Smoke? Fire!

Smoke is in the air. I can smell it. My friend, Oliver, is relatively new to Alaska and wasn't around for the wildfire season of summer '09, has said that everyone keeps telling him they smell smoke, but he can't notice it. But after experiencing that smoke smell in much stronger potency, even trace amounts send my nose into alert mode. I've been smelling smoke all week long, on and off, and usually worst in the mid-afternoon. I'm hoping that we'll have a soaking rain someday--but no such luck. Just dry thunderstorms. Great, more lightning to spark more storms and no rain to snuff them out. One fire has even survived through the winter. How, I have NO idea.

The trail Matt and I were thinking of hiking on Tuesday is closed for the holiday weekend because of wildfires nearby. Since wildfires are important to the ecosystem of Alaska, fires are left to burn out and aren't fought until lives or structures are threatened. IE- Black Spruce cones only open in fire's heat and release seeds into the wind from cones positioned at the top of the tree. Fireweed, a pink wildflower, thrives on the fire-damaged areas and fields of it can be found amidst the burned out tree trunks the summer following the fire. Pretty cool how it is so important, but equally uncool that if the wind is just right, it drops a giant smoke cloud and/or ash over the Fairbanks area. It makes outdoor activities hazardous and unpleasant. Also, driving a car during the smoky/ashen time can suck ash into your car and create all kinds of problems.



What does the smoke smell like? Campfire. At first it reminds me of camping. At first.

Hopefully we get a soaker soon or it will look like this :

Giant smoke cloud seen from UAF West Ridge.


Definitely not fog.

Happy Fire Season ...ugghhhh

Heatwave!!!

It has been 70-80F everyday since I returned from vacation. It's great for my garden plants, which grow soooo fast with all the added daylight and heat. It's not great for doing things at home. We have no AC because it's summer only a couple of months out of the year, but when it gets hot, it's unbearable. It could be worse with higher humidity. Despite all the trees and plants, interior Alaska really is desert dry. How things survive is still a mystery to me, but I think it has something to do with the permafrost. Perhaps it draws moisture from the melting permafrost layer, just below the ground.

I bought a new dresser a few days ago. It is an upright version and much more space efficient than my previous one. I'm still in the process of selling it. Horray for free ads on Craigslist.

Today was my first trail run of the year. I ran the first 6 miles of the Equinox M. trail and then back on the trails to where Matt works. Matt, Oliver, and I ran at a pretty conservative pace. It was good though. We're still recovering from the marathon, it was 75F already, and was Oliver's first run over 4 miles. We all did great, despite hindering factors. I've always hated trail running, but here, it seems like a welcome training option when I practically wear my own foot impression on my other routes. It felt great to run in the woods, in the shade, dodging all the roots in the trail. Up, down, through a black spruce forest, through a wooded neighborhood, through a field. It's definitely more engaged running than on a paved bike path, especially finding secure places to step. I looked back at my posts over the last few months, and running is definitely a recurring topic. I guess the only thing I can say is : I'm hooked. I run a lot. It's a big part of my life, thus, a big part of my blog. :) May backpacking trips take over my blog soon...I'm getting the backpack bug too. Next time Matt has a weekend, we're definitely going.

Really Free?!

There's a new summer tradition that UAF has started : the Really Free Sale. It's like a garage sale, except everything is FREE! They have some really good stuff. Last year, we got a nice electric meat grinder. This year, we got a duffle bag, a backpack, yarn, and a mountain of clothes.

Matt and I have a summertime tradition of our own. When he has Friday or Saturday morning off, we go out on our bikes, into our neighborhood, hitting all the nearby garage sales. Our neighborhood is mostly families, and there always seems to be at least an hour's worth (4 or 5 sales) each day on the weekend. Today, we hit all the garage sales nearby and then went to the Really Free Sale. It's amazing how courteous people are, considering the first person to grab something gets it. Myself and a couple ladies had a really fun time sifting through a giant mountain of clothes (abandoned in the UAF dorms at the end of the year). She invited others to join her in the giant heap, "Just pick a spot and start excavating". I found a 10 year old girl buried in a spot near where I was digging. I don't think she was free. The mountain was on a 15 x 15 ft tarp and piled at least 1 foot deep. I found a bunch of nice American Eagle jeans and a Marmot windproof jacket, among other things.

Tables that were full at the 10am opening time, were all but empty by 10:30am. Only a portion of the mountain of clothes remained, with people still looking through it all. We had quite a load on our bikes on the trip home. LOVE GARAGE SALES. LOVE REALLY FREE SALE EVEN MORE!!!

Two Things

Thing One : I'm feeling sort of a separation anxiety from my marathon training. I feel like I have no focus to my life. This doesn't even include the withdrawl I've been experiencing from lack of endorphins. Must. find. new. training. plan. sooooooon. Actually, tomorrow I'm embarking on a 10K/Half Marathon/Full Marathon 18 week plan. I blended three programs together to create one summer full of craziness. Maybe I'll throw in some backpacking too. :)

Thing Two : I hate that Alaska has the 4 oz. pot rule. You can have and smoke that much in your personal residence. My downstairs neighbors smoked at least that this afternoon, all at once. I had all my windows open, letting in the fresh air from the most gorgeous summer day we've experienced yet this year. I had to close them because of the contact buzz I was getting. A giant smoke cloud filled my apartment as well as those of all the neighbors. I called the cops. Nobody came. Called my landlord, she doesn't know what to do. The landlord of the people downstairs from me doesn't seem to care about anything and ignores the calls of everyone complaining about them. No idea what to do next. If I could find a place as nice as this one, as close to NWS, as cheap, and as willing to take on my kitty, I would be gone in a heartbeat. Ok, so maybe I don't hate the pot law, I just hate my neighbors. OH, Btw, they're playing music REALLY LOUD right now. After all the crap with them today, I feel like I need to punch something. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

My 2nd Marathon

I awoke at 3:45am on Sunday, marathon morning. I couldn't get back to sleep. Excitement and nerves swirled through my head. I tossed and turned until my alarm went off at 5:30am. Matt and Joel got up with me. We watched the weather forecast on tv as we had breakfast. It was predicted to be a beautiful day : 50F at the start, and about 65F by the finish. Partly cloudy. PERFECT. My breakfast was a mix of gatorade, Lucky Charms, yogurt and half a PowerBar. I have this superstitious belief that if I eat Lucky Charms before a big race, it'll go well. This was confirmed when I didn't eat them before my disaster of a first marathon. Matt had a typical runner's breakfast of bagels and gatorade. Joel, the crazy one of the group, had Cheetos and gatorade. I wish my stomach could handle Cheetos.

7am : We pause for the national anthem on our way to our place in the starting line. We didn't quite find the 4:30 pacer, but were somewhere just behind the 4:15 guy. The first mile was congested and we didn't get across the start line until it was 7:03.

Mile 2 : I break a sweat so powerful that I believed I was going to melt. I found myself almost wishing for the 0 degree running days again. Who knew that I'd say that May in Wisconsin is too warm??

Mile 6 : Mom and Dad are waiting for us with the camera. We smile like idiots and keep running. Right on pace for a 4:15 finish. Each of us has a pacing tattoo that shows where you should be for each mile at each time of the race. Matt has the 4:15 tattoo and I've got the 4:30. Felt great and began to believe that a faster finish was possible. Joel and Matt stop for the bathroom, both vowing to catch up to me.

Mile 9 : I thought that Matt would catch me earlier, but the slightly downward sloping miles have sped me up a little bit. He finally catches me and we run together for the rest of the race. Joel never catches up to us. Caught up with our paparazzi again at mile 10.

Mile 11 : The half and full marathons split course. The half goes to Lambeau for the finish, and the full heads to DePere. Immediately the crowd thins out. Later, I find that only 2,000 of the 7,000 racers are full marathoners. No wonder it was so empty. :)

Mile 15 : DePere has a beautiful downtown. It's home to St Norbert College, a very conservative catholic university. I went to an honors band weekend there in high school. I also ran past a coffee shop that I went to once when in school in GB. I tell Matt about those things as we cross the Fox River to the other half of De Pere's downtown. We hop on the Fox River bike path and it's a small but steady uphill climb. About here, I'm feeling the wad of GU gels in my stomach. It sloshes around in the Gatorade. UGH too much sweetness. I vow to drink nothing but water until the finish.

Mile 19 : We spotted Dad in the group of people lining the trail. He ran a few hundred yards with us until we got to the spot where Mom was waiting. It was what I needed to keep going. I remember thinking, "who knew that Dad could run". Other runners near us cheered for Dad running with us. It was great. The next few miles were marked by someone's chalk messages : " keep going" ..."and going" ...."and going"---this lasted 3 miles and there were hundreds of the "and going" marks. Someone was quite busy the day before. haha. It made me laugh. Some other runners commented on the inspirational signs saying," ha! you want us to run faster!? can tell you're not out running with us!" Mile 20 had an inflatable wall to signify what some runners call "the wall". Since most training plans don't surpass 20 mile long runs, some runners say that anything past that distance is like hitting a wall. I thought it was a little mocking. "here's the 20 mile mark, ya know, just in case you can't feel it yet." There were tons of extra people cheering at this spot though...so I'll forgive them.

Mile 22 : The drawbridge across the Fox River, back to the side with the start/finish was the biggest hill on the course. Someone was on the bridge with a microphone yelling, "Keep going! You're almost there!!" Just what I needed.

Mile 24 : I asked Matt to tell me a story. Sometimes, to pass time on our backpacking trips, we tell each other stories. The ones he tells me are about Princess Karen and Puffball, her kitty. Our last marathon, I had him tell me one when I needed a distraction.... I did the same here too. The story didn't help at all this time. My legs hardly bent at all and my stride had shortened to a shuffle. Tight, fatigued muscles slowed down me significantly. It was the longest mile of the entire race. It was hot, it was sweaty, and the angry GU in my stomach hadn't gone away yet.

Mile 25.5 : The course went right next to our hotel's parking lot. Such a tease. Just then we hit a Margaritaville themed water station. A lady in a grass skirt and coconut bra said that I could have a margarita, but instead, it was just water. How disappointing. We headed directly to Lambeau Field. Just before we got to the stadium, we spotted Joel with a finisher's medal and finisher shirt. I couldn't figure out how he had passed us without us knowing and was completely finished. hmm. We entered Lambeau Field through the players' tunnel. As we ran out of the tunnel, my eyes began to tear up. Lambeau Field! and less than half a mile to go. I fought back tears of relief, accomplishment, and Packer pride as I took my Lambeau Leap. (I wasn't the only leaper either!) My fastest mile of the marathon was that final one, almost 2 minutes per mile faster than the previous five miles. It was like someone had carried me. Or maybe I was just ready to be finished. Either way, we zoomed out of the stadium and immediately hit the finish line. I was met by an older volunteer whom put the finisher's medal around my neck and gave me a big hug. She said, "I'm so very proud of you, you should be too. What you just did was AMAZING. Congratulations!" I got a finisher shirt, in my size, which totally made my day. Since I'm a slower runner, my size usually runs out before I can get there to claim one. Matt and I finished at the same time, a respectable 4:34.42. That was nearly 25 minutes, 1 min/mi faster than my previous marathon. ((We're already building a training plan for our next marathon, either in Aug or Sept.))

After the finish, we found that Joel had switched to the half after puking up his Cheetos at mile 6. He's getting too old to eat crap like that before a race, I guess. *shrug* He was pretty disappointed to have to switch, after 4 months of training. He's looking for another marathon in June to rest up and try again. I suggested the one in Florence. Mom, Dad, and Emily gave us sweaty, salty runners a big congratulatory hug. I was so happy to share this day with my family.

My family went back to IM later that afternoon. JoAnne and her boyfriend, Josh came up for dinner and disc golf. Since I hadn't seen her since my wedding, it was the first time meeting her boy. They seem to be really good together. Unlike some of her previous boyfriends, I thought that he seemed like a nice guy. We played some disc golf, while I hobbled from hole to hole on sore marathon legs. It was great to see Jo again, finally!! We hit the hot tub and pool for a soak and stretch.

Monday, Joel went home and we went to the airport to rent a car. The guy at the desk saw we had reserved an economy size car and asked, "do you want to drive something more fun?". I asked what he had in mind and he offered us a Camaro. We went out to the lot and discovered our shiny new orange Camaro. Oh boy was that fun to drive. It went from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds. Soooo cool. Total cop magnet, so we didn't go much over 70mph, but it drove just like a race car. I hardly noticed the speed because it accelerated so quickly. We took it out to the farm to see Grandma. I had a nice visit with her and Aunt Carol. Grandma is starting to get a little forgetful, but she still has a lot of spunk. Matt got bored and went out to keep Uncle and Paul, my mom's cousin, company. Matt seemed to really get along with Paul really well. They had never met, and Matt spent most of our ride back to GB that night talking about how interesting he thought Paul was.

We had an ice cream date with Brianne, another high school friend that night. The great thing about Bree is that even if we're apart for a long time (hadn't seen her since the wedding either), it's like we've just seen her the day before. She's got such a warm personality that it feels like no time has passed. No awkwardness at all. She soaked in the hot tub with us and then went home.

Our flight back to Alaska was wonderful. No turbulence at all. The flight from Detroit to Seattle was equipped with free satellite TV and I played trivia games against other passengers while Matt watched the basketball playoffs. Time passed quickly. Our flight from Seattle to Fairbanks was nice because nobody was sitting the seat between Matt and I. Perfect for me to lay in his lap and catch some ZZZZ's. I also had taken a Benadryl, so bumps wouldn't have awoken me at all. I was very groggy when we landed though. Zombie like, in fact. But it did help me crash IMMEDIATELY after arriving home to my bed. I pet the kitty and went to sleep at 1:30am.

FANTASTIC VACATION!! :)

Da U.P.

The week with my family seemed to go by very fast, as it usually does. We arrived in IM on Saturday and spent all day Sunday (Mothers' Day) removing the walls and tub from the bathroom. It was a big disgusting project, but was kind of fun ripping things off the walls. We also went for a run around big Fumee. It seemed a lot easier going than it had when I ran it last. Horray for being in better shape!

Monday, Emily and I went to GB for her doctor appointment. I was kind of worried how it would go because she is a shopaholic to obsessive degrees (not an exaggeration). I wasn't sure if I'd get into a fight with her because I wanted to leave town before 4pm rush hour. Everything went pretty well though...no problems. She can really shop! I'm not used to shopping all day long because, let's face it, Fairbanks doesn't have enough places to go to make it an all day excursion. I was completely wiped out at the end of the day. Marathon shopping is harder for me than marathon running. WHEW.

Tuesday, Ryan came down from Marquette. The day was kind of chaotic with the bathroom being ripped out and family pictures that night, but we still managed to gorge ourselves at Peking, so mission accomplished. It was a good visit.

Wednesday, Matt, Chris, and I went to Channing to see Brian. We met his girlfriend, Erin, and met the famous Holmes. He was always the main character in Brian and Jake's outrageous stories. It was weird being sober for the night, but we still had a good time around the fire, on the pontoon, and in the sauna. The lake was a little chilly, but felt just right after a hot sauna.

Thursday was Matt's 29th birthday. I baked him a cake, we went for a run, had lunch with Mom at school, and played disc golf in Florence.

I hit garage sales with mom and Em on Friday and also helped finish up the bathroom. Saturday was kind of a blur. We dropped Chris off at the airport. He's got a summer job at the same place as last year in Los Alamos, NM. Last year he was one of the flunkies, this year he has some of his own. We met with Joel right after the airport. Mom, Dad, and Em hung out in our hotel room for the afternoon. We just chatted. I got the best visiting time of the entire trip this day. It's hard to get everyone to sit down and visit sometimes, their lives are too busy.

Packet pickup and the marathon expo. Church. Pasta for dinner. Shopping for marathon breakfast. Hot tub. Lots of snoozing. . .

Camden

Early early early on May 1, we arrived at the Detroit airport. I didn't sleep at all. We flew over very active thunderstorms and the turbulence felt like someone was shaking me awake the entire time. We touched down just before a wild lightning storm hit. It was so cool! Fairbanks rarely experiences thunderstorms at all, let alone something this strong. I spent the morning with Sam and Grace. I also got to meet Sam's boyfriend, Josh. He seemed to be a really nice guy, they were cute together. All of us were tired so we hung out at Sam/Grace's and then went out for ice cream. It was great to catch up with them.

We went to the farm after Craig's graduation. I slept the entire way. I slept 10 hours a night for the next few nights and took 2 hr long afternoon naps each day--then I was finally rested. Springtime on the farm means lots of baby animals. I helped Matt's mom bottle feed the baby goats and new lambs. I didn't get to witness a lamb being born, but was there shortly after (10 min) an ewe had twins. Very cool.
Matt also showed me something cool with the chickens.
Step 1 : toss large pancake into chicken pen.
Step 2 : watch one chicken grab it in her beak and run away from the others, with giant pancake waving behind her.
Step 3 : Most of giant pancake breaks off without her noticing. Someone else grabs it.
Step 4 : repeat step 2. Different chicken steals pancake.

It's like watching a crazy soccer game, but it's with pancakes and chickens. Totally made my day.

We made a trip to Lansing in the middle of the week. We had dinner with Eleanor and Mike at Old Chicago. It was fun to hear about their upcoming move to Denver, for Eleanor's residency. Then we went to Nick and Michelle's and got a tour of their house. Joel lives only a few miles away and was there visiting too. We also got to meet Nick and Michelle's very needy labradoodle, Ernie. It reminded me of the dog in Shaggy Dog. ((Coincidentally, we'd watch The Shaggy Dog the morning of our marathon on TV while eating breakfast)) We went to the start of Joel's softball game. It started an hour late, so we had to leave to drive home after just one inning. Good visit with N and M, too. It made me miss the wonderful friends I had in college and high school.

Magnificent sunsets. Baby animals. Crazy thunderstorms. Not a bad week.