Oh, what a weekend it’s been! Earlier today, MM and I took an easy run over the Campbell Trails. It was a perfect snowy wonderland. Very few people were around, since it was late afternoon, and once we veered off on Black Bear Trail, we saw no one. Aren’t the silver birch trees beautiful? We took […]

It’s cold up here in Alaska: Brrrr! So cold that Friday I wimped out on my longish run. I bundled up in layers, two hats, two pairs of gloves, etc., walked out the door and was immediately hit with a wind so sharp and brutal that I turned around before I made it to the […]

I love running in the late afternoon, when the sky begins to darken and the air becomes quiet and still. Today I hit one of my favorite running routes for 9.5 miles of slumpy snow, with patches of ice hiding beneath (is there such a word as slumpy? If not, I just made it up: lump + slushy = slumpy). I slid around […]

It’s happened. I’ve reached a new running low. This doesn’t appear to be my fault. I’m housesitting out around Hatcher Pass and earlier this weekend, the chinook winds brought about a winter thaw, followed by colder temps that brought about ice. It’s so icy that this morning the dog fell in the middle of the driveway, which […]

It’s been raining for almost three days, temps in the 40s, a chinook wind carrying that hopeful smell of spring. Except it’s really the middle of winter and the once night hits, everything freezes into an ugly and cruel sheet of ice. Walking is impossible without spikes and even iffy with them. This is how the […]

Oops! Here’s what I found when I went out to feed the flock tonight. Uno, dos, tres, cuatro. Huh? I thought there were five. I’m not sure if there really were five or I just thought that there were since it’s a more solid number. Maybe there were originally only four. I do know there were and […]

Wednesday night I crumbled during the last half mile of a 20 mile run. And I mean crumbled. Like barely able to walk. Like crouching in the shower for ten minutes because I didn’t have the energy to stand up. Because I was heading out to housesit the next day and because I had spent the […]

OMG. I reached and surpassed my 1,500 mile running goal for 2012 and totaled 1,538 glorious and awesome miles. Best yet, I did it without any running related injuries and I’m old, too. (Disclaimer: I injured myself twice, but both times were due to falls during trail runs, not overuse/stress injuries.) I also transitioned from partial heel […]

It’s hard to write about running when 20 children were senselessly gunned down a few days ago. It makes me realize how frivolous running is, and how much a luxury. Think of it! Even a bad bonk, even a run that’s a struggle from start to finish is still a gift because we’re alive, we’re […]