Hazards

Yesterday, three teenagers were waiting, with their bikes, to cross one of the busiest intersections in town. On average, AT LEAST one car runs the red light at this particular intersection (despite the flashing warning lights a full 5 seconds before the light even turns yellow)---it increases exponentially in the winter when roads are slippery. The teens began crossing the road and one of them was struck by a car running the red light. She died on impact.

As someone who spends lots of the time on the roads, stories like this scare the crap out of me. Even though I'm careful, I feel that being life-savingly-careful is impossible EVERY TIME. I be sure to make eye contact with people at intersections because I've narrowly missed being run down. Nearly every run, I have one person with whom I'm not able to make eye contact. One car where I would have been hit had I not waited for them...on the bike path, where I have the right of way.

What is it about our society that makes everyone so lax? Multi-tasking? Not enough driver training? Fairbanks is a pretty biker-friendly town in terms of the number of bike paths. But drivers are very hostile about having to share the roads (which don't have paths) or wait at a crosswalk for the pedestrian-biker-runner-whatever to cross the road. I've had people yell out their window for me to "learn to #*#*-ing walk already!" because I took, in their mind, too long to cross the 4 lanes of traffic.

Something tragic like this makes people drive a little bit slower, for a few days. If that. I know I'll be watching extra hard for people from now on.

Gold Discovery Run

Elevation Gain : 1,671 ft
Elevation Loss : 3,171 ft
Miles : 16.5
Time : 2:35.03
Pace : 9:24 min/mi

I was really happy with my performance at this race. I like to run races in this fashion : start out slow, get faster if I feel like it, but don't slow down. Slowing down feels like defeat. Sometimes this causes me to go out too slow and not make up the time.

We started at a 9:30/mi pace. It felt good to do the hills on an even pace. Everyone that we passed in the first six miles was on the uphills. Matt and I were like machines, appearing to others that we didn't slow on the hills at all. We played leapfrog with a few people for the first six miles. I'm slow on trail downhills because I fear for my left arm. They'd pass us on the downhill and we would pass back on the uphills. Eventually, we lost these people completely. I credit a lot of my new-found hill endurance to those terrible days on Ester Dome. (remember the day I said I lost confidence and hoped someone would return it to me?, got it back today!) I found myself actually enjoying the hills, because that meant nobody would pass us at all. Until this summer, I wholeheartedly HATED hills, because of their difficulty mostly. (I refused to do any hill or speed work--maybe that's why I'm still slow.) The race has an overall elevation loss, so it would have been easy to let my pace go crazy and fly down the hills. I kept it to a max of my flat-land pace (8:30/mi), so I wouldn't have sore legs all week.

By mile 13, only two people were in sight. An older man and a 30 something woman. The woman struggled behind us for the previous few miles and finally passed us at a water station. She kept ahead of us until mile 15, where we continued at the same pace we had near the beginning. We also passed the older man, (whom won the 60-65 age group) in the final mile. He finished just 30 sec behind us. The woman finished a full 3 min behind us. We also saw her from the front for the first time, noting that she was sporting a just-starting-to-show baby bump. Doesn't seem like a big accomplishment to pass a senior citizen and a pregnant woman, but it was! After chasing them for nearly 6 miles, it was great to finally catch them both. They were literally 100 ft ahead for that entire time!!! There were still lots of people behind us. I placed 21 of 100. Matt placed 30 of 80 (since he ran with his slow wifey--he's really a lot faster than me). Great day!!!

Saxin'

I am in the middle of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. This year, because of my membership in the FC Band, I was granted free membership to the festival wind ensemble. It has been a lot for my left arm to take, but it's amazing to see how my playing has changed in just one week of daily playing after a two-month hiatus.

We played in the Golden Days parade yesterday, which was fun. For the first time EVER, we had a full sax section : 2 altos, a tenor, and a bari up on the flatbed truck. It was AWESOME :)

Now rewind. Our tuba player, Glen, is one of those jolly grandpa types. Sweet mixed with a kick. He and his wife, Nancy, are active parts of the music community, particularly this summer festival. While Glen was practicing with the band on Monday, Nancy passed away. Because of their several decade involvement with the music festival, Nancy had become a dear member of their group. When we were asked to play at her memorial service, I have to admit I wasn't thrilled. I am one of those "sympathy" criers. Even if I don't know the person, I see people I know feeling sad and makes me sad. I didn't want to fall apart on stage. But now I'm glad I did it. Following a slide show, we played Frank Ticheli's version of Amazing Grace. Maybe it was the better acoustics of the concert hall, but I've never heard something this beautiful come from our group. Most of the band has been playing together for awhile and they all knew Glen and Nancy well. They poured all their sadness and love into the piece and it truly sang. I hope Nancy was listening from heaven, because love and admiration filled to the hall to the rafters. I was honored to participate in celebrating your life. Farewell.

Runner's World Training Predictor

Based on my 5K time of 25:46 this is what Runner's World predicts I can do :

1500m 7:11
the mile 7:44
3000m(3k) 14:59
3200m(about 2 miles) 16:02
5000m(5k) 25:44
8000m(8k) 42:22
5 miles 42:37
10,000m(10k) 53:40
ten miles 1:28:52
a half marathon 1:58:19
a marathon 4:06:41

And their recommendations based on that pace:

10:26 min/mile Easy run training pace
8:43 min/mile Tempo run training pace
7:52 min/mile Maximum oxygen training pace
7:17 min/mile Speed form training pace
10:26 - 11:45 min/mile Long run training pace
4:02 min/800 Yasso 800s training pace

What I don't get is why they want you to run your long runs that much slower. How do they expect you to run faster if you don't do it in training? Especially for a marathon. There's no way. I have only trained to 20 miles on all my marathon training plans (usually doing one or two 20s). So speeding up for the race AND adding a 10K to it just seems like you'd end up with a really bad day because of elevated expectations. What training regimen do they base this off of?

And my 800s are a lot faster, like 3:30min/800. All distances below the 1/2 mary, I have done...if not faster. But I still haven't broken 4:30 in a marathon, let alone run a 4:06 (which would be AWESOME if I could). Makes no sense to me......

What got me interested in this is today, I did my second 10 mi at half-mar pace. I'm sick with a cold and it was really hard to keep my average down, but if I kept that pace it would be a 2:00.15. Once I recover from this cold and jet lag, it should be good. I hope. Whatever happens, I know for sure, that I will earn every second of that new PR. PR or die trying anyways, we'll see.

Final Thoughts

~ I could never live in the desert.
~ Love Lower 48 shopping.
~ I really love how well Chris and I get along. Of all my family, he's my favorite!
~ Its such a smooth ride not driving with knobby snow tires. 75MPH and I hardly felt it. Plus the Lower 48 freeways are smoother!
~ Mexican food is too much to eat everyday--poor tummy. I'll be extra nice to you for the next week, I promise.
~ Never thought it was possible, but I passed up DQ twice without stopping !!!

The Long Day Back

Up early. I dropped Chris off at work and got another mocha at the Coffee House (SO DELICIOUS!!). Traffic was light. I stopped at Kohl's to avoid the morning rush hour, or at least that's what I'll tell the Hubby. :) I finally got some trail running shoes. Cheap-ish ones, since I'm not ready to fully commit to trail running. (It's just SO HARD).
It is supposed to break 100F today, so I was very glad to be flying out in the morning rather than afternoon.

(from the plane) Flying over Alaska. Weird to be going home to Zoey and not Matt. He's on a 3-day business trip to assess the damage on the Taylor Hwy. But three 16 hr days will give him tons of comp. time for us to play later. He really loves work trips too as they feel like vacations and getting paid to go is just a plus!

The last hour of the flight, Denali stuck out above the clouds, bathed in evening sun. Welcome home, Karen!

Bandelier National Monument

This climate is too different for me, and I'm actually looking forward to returning to Alaska. Fairbanks is nearly as dry, but not accompanied by 90-100F temps. Send me home. I don't like having to drink 2 gal. of water a day and still feel like a dried out sponge.
On the plus side, the climate dries out my typically oily skin and hair. In fact, it has looked great the whole trip!
While Chris and Evan slept, I guzzled two bottles of water and downed some Special K. I felt satisfied enough. No longer had the urge to jump in a swimming pool and breathe in the water for relief. I set out on a run, no particular distance or speed in mind, just do what I felt My ipod was charged and my shoes laced. The 80F at 8:30am sun burned on my skin. I savored the shady spots which felt 10F cooler than in the sun. I set off at an 10:15/mi pace. It felt sluggish and very similar to my first miles with a full camelbak--loaded with bricks. Eventually, I let the sun and music wash over me. My pace increased as I rolled over the gentle slopes. My lungs felt loose and my legs glided effortlessly. By mile 2.5, on my final uphill, it felt like I was back home, at a mere 400ft rather than 7,200. I cruised up to a 9:00/mi pace, similar to an easier hill pace at home. Then by mile 3, I was going my usual pace of 8:30/mi for a short run. I wanted to continue on but a dry throat and stringy spit that clung to my lip forced me to stop. I knew it was time for a drink. WATER! After two more bottles and a shower, I was finally prepared to start my final day in New Mexico's Atomic City.

We headed out to Bandelier Nation Monument. I had a full camelbak and two water bottles--ready for one more desert day. The 2.5 mile hike is what Alaskans would call an "interpretive trail", basically meaning anyone could do it and read signs along the way. The 90+F, no wind valley was BRUTALLY hot. I could almost feel my thick Alaskan blood thin. Within the first few minutes, my shirt was soaked through. I had strategically chosen a quick-dry shirt for the occasion. We climbed ladders into rocky caves that the natives had lived in. Shady, cool, wonderful. Now I know what these people did before AC was invented. They didn't just suffer through it after all. In these caves, carved from volcanic ash (from the Caldera), existed an impressive labyrinth of rooms within the rocky wall.







Just as my fragile, sun sensitive left arm sounded the sunburn warning, winds picked up and rushed around us and a dark cloud formed overhead. As the trail followed the rocky cliff, lightning danced off in the distance. Matt has always wanted a lightning picture, so I tried (and failed) to get one. I did, however, find a weather station hidden near one cave. I wonder how often the anemometer moves in this spot?


We lunched on a bench, vowing to continue on even if it was raining. We took a spur trail through giant Juniper trees to the Alcove House.




There were a series of four wooden ladders leading us into the sky 160 ft above the trail. My nerves sent my heart racing. "Stare at your hands, it's all good". At the top of the last ladder, there was an alcove, complete with it's own kiva. Although it was a HOT hike, I think that it will forever rank as one of my favorites!



Chris needed a nap, so I went back to the museum. I wanted to give it my full attention, so I did it in parts. It was put together by LANL and basically puts out this message : " We made really great nukes. Mess with us and you're going down." Maybe in a more PC way, but that was basically it. One of the more interesting museums I've visited.

I stopped at a rose garden for a shady water break near Fuller Lodge.

That night Chris took me up to a ski resort above town to check out the city lights. On the way there, we saw many elk, with huuuge antlers. My first sighting of elk. They were shy, it was dark, no photos.

Jemez Mountains

With the new eye mask I bought on yesterday's excursion, I was able to sleep until 10am. I'm finally adjusting to the heat and altitude.
Chris, his roommate Evan, and I took a trip into the Jemez Mountains. It was a long way up. I was glad to be driving an automatic. My poor car would've hated me for driving 40 miles in 3rd gear. After we went up on switchbacks for 30 minutes, I got a headache and was dizzy. We stopped at an ancient volcano, the Caldera. The volcano exploded thousands of years ago and blew so hard that the entire mountain collapsed and what remains is a field with hills of dried magma. The blast is believed to be the most powerful volcanic eruption of all time. Ash traveled as far as China. Maybe it killed the dinosaurs too. The field looked very out of place in an otherwise grass-less mesa landscape.



We stopped at a hot springs. The hike was short but steep. There were lots of people swimming already so we had lunch and went in the pools once everyone else had left. I was surprised by how much litter people left behind. Sad.



It was 90F and soaking wasn't as enjoyable as it would be if it was cooler. The heat dried my skin and swimsuit almost immediately.



We continued down the road to Jemez Springs. The town had an ice cream shop. AC + ice cream= much needed oasis. It looked like the stereotypical southwest town, adobe houses and bright yellow colored paint on everything. We perused the quirky shops, taking refuge in their AC buildings. All the salespeople were willing to tell stories about their pottery or jewelry. Maybe people buy more if they know a personal story about it, maybe they were just bored. The temp hit a blistering 97F at the hottest part of our walk. It was fun to watch the temperature go up and down as we drove higher and then lower in elevation on the way back to Los Alamos, at 7300ft. Finally back at the apartment, it felt cold. Only 91F.

The air is TOO DRY. My throat constantly hurts. Scratch the desert off my list of dream places to live.

Up With the Sun

Up with the sun at 5:30am and a major dizzy headache. I drank two bottles of water and felt better. Then I coaxed Chris out of bed for a run before it got too hot, but it already was hot. I consider 75F at 7am to be "too hot". He took me on a run into a canyon. Every footfall kicked up dust. We saw a deer and a bunch of squirrels. They all look different from what I'm used to. The squirrels had skunk striped tails and were thin, not pudgy like the AK ground squirrels. Maybe these guys don't hibernate? The run was hard, about 1:30/mi slower than I'd normally run. I tried not to make myself too tired.
Chris woke up with a migraine, so as he napped, I explored town. the run helped me acclimate to the heat and altitude. I felt better immediately after my heart rate returned to normal. Maybe another run tomorrow?
Los Alamos is a refreshing change to Fairbanks. The city is more aesthetically pleasing. Landscaped flower beds lined the sidewalks on the main road. Desert plants mostly, but better than wasting water to sustain something that's not supposed to be there.



As cliche as it sounds, I hit the Coffee House (after turning down the ice cream place) with my journal. It was nice to stay in the AC for awhile, too. They also made me a tasty half-caf mocha. I wonder how much water I'll need to negate the coffee.
By noon, Chris was ready to start his day. We spent the afternoon in the AC wonderful of the Bradbury Museum. IT detailed the history of Los Alamos and what is going on today. They also had a talk about Harry Potter and how it relates to science at LANL. It was geared towards ten year olds, but fun anyways.

Wizard's Chess

We went to Santa Fe in the evening. The GPS directions to REI were old and we couldn't find it. We called the store, TWICE, and got the wrong directions too. We finally found REI--20 minutes before closing. Then we hit Ross and TJMaxx. I didn't find much but Chris and his friend, Kyle came out with HUGE hauls. I've never before gone shopping with boys and left with less than they did. We had DQ blizzards on the way home. I was in heaven. I will have to stop at DQ and REI on the way back to Albuquerque when I leave. By the time we got home, I was exhausted again. I hit the sheets IMMEDIATELY.

Flying and The SW

Random thoughts from my flights:
~ A five hour flight surrounded by cranky babies is THE BEST birth control. Double if the flight is overnight.

~ Albuquerque has too much traffic for a country girl that doesn't know where she's going.
Matt has always saved my blood pressure on previous trips by driving in bigger cities. The biggest city I'm comfortable with is Green Bay, because I know the roads like a local.

~ Holy hotness. It's really dry here, which makes the heat okay. I guess I was expecting Oklahoma and remembering living there (not so fondly) and nearly melting ALL DAY LONG. So I was pleasantly surprised.

I stopped in Santa Fe to kill some time while Chris was at work. I found an outlet mall, with a Nike outlet--heaven for this gear junkie-- running from one AC shop to another. I came out with shorts and gloves in Nike and a cute tote bag from a cheap teen shop.
Since Fairbanks is at 400ft, I have been worried about altitude (mountain) sickness. I researched prevention tips and created a plan : Ginko Biloba and lots of water.



The drive from Santa Fe to Los Alamos was beautiful. Santa Fe reminded me of Anchorage, minus the trees and water, of course. More in the city-nestled-in-the-mountains way.
After passing three Dairy Queens, I had to stop. Gazing at the menu with a gurgling stomach, I forced myself to order food instead of ice cream. It took every shed of willpower too, let me tell you!
The highway twisted through between mesas and up, scaling the cliffs on the rim. The speed limit was 40mph, but I was so terrified that I went about half that. It's even scarier when I saw flowers and cross memorials along the way. EEK!
Chris and I took a walk through town. I was sort of envious that he is able to walk everywhere. That's what I miss most about living in Mount Pleasant. I don't like relying on my car so much. I was tired from little sleep, so we had dinner and I went to bed at 8pm (6pm AK time). When I go places in the summertime and there's a sunrise and sunset, I find that I'm very sensitive to the light...mostly when it changes. I am up at the moment the sun is halfway up and out just after sunset.

Top 10 Signs You're an Alaskan Distance Runner

10. The midnight sun encourages you to run intervals at 4am, just because there's no traffic and you can run ANYWHERE.

9. Your rolling pin sees more calf muscles than cookie dough because of the gnarly trail runs.

8. Any winter run under three miles takes more time to dress for than to actually run it.

7. You've encountered everything between moose and bears on your runs. Despite that, you never carry bear spray or a gun for fear of hurting yourself.

6. Twenty-Below (F) isn't "that cold".

5. You've walked inside onto a tile floor with your spikes or Yak Trax on and fell on your butt.

4. You know that running intervals outside after September is flirting with death, or at least risking major bruises on an icy fall.

3. Eighty degrees (F) is ALMOST too hot to run.

2. You've been caught on a trail run with your shorts around your ankles. Bonus if you've caught others, too.

1. You know how to thaw yourself when your eyelashes freeze your eyes shut.

Smoky and the Season Ahead

Willow Creek Fire

For over a month now, the Willow Creek Fire has been burning a mere 10 miles south of Fairbanks. It was discovered as a three acre fire, yet not snuffed out then. WHY? The last few days have been really windy (around 30mph) and fanned the fire. Now it is HUGE. I took the above photo from Matt's office last night. Now the entire town is blanketed in smoke. I'm secretly hoping for heavy rain. My personal weatherman tells me that rain looks good for today. Let's pray that he's right. Days of exposure to this smoke give me terrible headaches, ones that nothing but clean air can cure. HOWEVER, I am leaving for New Mexico tomorrow evening, so it doesn't matter for me. It makes my kitty start to wheeze and makes my patio garden wilt though.

Now that the summer solstice has come and gone, I'm planning out the rest of my year.

RACES :
July 25 - Gold Discovery Run
This is the race that Matt took months convincing me would be "fun". We'll see. Using it as a training long run--not going for fast.

August 7 - Santa Claus Half Marathon
My third Santa, and where I hope to kill my previous PR.


August 22 - Run LuLu Run 5K
End of summer 5K to see if I really have gotten faster. Not gonna train for it, just wing it.

Sept 18 - Equinox Marathon
My first trail marathon, and it's gonna be HARD. People who regularly run this marathon say that you should add 30 min to an hr to your usual marathon time to get an estimate of what yours will be for this one. I'm just looking to finish and use this as a tune-up for the next one. Anything under six hours will be good.

Nov 7 - Rails to Trails Marathon
My final big race of the year and a celebration of being a 5-year cancer survivor. I head back to Marshfield for my final checkups (and hopefully, CAKE!) and to run this marathon. Hoping for a PR if the Equinox doesn't let all the wind out of my sails.

I am also very fortunate to live in running community that provides races nearly every week between October and April, free of charge. Usually there's only a group of 10-15 of us who brave the cold all winter long, but they're fun and have hot chocolate and cookies at the end.

TRAVEL :
July 14-19 : Central New Mexico to visit my brother at his summer internship and to experience hiking at 9,000+ ft.

July-Sept : Random trips in Alaska, soaking up what will HOPEFULLY be our last summer, although that's what I said last year too.

Early Sept : Taking advantage of Condor Airlines and flying direct from FAI to Frankfurt, Germany. Spending a week abroad. And for the first time, visiting a country where I don't know the language. Worries me a little bit.

November : Back to the UP and Wisconsin. Making a grand tour of all the parents and grandmas. Always whirlwind, always awesome. That's how we travel : endurance style.

*Sigh* Quiet Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year here. AGAIN.

10 Mile Race Pace

What started out as a terrible run ended up propping me back up by the end. Matt and I did a 10 mile loop run (basically looks like an out and back) running the first five miles into the 30mph wind. It was impossible to stay near my 1/2 mar. goal pace of 9:00/mi. After the turn, it felt warmer and we cruised, the wind gently nudging us along...and by cruised, I mean an 7:45-8:20/mi. The entire remaining five miles!! 7:45/mi is faster than my current 5K PR. Needless to say, I was totally ecstatic by the results. I hopped on the computer and calculated what a 8:55/mi average would be : 1:56. Break two hours? PLEASE!!

Being an Adult (the fun part)

This morning, Matt and I ran a grueling run up and down Ester Dome, starting at EQ mile 9 and following it to Henderson and taking that back. It was 13 miles with 7,000ft of elevation change. ...and it was the most difficult run of my life. Up until this run, I was feeling pretty confident in my trail running. Somewhere near the top of Ester Dome, drenched in sweat, gasping for air, and wondering if my heart would explode... I lost my confidence. If you find it cowering in the bushes on the way up to the top, return it to my house. I miss it dearly.

Matt recently received special cash awards for his extra projects at work and we decided it was time for some adult furniture, brand new from the store. Up until this point, we've purchased really cheap used furniture or found it at the dump. We definitely didn't have anything that looked really nice. It was time for a new couch. We perused the two furniture stores in town, and followed Craigslist for awhile and were deciding on two couches at the first store. Today, we returned to that store, still unsure what we wanted to get. One couch was on 8-10 wk back order, and the other could be shipped from Anchorage in 10 days. Of course, we decided on the back-order one. As we were making our final decision, the sales lady kept pushing us to make a decision. "What are you afraid of?" Um... dropping that kind of money on one thing? How about that? Being really cautious about our spending is how we're able to pay for stuff with cash and aren't in any financial trouble. I like being apprehensive. As we put down our 20% deposit, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as we didn't have to go through the "financing" line before the cashier. So sometime near my birthday, we will have a beautiful, brand new brown couch. It comes with matching pillows, too. I like this part of being grown up! Furniture that you don't have to lift out of a dumpster! :)

Tourist in My Own Town

As if 15 miles of mountainous hiking wasn't enough, I convinced the Mark and Joel that we could see some Musk Ox if they went for a 4 mile run with Matt and I. Joel ran the GB marathon with us, so I knew he was in shape. We convinced Mark to ride alongside us on Matt's mountain bike. A mile into the trail, we found a little lost duckling. I literally ALMOST squashed him as I ran. We didn't find his mother. He started following us down the trail, when we returned, he was nowhere in sight. Something will find him, either Mama Duck or a fox.



Mark nearly flew off the bike when he hit a big tree root at full speed. NDE #5, he had all he could stand of our crazy adventures. When we got to the LARS (UAF research farm) we whipped out cameras and binoculars for a closer look at the giant buffalo-like animals.


In the three years of living in the Golden Heart City, I have spent my time avoiding the tourist places, especially in the summertime. Today, I got to experience how outsiders view my home. We went to the visitor's center, and I have to say, their exhibits are better than the Museum of the North at UAF. The visitor's center has hourly movies and exhibits as well as the typical brochure and travel information. And it's all free! The museum most definitely is NOT free.

We also visited Pioneer Park. I've been to the park many times, but this was the first summertime excursion--when the riverboat was open. Inside were small scale models of a lot of the Interior villages. Very well done. Also, there were old photos of Fairbanks and information in the engine room on how the ship worked and what it was used for during it's glory years. Joel rides the bucking Salmon.



Recently, Joel has gotten into Geocaching. He talked us into looking for a few. Although we attempted to locate four geocaches, we only found two of them, one by the visitor's center, one near our house under the Chena River bridge. It was like treasure hunting and a lot of fun. Joel also got to drop a tracking coin into the cache, one that can be tracked on a website and so far has only been found in different caches in his town in Michigan. Now it's in Alaska.



What visit is complete without ice cream? We took them to our local homemade ice cream place, which (luckily or unluckily--how you think of it) is located less than .25mi from our place. It was delicious. We returned home for our tiebreaker Euchre tournament, which Mark and I kicked butt, and went to sleep. They return to Michigan in the morning.

Heading Home....

The rest of the Denali Hwy drive was pretty uneventful. It was sad knowing what it looks like in perfect sunny weather and not being able to share it with our friends.


It did leave our car pretty dirty though :



When we finally reached the Denali Park area, the sun came out, and we decided to give the Alaska Range one more chance to impress us. We had lunch and perused the tourist shops and then headed into the park. One of our more memorable hikes in DNP was at Savage River. We lured Mark and Joel into one last hike by saying they had an 80% chance of seeing Dall Sheep there. Most people we know have seen sheep there, us included. We hiked in on the path that even little old ladies can do. Then a trail, presumably a sheep trail, continues on deeper into the gorge. We passed a couple with a small child. They backed up our theory of seeing sheep, claiming they saw seven! We continued on and never did find any sheep. The amount of people probably frightened them onto higher ground. Or those people saw patches of snow, not sheep. We did see some ground squirrels.


The park was beautiful anyways :


Back to Fairbanks!!


PS- Fairbanksans call Anchorage "Los Anchorage" because of it's size, traffic, and general dirtiness--all derogatory city aspects. I love there's a sign for it.

We were able to see the Wood Creek fire, burning 10 miles SW of Fairbanks. It was responsible for the smoky days near the summer solstice.




After some unpacking and showers all around, Matt and I made one last attempt at showing them some wildlife. We used to live in a valley outside of town and saw moose on a daily basis in one particular spot. So we drove out to this place at midnight, and just as we arrived, there was a moose!!!! Actually, twins! They were young, but completely comfortable with us watching them. When we'd move through the grass, ears would perk up, but then when they realized we weren't a threat, they'd go back to eating.



A photo of each moose.

The Descent and Gulkana Glacier

After a few late-night trips to re-anchor the tent in the wind, Matt and I slept like babies,... or I did anyways. I awoke at 5:30am (much earlier than I usually do), ready to start the day. Matt didn't agree.


I heard some noise from the other tent, so I convinced Matt to wake up so we could entertain our visitors. Breakfast was delicious and the view, despite some clouds, was great as well.


We quickly made it back to the lowest shelf and stopped there for a break. Matt wandered around looking for a bathroom spot. Miraculously, he found the trail!!! Our three hour ascent was shortened by two hours to one hour on the way down. No twisted Alder route. We laughed at how much easier it was to take the trail. I was beginning to think there wasn't a trail at all. :)

Our next stop was a visit to the Gulkana Glacier. We followed an unmaintained road to the trail head. About 1/2 mile from the start, we decided the road was too treacherous for our poor little Focus, so we walked the rest. Phalen Creek is about 1/2 mile down the trail and has a cable bridge to get across. It wasn't too scary, even though there was one broken step in the bridge.


Right next to the glacier was about 15F degrees colder than by the car. The temperature differences of the air and the ice created an icy breeze, much like stepping into a refrigerator. Joel and I decided to climb the rocky moraine to get a better look. Moments after I explained to him that if he heard a noise above, IMMEDIATELY look up for falling rocks, we heard a rumble a hundred feet above. Rocks slid down the icy surface, landing just inches away from the place Mark had just been standing. The rocks were no bigger than a fist, but they were speeding fast enough that if they made contact with a body part, it would most certainly result in a broken bone. Mark's NDE #2.


We decided to climb up a different spot, a more stable spot. The ice was a typical blue, rather than dirty brown. Perfect for that stereotypical "Alaskan Blue Glacier" shot. Somehow we convinced Mark this was safer.

Here he had is NDE #3.

Our hike back was uneventful. No vegetation grew on the glacial moraine except for the algae in this pond. Gross, but made a really neat contrast in the photo :


We headed out the Denali Highway. The first 30 miles were somewhat beautiful. But with every passing mile, the clouds got lower and lower.


Summit Lake (town) and Gulkana Glacier from about Mile 10 Denali Hwy.

Our campsite was a small gravel pullout near Mile 60. The clouds lifted slightly and we were thankful to set up the campsite without rain. A small jeep trail headed down the hill, so we followed it for a bit more hiking. At dinner time, we had quesadillas. I was cook. I finished all but my own by the time a downpour hit. The boys ran to the car to eat dinner, leaving me in the downpour with the stove. When Matt finished, he relieved me and I took shelter in the car. He delivered my quesadilla to my door in a steaming frying pan and quickly shut the door to keep the car dry. Mark joined him outside to clean up and pack the stove. He took the pan from me. It slipped in his wet hand and I heard a sizzle of evaporating water. He ended up with two burns. NDE #4.
We passed the evening in the car, playing Euchre, something they often did together in college. We stayed in the car until making a dash for the tent at bedtime.

Rainbow Ridge

((Let me start out by saying that I have done this backpack trip before. We found this trip in a local hiking book that was written in 2007. According to the book, the trail head was near the small pond at a bend in the highway. This pond no longer exists because a fiber optic cable was installed in 2009 and the area is completely different. We have never been able to find the trail head. This was also my wettest backpacking trip EVER where the rain stopped for only 30 minutes the entire weekend.))

Early this morning, we made a last minute decision to make our first night a backpacking night. This added about an hour more of packing, but by noon we were finally on the road. We made a quick stop in North Pole to meet Santa. We saw some of his reindeer, sat in the sleigh--just couldn't get anyone to pose for a photo with Santa. Really, I thought he was a little scary. After one more stop at the Knotty Shop, we made our way to Rainbow Ridge. The colorful ridge loomed above us, bathed in sunshine. I was excited to find out what the area looked like when it wasn't immersed in clouds.

We searched for the trail, expecting to finally find it if we looked hard enough. After about 20 minutes, we decided to blaze our own path up the twisted alder covered mountain. We crawled on our hands and knees, grasped alder branches like ropes and somehow we made it to the first shelf, drenched in sweat from the effort and warm day. Each of us had a few places where we lost our balance and were glad the alders were there to hold onto. At the shelf, the breeze felt nice. We continued on through two more large, steep alder patches when a scree slope replaced the brush. We welcomed the terrain change, but it meant that nothing would break our fall. Since Mark is considerably less athletic than Matt, Joel, and I, he had the toughest time. We joked that he needed to have five Near Death Experiences before he could get on the plane home. Alders on this trip were NDE #1.




At the top of the bowl we'd been climbing for three hours, we chose a camping spot. It was sunny, and beautiful views were in all directions. There was a constant 20mph wind that tried to pull down my tent. Strong wind means no bugs, so it was alright.



By late evening, I retreated, windburned, to the tent while the boys sat outside enjoying the scenery. They called me out to see a giant rainbow that had formed over Rainbow Ridge.



It was beautiful and almost cliche in it's appearance over that particular spot. Rainbow over Rainbow Ridge. Alaska was showing off for our visitors, for sure. I couldn't miss this, so I dragged out the sleeping bag and enjoyed a somewhat sheltered view from my nest.



Fantastic first day.

Level the Playing Field

Matt's college friends, Joel and Mark, were set to arrive at 8pm tonight, so we were determined to quickly cram the rest of our weekly runs before their arrival. We set out at the start of the Equinox M. trail, each of us armed with a granola bar and a full tank of water in our running packs. The forecast promised us a hot day, so we were prepared for it.

The first quarter mile goes straight uphill, 200 ft, and is so hard it leaves me gasping for breath at the top EVERY SINGLE TIME. The hill stripped me of all my confidence and I questioned whether today was really the day to do the run. I had just run consecutive days of 800 repeats, 9 mile 1/2mary race pace, and a 40 min tempo. After this run, I'd surely be wrecked. Matt said that we needed to run this run to "level the playing field" for our less-experienced visitors, whom we'd surely kill with fatigue by the time we tired ourselves. If this hill didn't help do that, I don't know what would.

The run went smoothly. We rolled along the now-familiar first six miles of the course without a problem. Since I hadn't run miles 6-9 in over a year, it was exciting to rediscover the trail again. I had a few problems with my backpack, too. I couldn't adjust it enough to relieve the chafing from the shoulder/chest strap area. Finally, I decided to move the entire chest strap below my boobs and IT WORKED! It looks ridiculous, but I guess that my boobs are just a little too big for this backpack. I wonder if other women have this problem too. As an added bonus, the adjustment provided for even better stability in the pack.

We alternated trail and road miles until #9, at the foot of Ester Dome. Here, we turned around and followed a different trail back to our car. The sunny, 70F day and a slight breeze left us with huge grins on our salt-covered faces.

When Joel and Mark arrived, we had a quick dinner and set out for some 11pm disc golf. They were pretty jet lagged, but were happy to be walking around. Also, they were amused by the fact that they could play disc golf at all hours of the night.