Flying and the Week Ahead....

I leave for the Lower 48 this afternoon. Usually, I'm so filled with excitement, I can hardly sit still. Today, parallel to our rainy (first rain since August) weather, I'm a little on the gloomy side.

I think it has the most to do with this being an over-night trip. I don't know why I keep letting Matt talk me into them. In addition to being jet lagged from a 4 hour time change, I get a night of restless sleep. 4 hr flight to Seattle. and another 5 to Detroit. When we get there, I'm not able to get a nap---it's 6am there and the day is just starting. Saturday is planned to be full of Craig's graduation stuff....so no snooze at all. I hope I'm imagining it worse than it will really be. At least we're flying down with AK Air...their seats are a little roomier and more condusive to sleep.

Also, I don't like to leave my kitty. She's my baby and it feels like I'm leaving my family behind. I've toyed with taking longer trips to see family (month-long ones), but always shorten them when I think of my Zoey, home all alone.

NOW FOR THE POSITIVE SIDE OF THE DAY:

I'm getting really good at packing light. Growing up as a chronic over-packer, it is a hard habit to break. I lightened it up as much as I possibly could for our trip to France, and found that I actually like packing light...even though I have to try really hard to do it. I went a little overboard for our trip to Vegas, taking only a hiking day pack, just a smidge larger than the average school backpack. I ended up feeling like I was wearing the same clothes every single day. This time, I'm armed with a carry-on suitcase and a backpack. We'll see if I feel like I forgot something essential.

This time tomorrow, I will be with my buddy Sam. He and I were high school/college summer buddies. We met at band camp when I was in 9th grade.. and played in the DCAB together every summer through high school and college. We bonded over our deep love of music, which is sometimes hard to find in a small town. I'm very looking forward to seeing him. :)

We'll be one step closer to the marathon. One of the biggest problems runners face with the taper is going crazy. For 15 weeks, it's all about building more mileage, strength, endurance. The last three weeks are called "the taper", and decrease by 50% each week, designed to rest the body before race day. Suddenly, I'm not running as much and am sitting here thinking to myself, "shouldn't I be doing something? running more?" Before my first marathon last year, we went on a backpacking trip, 7 days before the race. Bad idea. Not keeping with the resting mentality. I'm kinda glad that family visits will keep me distracted during this resting period.

Matt likes to do projects when we go visit family. He likes to play farmer when he goes to visit his parents : work in the field, feed the animals, etc. That's fine, except it usually leaves me alone in the house with his mom. She's really protective of Matt and sometimes takes little teasing comments the wrong way....kind of creating a rift between her and I. *sigh* so this time I'm bringing my crochet project, a yellow blanket for Andrea and Jason's soon-to-arrive baby boy. I'll get to play with the baby goats though, so very looking forward to that. I want a baby goat.
He's redoing my parents' bathroom with Chris when we are in IM. Emily has a photography project she's working on, so that will keep her and I busy. :)

WOW. Too much coffee = long post. :) Time to finish packing and cleaning...

20 Miler #2

Sunday morning, armed with caffeine buzz and sheer determination, Matt and I set out on our second of two twenty mile runs, to finish off the build-up part of our training plan. I was still suffering a lot with coughing fits and not enough sleep because of them.

The first three miles are a gradual uphill along the highway to Anchorage. As we passed the sign that said Nenana is 50 miles away, Matt mentioned that we would be running the equivalent to halfway there. Man, that seems like a lot. Five miles out, we turned off the busy highway to a country road, and encountered an one mile uphill. At this point, I was ready to collapse on the side of the road. Several coughing fits while running had caused several side stitches. And we were only 1/4 the way there.

Miles 5-10 were the most technical, with two more 1/2-1 mile long hills. One of these hills is really steep and I have never gotten all the way up without stopping to walk. Perfect time for a gel boost.

Miles 10-15 brought us to the campus of UAF. Earlier this season, it was always a comfort to finally get to the university campus. This meant that we could run without staring at the ground. UAF knows how to clean their sidewalks. Thank you. :) As we took in the second gel, we looked at the Alaska range, glimmering in the sunshine from nearly 80 miles away. We stopped for a water walk at the reindeer farm. Several new babies scurried around. They seemed to have two speeds : run like crazy with spindly legs flailing under them, and stop. So adorable. I could've sat there all day watching them play.

Miles 15-20 were finally flat. It's an out and back that starts really close to our apartment. When I first planned this route, I thought it would be torture to come that close to home yet still not be finished with the run. It has proved to be the easiest part of the course. I've run that part many many times and my body almost went into auto-pilot for those last few miles. Mentally, it was easy to handle because I told myself, "It's flat, and you've run this route before--it's not THAT far." These last five miles were the worst for my coughing fits. After examining the pace chart that my Garmin watch makes, I noticed that there were a lot more slow spots because I had to stop to cough, and then begin running again. I arrived home thoroughly exhausted. I could have run another few miles, but only if someone was chasing me. Although I was pretty sick, we managed to finish two minutes slower than the previous 20 miler (which I felt fantastic for!)...and about only 5 seconds/mile slower. If I had been well, there would have been a deficit. 20 miles in 3:27. Definitely puts my goal time within reach.



With this run behind me, I can rest up (and get rid of this pesky cold) and enjoy the taper down to race day. Green Bay. 26.2 miles. Here we come!

Summer Nights

I love summertime in Alaska. I wait nearly nine months for it to arrive, and when it finally does, it's the most amazing thing in the world. Everyone comes out of hibernation. People and animals are everywhere. Bikers, walkers, people gardening. Animals reappear too. The birds sing, squirrels scurry across the ground and through the trees. The extended daylight hours provide lots of extra time to enjoy the summer. Right now, daylight emerges at 3am and it finally becomes dark about midnight. In about two weeks, darkness will be gone completely...only to return mid-July.

As wonderful as summer is, there is one thing I really miss during the Alaskan summer that I enjoyed in Michigan and Oklahoma : the stars. I had a spot in my hometown that was enough out of town to be dark, but close enough to see the lights of the city. Here, there is a 2 week window that allows for comfortable viewing, with a dark sky and high enough temperature. Matt and I leave for his parents' next Friday, April 30, so tonight and tomorrow night (when he doesn't work at 6am the next morning) are our chance to view the stars. We will still have to dress warmer, pants and a jacket, but it will work...if the sky is clear. Maybe that clear sky will produce some aurora too. *siiigh* I'm so glad winter is over.

Camping Disaster

The camping trip started out great. Temps were in the 40s and 50s during the day, and didn't get too cold at night. Clear-ish skies during the day, a little cloudy at night. Sounds perfect, right? Early Saturday morning, I awoke with the worst sore throat I've had since I was a kid. It was hard to swallow, talk, even breathe. After a wonderful breakfast quesadilla of cheese and onion, I started to feel feverish. We loaded up the car with our snowshoes and headed into the park. Our first stop was the winter visitor's center. There we discovered, in addition to the use of a plumbed bathroom, it was free admission to all national parks for the week. What luck! After a quick sponge-bath shower with baby wipes and a sink hair washing, we were set to go. ((I'm 100% religious about washing my hair each day and have done so at temps below -10F where I had to wash with extra hot water and rinse through the ice chunks))

We searched for a good place to start our snowshoe. We originally had planned on the Savage River to see some Dall sheep, but the path was icy and the wind was blowing. A chinook (very windy weather pattern that brings warmer air for a few days) was coming through the area and the 50mph wind was too much to handle. We backtracked a little bit and found a storm/melt-off river to hike up. At this point, I wanted to just go to sleep in the car and skip the trip. I downed some Dayquil and was on my way. I kept having to add and remove clothing layers the entire hike. I think this is when my fever started to kick in, because suddenly I was sweating in places that I only sweat when I'm sick (i.e.- stomach). We turned around after three miles of walking uphill through various depths of snow. The view was spectacular. The mountains that were shrouded in fog when we started out were suddenly revealed. This was our earliest trip (only one in April) and the park looks so different under a blanket of white. After taking in the view and enjoying the sunshine on our faces, we headed back to the car. It took us about 1/3 the time getting back as it did on the way out. All four of us following in a line had packed down a pretty wonderful trail in the snow. That was good though. When we got to the car, I was beat and nearly fell asleep with my snowshoes still strapped on. Once in the car, I re-drugged myself, blew my nose until I was out of breath, and almost fell asleep on the way out.

One final stop on the way back to the campground was to visit the park rangers' sled dogs. Since the park is motor-free in the winter, rangers travel between the different stations throughout the 90-mile park road area by dog team. This has been the tradition since the park opened as Mt McKinley National Park nearly 100 years ago. The dogs were well-behaved and we got to pet and play with them. We left at 5pm, when feeding time occurred. The dogs knew what was going on too. As the ranger disappeared into a small shed, the dogs grew quiet and hopped onto their individual dog houses. Not a peep came out of them and they all looked toward the shed. The ranger emerged with a bowl of water and food for one dog at a time, but once the first was fed, the barking erupted and was nearly deafening.

We returned to our campsite at 7pm, with plenty of daylight to build a fire and make dinner. I was thoroughly spent by now, and even with a cold med arsenal in my stomach, I still was ready to collapse. Brittany started to feel really awful too, with a terrible sore throat. After some debate, and neither of us wanting to be the one to end the trip for all of us, we finally decided that it was probably best to go home after dinner and a fire than to sleep restlessly on the ground for maybe another two hour hike the next morning. Brittany and I sat in a drowsy daze in the back seat of the car while Matt and Oliver chatted happily about weather related things. Oliver is a meteorology grad student in the building Matt works in, so they had lots to talk about.

When we were approaching Ester, we could see the lights of Fairbanks in the distance. It was then that I realized, we have never driven back to town in the dark. Our trips were always during the midnight sun or early enough in the day that it wasn't dark yet. At about midnight, we were finally home. We abandoned all of our camping gear in the living room, pausing only to remove smoky clothing layers. I took a bubble bath. The steam of the bath helped, but I still felt terrible. Matt and I slept for 10 hours until noon on Sunday. Definitely made the right decision about coming home early. We are both fighting off our cold today, Brittany uses me as a forecast of what is coming up in her cold's progression. We didn't give it to her, but she seems to have the same illness, with a 24 hour delay. Oliver escaped unharmed. Lucky bugger. We all vowed to go on another trip soon, one that promises to be more successful than this one.

Run & Denali

Matt came down with the plague last night. Not sure what it is, but it's like a cold mixed with allergies. Or maybe it is just a cold and onset of his seasonal allergies. Either way, he's miserable. And we had a long run to do today. We managed 14 miles with the help of DayQuil and coffee. Now he feels like death. :( We're supposed to leave for Denali Park this weekend. Hopefully it still works out. Only weekend until our trip--only spring time (no mosquitos!) trip.

We did manage to run a few errands today. Most notably, our poor car got a wash. First one since the Haul Rd trip in August. They don't put salt on the roads here, so it's easier to go all winter without a wash and still retain all the paint on your car. :) Anyways, we have this ritual of going to the automatic car wash and once the soap comes down in a curtain over the car, we make out. Nobody really knows about this, and I doubt we're ever seen. But it's a fun little thing we do.

Happiness

It's amazing what I can get done on non-running days. My to-do list is nearly complete. It is much easier to get a lot of stuff done while Matt is gone too.

In our three years of marriage, I have finally figured out how to balance all my work with him. At first, we split the chores 50/50. Since my (paying) job was more sporadic, it seemed that I always ended up doing his things anyways. Now we have a plan that works a lot better, and makes both of us happier. He does dishes. PERIOD. From time to time, I do dishes for him if he's had a particularly busy week, and he helps me clean the bathroom or do laundry sometimes. I still remind him to clean up crumbs he leaves all over the kitchen and to put things away after they've sat out for a week (and he does so for me too). I like that we've finally gotten things to the way they work for us. On days he works, I catch up on things around here.

I guess that makes me a housewife. That's alright. It used to bother me that I didn't have anything to say when new people ask what I do. The biggest problem was that it seemed everyone my age was working and I didn't. It's mostly because they had to work, not that they had a choice. Since Matt and I lead a relatively simple life as far as spending goes, working is an option. Sometimes it feels like being a "trophy wife", a term I prefer to housewife, isn't enough. Those thoughts usually coincide with thinking of starting a family, but I don't want to do that because I'm bored. Not a good enough reason.

What do I do everyday? In a word : hobbies. I read, play piano and sax, craft, garden, and keep the house squeaky clean. It's awesome :) Maybe someday I'll learn to squeeze a profit out of that, but for now, it's all good. My life makes me happy.

Anticipation of Summer

Yes. Definitely over-trained. I think that all marathon training programs are designed to do that to you though. With two weeks before the taper (a drastic decrease in miles to help you rest for the big day, three weeks from the 'thon), I can honestly say that this training plan has done it's job. WOW. Pooped out. :) One more run this week, a 14 miler, and I'm done.

A few days to rest up and then Matt and I kick off our backpacking season! WOO!! :) During the winter, we hike or ski to DNR owned cabins. They come with a wood stove, outhouse, and usually firewood nearby that can be cut as needed. You can go out on hikes comfortably to -20F and then come to the warm cabin to warm up. Backpacking season means breaking out the tent and sleeping on the ground. We have sleeping bags that keep us warm up to about 5 or 10 degrees F, so it's all good if you figure out a way to hide in the bag, head and all. Any escaping appendages would surely freeze off if left out alone all night. With that said, sleeping isn't the problem: It's staying warm during the day. Since highs are in the 30s (lows still near 10), it isn't too hard. Easy hiking will definitely work. We're planning on a base camp at the entrance of Denali Park, and then hiking in the park and returning at night to our tent and campfire. (Fires aren't allowed in the park)

Since Matt and I are going to the "outside" on April 30 and he has only one day off between this weekend and our trip, it will be our only springtime trip. Breakup in the mountains is nothing but slush, mud, and ice--so it really is the perfect time to go away. When we return, it'll be dry, and we'll adventure ourselves silly all summer, to which point we'll be begging for winter to come so we can rest. :) That's how the last two summers have been anyways. Anybody want to come visit? We'll run you ragged with panoramic mountain trips, glaciers, and grizzly animals knocking on the tent door---then send your collapsed body back on the airplane home.

This is the point in the marathon training that I really start to feel the fatigue. It's back to sleeping 10 hours a night and then a nap in the afternoon. It feels really good, but my house is a disaster. Each time I get to this point, I understand why elite runners only run and sleep, ITS EXHAUSTING! And I'm only topping out at 40 mi a week, not 90 like they do.

Tomorrow is my last day of work for the year, I think. Unless I'm expressly asked for, I won't go. I keep checking the web server (about 50 times a day) and never find anything. Pretty much annoys me to check over and over again and never find anything. Oh well. Summer comes soon and that makes me busier around here anyways.

I planted my garden starter plants about a week ago. They include radishes, lettuce, and a mix of flowers. I've had to thin out the radishes already (and will have to again in a few days). I always put in too many seeds. :) I haven't even started with the other things: beans, tomatoes, peas. Need more pots. haha.

Well..time for a shower and bed and my gazillion hours of sleep. G'night.

Aurora and 20 Mile Run

The last few nights have been the most amazing for the aurora. Until recently, the best I had seen was a shy green band across the sky. There was only one and it just sat there, sometimes with curtaining (wavy bands from the single band), but almost always green. Last night, a few friends and I went to the Goldstream Valley, my usual spot, and WOW. There was so much to look at--overhead, behind. It was hard to decide which way to point the camera. Combine that with a 35 degree night and you have my very favorite aurora experience ever. Here are a few shots:





I also had my first of two 20 mile runs. We had it scheduled for Wednesday or Saturday, so it was a last minute decision to do it today to avoid less-than-idea weather. Sunny is always preferred to overcast and gloomy no matter the temperature. :) It went really well. Matt has a hydration backpack with a water reservoir and tube. It's pretty comfortable to run with the backpack. We were armed with gels--I was experimenting with flavors. The chocolate one was good, but it was really thick and it was like sucking the center of a truffle out. A little hard to breathe when your throat is coated with chocolate GU. Oh well. It was very near our goal pace, and if all goes well race day, we will have no problem making a PR over last year's disaster of a race. Always good. :) Here's our route : (kinda makes me tired looking at it)

Yesterday, I ran my first 5K since this same time last year. It was a beautiful 35 degrees with sunshine and just a tiny bit of wind. The course was flat and fast. I pushed a comfortably sustainable pace the entire race and finished in 26:10, beating my old personal record by just under a minute.

That evening, Becki hosted an Easter Potluck overrun by grad students. I was one of two people who weren't her coworkers. It was a little awkward because I didn't know everyone... it was like I retreated back into my shell for awhile, hiding in the corner. After the dinner, there were egg races and games. I just sat and chatted with Austin. Our friendship is a bunch of goofiness sprinkled with a little bit of serious now and then, so it ended up being one of those nights where I went home with sore cheeks from laughing and smiling so hard. We spent the night watching as everyone got more and more drunk. As a general rule, I don't drink when I am training for something big because my body gets stressed out enough as is, so I just watched the debauchery with sober eyes.

The aurora was out last night and the previous night. Both times, Matt, Steve, and I went out into the hills and photographed it. Both nights were incredible. It was only green, but it danced across the sky. Usually, the dancing occurs over 15 seconds on my camera exposure...but this time it was moving wildly before my eyes. After I got home to bed, I closed my eyes, and green waves danced in my mind. Perfect way to fall asleep. :)




Today, Easter Sunday, Matt and I went to church. I woke up feeling sick and choked down waves of nausea as the incense perfumed the church. Typically, I like that smell...but it made me feel sick. I've been lounging weakly all day and haven't done much but watch TV. I cleaned the closet and washed some clothes. It's days like this that make me wish I had cable TV. I find it so hard to just sit still and not take care of things around the house. Maybe it would help me rest. I sit on the couch, and see the mess on the desk. I lounge in bed, and I see the mountain of laundry. I never feel totally caught up on things and on days I'm sick, I just sit and stare at them until I can no longer resist the urge to work. TAKE A NAP KAREN. Someone should come over and police me when I'm sick. Guhhh....

Let me first begin by mentioning that I do have a cell phone. One of those kinds that you put a phone card's worth of minutes on it and it lasts 6 months before expiring. I use it for emergencies--and never in public. I had 60 min on it in January, and have about 40 left. That's how rarely it gets used.

People who use their cell phone all the time drive me nuts. Today, I was in Value Village and there were two women next to me, one on each side. Both carried on long conversations with family members. One was yelling at her kid and telling him/her that they weren't getting any more money..blah blah blah. The other was asking a favor of someone at home. Get lunch in the oven or something. Anyways.. I think it's kinda hypocritical that people carry on and on on their cell phone (on speaker phone, too, so they can put the phone in the cart while they shop, demonstrated by lady bitching out her kid) in such a loud voice that half the store can hear. These are the same people who complain about the invasion of privacy in their lives. Excuse me? You just told everyone around you (in depth) about your doctor's visit and how the doc put something in some-such-crevice.

I've overheard everything from breakups to descriptions of bodily functions. When will this invasion of MY peace and quiet end?

The worst thing I had happen was a cashier at Walmart in Edmond answered her cellphone while I unloaded everything in my cart onto the belt. I decided that was enough of shopping there. I almost reported her to a manager, but I was in a hurry to get home.

And these are only the people who use them in the store. Drivers are tooooootally different.... and another rant altogether.

End rant.

Sluggish eight mile run today. Matt is just getting over the flu..so we were pretty slow. What I want to know is where the heck did all these runners come from??? Just last week we were on the road with one other hardy runner, Keith P, with whom we ran most of the winter races. We saw him today, along with at least 20 other runners and numerous cyclists. It's about time that the fair-weather runners join us hardy souls outside. It's pretty easy to tell who has been running outside all winter and who hasn't. Matt and I were both in shorts and tank tops, while nearly everyone else was in pants and jackets. Some even wore hats.

I bet I could get a really cheap gym membership right now... since they gyms are probably empty. :)

Last night, I took my bike down from it's winter hibernation spot, put the tires on, inflated them--and was ready to roll. At 8pm, it was still broad daylight out and the snowbank runoff onto the street was still wet. It was a muddy bike ride, but it was great. This year, I'm almost in disbelief that summer is near. I keep expecting the near/slightly above freezing temperatures to be just a warm spell and not a gradual warming trend. The nice warm weather kind of puts me into overdrive and I find myself being super-productive--so much so that I end up in bed by 10 completely exhausted.

When I was in Girdwood the other day, taking the Alyeska tram up the mountain, the driver asked where we were from. When we told him, he said "Fairbanks? Man, I'm sorry. It gets too hot there for me". I thought this was funny because it only gets about 60 there in the summer. Warmer than 60 is too hot? Oh my. I actually like that the temps get really high here in the summertime. It makes it easier to forget what -40 feels like. Laying out in the sun in the summer while reading a book, it's hard to imagine quite what the dead of winter feels like anymore. And this is a good thing. ... probably the reason a lot of people continue to stay the winter.

April 1 already. At the end of the month, M and I are going to visit our families, one week each, and then run our marathon. After that, a summer full of adventure awaits us. Very excited about that!