first season pass to my local hill in 1986, to moving to Colorado to follow jobs that let me ski everyday, to learning to nordic ski as an adult, skiing has been a constant source of joy in my life.
With these two passions in mind, summer camp and skiing, what better sport to try as a novice than riflery (with contacts in!) and skate skiing!? Truthfully, I’ve been interested in and fascinated by biathlon for a long time, and this week I got to give it a try up in Seeley Lake, about an hour northeast of Missoula. We’ve had a terrible snow year this year (IYKYK) so I wasn’t able to get much skiing in prior to the race, and I hadn’t practiced my precision shooting since those summer days in 6th grade. Despite all of this, I was excited.
On race day, I piled into the car with two friends, coffee in hand, windshield wipers making it known that our day was bound to be soggy. In fact, the race organizers needed to shovel snow onto the nordic trails we would be using in the preceding days due to warm temps and low snowfall this year. We laughed on the way up about how we couldn’t believe we were actually headed to try biathlon, and we made plans for face glitter, temporary tattoos, and tropical shirts to bring the stoke.
When we got to the nordic trails, we checked in at the yurt to get our race bibs and then geared up to go to the mandatory gun safety talk and shooting practice. The race organizers did a great job of helping newbies like us feel comfortable participating and asking questions. My practice shooting rounds were a mixed bag, but I could actually see the targets this time around, so that was exciting. We watched the 22k get underway and they were fast! It was fun to watch the skiers come through lap after lap, and before we knew it, it was our turn.
We all toed the line for the 9k, generally most were novices, and we started skiing in 20 second increments. My first lap was a bit jumpy — I hadn’t quite settled into the skiing rhythm, yet. My first round of shooting was while lying prone, and I surprisingly hit all five targets! I was off to ski another lap before shooting standing. My standing shots were harder to steady, as I was tired from sprinting the first two laps. I shot 2/5 and continued onto my final lap before the finish. After coming through the timing system, I had a huge smile on my face and couldn’t stop saying “That was so much fun! I can’t wait to do this again!” I cheered my pals in through the finish and we enjoyed post race snacks & drinks in the falling snow.
All of this is to say: we had the best time!! I’ll definitely sign up for 2025, and perhaps this is just the sport to combat these grey, inversion-filled Missoula winters.
I challenge you to find something you’ve always wanted to do and give it a try, especially with good friends by your side, and please let me know if you do!
[You Get-sy] Rec 2
TOGS
Y’all… I cannot get enough of this newish newsletter! Two folks I’ve followed on instagram for quite a while, Hadley Hammer & Kellyn Wilson, have put together a mix of sartorial tips & commentary combined with mountain living and it is just the niche vibe I've been hankering for. I loved this week’s letter on sweaters and had to refrain from clicking purchase on every recommendation. It is the perfect blend of function and fashion, and I’m here for it. I’ve found myself thinking about the color, fabric, structure, and proportion of what I’m wearing a lot more often this winter, perhaps to offset the endless grey we’re experiencing (wait, have I mentioned this already!?), and I have really appreciated the writing these two have done. Cannot wait for more!
Until next time, thanks for reading! xo