Mayor’s Midnight Sun Half Marathon

This weekend, I achieved a major milestone–running the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Half Marathon!

Tara’s Jazz Hands
Originally uploaded by k7ruff.

Quite a few of my friends trained for this event, keeping each other motivated and doing long runs together. (I was a little behind on training due to vacations, and am sort of antisocial when it comes to running, so I did almost all of my training alone, but we did a lot of sharing tips and tricks and experiences and routes.) Two of my friends even ran the full marathon!

The weather on the day of was perfect–cloudy and cool. The course was really great–the first 2/3 or so was on trails I had never run on before, which kept my perspective quite fresh, and the last part was familiar, which was very comforting–I could mentally prepare for exactly how much farther I had to go. The only surprise was a MOUNTAINOUS incline just before the end, which caused me to exclaim to John and Rob upon seeing them just afterwards: “I want to die right now!” But I made it, in 2:36:33.4 (no alias this time). Immediately afterwards, I stuffed myself full of cinnamon raisin bagels and orange wedges, which have never before tasted so delicious.

Since the race, I’ve spent quite a lot of time on Hal Higdon’s website, wondering if I’ll ever talk myself into doing a full marathon… but let me tell you, the thought of doing ANOTHER half after doing the FIRST half was just horrifying to me this weekend.

UPDATE: My friend Vik spectated and took a bunch more photos of the race, including this great group shot from just before the start:

Sunny Solstice

Last Thursday, June 21, marked the summer solstice–the longest day of the year, and the glorious day of my birth. I had an amazing day filled with treats and adventures, making it quite possibly my Best Birthday Ever, and certainly Most Unique Birthday Ever.

Fire-juggler on Flat Top
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

I began the day by sleeping in until 9:30. (This means I slept an additional 5 hours after sunrise, which was at 4:20am, but sunrise is kind of irrelevant nowadays…) The day shaped up as the warmest so far this year, and we took advantage by having an outdoor reindeer sausage picnic. My coclerks brought me this delightful cake in the afternoon. After work, we had a delicious outdoor dinner at the Gumbo House, followed by a softball game against a snarky, cheating team, who we beat to retain our UNDEFEATED status. Ninjustice was served, and so were many beautiful cupcakes.

After softball, we headed out to take advantage of a local favorite Solstice activity: a nighttime hike up Flat Top. Alaska’s summer is messing with my body clock even more than the winter did–it is light ALL NIGHT now. Legitimately light. On a clear night, you could sit outside and read a book all night long. So in order to not waste one minute of the light on the longest day of the year (not counting the hours I slept through), we set off for the trailhead, and started our hike at about 10:30pm.

Solstice hike up to Flat Top, 10:45pm
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

About half of the hike is uphill, and the last bit is really steep rock scrambling. We reached the peak at just a little before sunset, which was at 11:43pm. Here’s a nice shot of me and my coclerk at the peak, with Powerline Pass behind us:

Coclerks and Powerline Pass
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

Sunset itself was kind of anticlimactic, though, because it continued to be light, and because the spectacle of the actual passing of the sun below the horizon was blocked by smoke hanging in the Anchorage Bowl, blowing in from bunch of local wildfires. (We’ve had really hot dry weather recently, which has resulted in a lot of bad fires, including this one, two doors down from my house, in which two of my friends lost their home.)

The hike was amazing–there were lots of revelers at the top, the views were fantastic, and there were a fire-juggler and a fire-breather to entertain us. We hiked back down around 1am, and it was still plenty light enough to safely see all our footholds on the way down. Best Birthday Ever…!?

I’ve become an outdoors-woman.

Salmon
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

Two weekends ago, a bunch of my ladyfriends and I attended the truly fantastic Becoming an Outdoors-Woman workshop. It was one of the best trips I’ve had this year, and one of the best experiences of my life! The entire photoset is available here.

The event took place at the Lost Lake Boy Scout Camp, up near Fairbanks on the Richardson Highway. It’s a long drive from Anchorage, so we left the night before and spent the night at a campground just outside Denali (beware mosquitoes and the right to bear arms). The next morning we drove up through Fairbanks, and back down through North Pole to Lost Lake. We each took four classes throughout the weekend, and all of them were amazing.

The first night, a Katy, Kate, and I had the Backpacking class. We got to test out lots of equipment, and our guides, who lead wilderness trips for boy scouts from Lost Lake, gave us lots of tips about backpacking. Later that evening, after dinner, our group took off for a short backpacking trip. We only hiked about 20 min away, and set up our tents. The trail was punctuated with signs displaying the various Boy Scout virtues. A little wandering led to the most beautiful lookout point ever, over the Tanana River. It was 10:30pm, and the sun was only baaaaarely thinking about setting. The sun sets even later way up north! It was absolutely the most beautiful view ever:

Outdoorswomen at viewpoint
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

We also roasted marshmallows and sang songs with our guides. We packed up early the next morning and headed back to the group breakfast.

My next class was Survival. Kate, Rebecca, and I learned all about how to survive in the woods with minimal supplies. We collected materials from the forest then built fires using only a flint and a cotton ball soaked in hand sanitizer. Here’s me with the fire I built!

Me and my fire
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

We also learned how to build shelters in the forest. Kate and Rebecca and I chose a spot under a log, covered the floor with moss, horsetails, and birch bark, leaned logs against the sides, and shingled the shelter with more birch bark. (Birch bark is amazing–it holds together even when the tree rots, so the rotten wood can be slid out from the inside, leaving a hollow tube which can be cut lengthwise to make an amazingly useful big swath of bark.) We were even able to fit all three of us inside the shelter, although Rebecca was required to lie on top of me and Kate to squeeze in. I even made a moss and birch bark pillow! There we are, all crunched in there:

Three ladies in a log shelter
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

We all went home with little survival kits, which we’ve been instructed to carry with us everywhere, especially on bush flights.

My next class was Fishing 101, which was very informative but not that hands on. I did get to try fly casting at the end, and the instructor said I was a natural! My final class was called Pond to Pan, and it was fantastic–we learned how to kill, bleed, gut, filet, and cook fish! It was really quite bloody and gross, but really awesome. I feel like I really have a marketable skill now!

Eew
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

We also got to take home a TON of frozen fish–a huge BBQ is in order. I’ve had a couple of salmon BBQs recently, and I’m still working on perfecting my fish-grilling technique. I just bought some cedar planks at Costco and I’m excited to try them out.

At BOW, we also learned a ton of other skills–one night after dinner, they set up about 15 stations where you could go learn tricks like knot tying, fur identification, gold panning, and how to pee in the woods with your waders on. The next night, we had the Wilderness Olympics, and competed in teams to utilize all our newfound skills. My team got third place overall, and second place in the moose-calling contest!

All in all, a pretty terrific weekend, topped off by a beautiful drive back down the Richardson highway, past Glenallen, and back to Anchorage. I am now, truly, an Outdoors-Woman.

It’s cool to be stationed in Alaska

I don’t know how I missed this, but a while ago, Letterman did an Alaska-related Top 10–Top 10 Cool Things About Being Stationed in Alaska. The list was read by servicepeople from Elmendorf Air Force Base, where I watch planes take off and land all day from my office window. You can watch the video here, or read the list here. My favorites are:

6. “One of the senior airmen is a moose”
. . .
4. “On weekends, can take advantage of Nome’s crazy nightlife”
. . .
2. “If you want baked Alaska, just order ‘baked here’”

The Nome one is funny, because, as you might remember, there actually is a kinda awesome nightlife in Nome.

Anchorage’s wi-fi revolution

Just saw this article in the Anchorage Daily News, indicating that downtown may be outfitted with free wi-fi sometime this summer. I wonder if its speed will be as molasses-like as mine, which I pay through the nose for… regardless, it’s nice to see Alaska making strides in the technology department!

In other internet-related news, the Inupiat village of Shishmaref located on an island in way-northern Alaska has turned to the internet for help in saving itself from falling into the ocean. They’ve started this incredibly well-designed website soliciting funds and expertise to assist them in saving their town from beachfront erosion related to global warming. The website has some pretty amazing photos and video of buildings falling into the sea and other erosion-related destruction.

Spring, almost summer!

Sunset over the Sleeping Lady from the Cap’n Cook
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

So, guess what’s even busier than winter in Alaska?! Yep, it’s springtime in Alaska, and it’s more like 40 above than 40 below.

I can’t believe I’ve been such a terrible blogger. It’s been spiraling out of control, because more and more activities occur that must be talked about. I’ve got my work cut out for me, with pictures to be posted and stories to be told. It’s time to get on that, to start dispelling the rumors that have started circulating regarding the reason for my lack of posting (fallen off a cliff, fallen in love, etc.).

Spring is fully, fully here, and well, it has been for a while. The snow has all melted (except for one giant dirty pile near our courthouse) and the sun is gracing us with its light all day and all night. The late-night-light is really surreal. We all keep saying “aak! Look out the window! Can you believe it’s 11pm!?” I’ve been spending my time hiking, running (training for the half marathon in 2 weeks), playing softball on an almost-all-clerk-team (we’re undefeated!), and looking out the window thinking “I can’t believe the sun is still up right now!”

More posts are imminent. Many pictures as well. Stay tuned. Thanks to all of you who are hangin’ in there!!

Alaska’s quarter

Designs have been released for Alaska’s commemorative quarter. As we all should know, it will be the second-to-last quarter to be released. Here are the contenders:

You can go here to leave comments on the designs. I am a little bit torn between the midnight sun/polar bear design and the dog mushing design. I think the polar bear one is prettiest, but as you all know, I love dog mushing. And the dog mushing one has Alaska’s actual state motto on it–North to the Future! I think that one will have my vote.

The quarters won’t be coming out until 2008.

Breakup

No, this is not a post about any adventures in Alaskan romance. Spring is springing here in Anchorage (it hasn’t fully sprung yet), and this traumatic process is called breakup.

It’s fascinating. It seemed to happen overnight, and it’s been happening for a couple of weeks. The temperature suddenly zoomed up–we’re having consistent daytime temps in the 40s–and snow started melting ev-ery-where. 40 degrees feels positively balmy to everyone here right now. And we’re all sooooo ready for spring. (Breakup is not spring, it’s not winter, it’s breakup.) We all immediately ditched our down jackets and are wearing as little as is comfortable (I’m in a hoodie + vest phase, but I’ve seen bare legs and tank tops already). I’m realllly looking forward to changing out my studded tires for my regular ones, and to the ability to get a car wash without fear of my doors freezing shut!

Ice sculpture graveyard
Originally uploaded by mcgeez.

But breakup isn’t all gloriously inhale-able air and comfortable clothes.

It’s disgusting. Like I said, all the snow is melting. Streets and some sidewalks are now totally clear of snow (I just saw a strange procession of about 8 machines doing something to my street–cleaning/scraping the last bits of snow maybe) but that means huge puddles and mud all over the place. And where the snow isn’t melted, it’s muddy slush. The walkway from my driveway to my house is treacherous–especially when it gets down below freezing at night. Walking Olive is no picnic either (although I am excited I can do it in the morning without my wet hair freezing)… because she’s so close to the ground, she’s all muddy when we come inside. Dave’s got some good photos of the general grossness around Anchorage.

Another sign of the impending season change is the Nenana Ice Classic. Every year, there’s a contest to guess when the ice on the Tanana River in Nenana, up North kinda near Fairbanks, “breaks up” (the origin of the term “breakup”). They put a giant tripod on the river ice, attached to some sort of device that’s triggered when the tripod moves a certain distance. Last year it happened on May 2. I didn’t buy any tickets but I’ll doubtless be waiting with bated breath for news of the results of this fascinating and legal contest.

I got in a last few winter adventures before this nasty melt set in–one last ice skate on the lagoon at sunset, and a snowshoeing trip in Hatcher Pass on a gorgeous sunny day:

Ladies’ snowshoe troupe
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

It’s cool to compare my photos of Hatcher Pass in winter with these photos of the same area taken in September. Looks like different worlds! And now that the cross country skiing ain’t so great, I’ve started training for the Mayor’s “Midnight Sun” Marathon in June. Wish me luck…

In addition to lots of mud and slush, we also now have lots of light. We’re now getting about 14 hours of sunlight, which is just about the same as when I arrived here at the end of August. It only really gets dark here at about 9:30. I really can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when it never gets really dark. A friend of mine told me that it’s a sad day in late summer when you have to turn on your headlights for the first time.

Upon reflection, Alaska’s breakup really is more like a breakup than I would have guessed.

“Look, winter. It’s been a great 6 months. We’ve had some good times. We’ve skied, skated, snowshoed, and mushed, we’ve built igloos and had cocktails in ice glasses, and when it all got to be too much, we stayed inside and played Scrabble. But I’m ready to move on. I’m ready for camping and hiking, kayaks and tents, I’ll trade city-bound moose for bears and beluga whales. But oh winter, can’t we still be friends?”

Mushing, skiing, and miscellany

First, one of my coclerks Julie has posted a few photos of me dog mushing in Nome. She was riding on the back of the snowmachine while I was on the dogsled, so she got some great shots, like this one:

IMG_1234.JPG
Originally uploaded by JulieAK.

She even got a shot where I was cocky enough to wave!

This weekend saw yet another clerk jaunt to Alyeska for some downhill skiing. We are all so spoiled having a great ski resort just 45 min away. There had been a lot of fresh snow in the previous couple of days, so, if you can believe it, I tried my first single AND double black diamond runs! It was really exciting and not nearly as scary as I thought it would be, but it helped that there was so much fresh powder, and that I had 6 more experienced skiers as guides to help me down the North Face. Still, sometimes I can’t believe that I’ve only been skiing seven times–and I kick myself for not learning to ski earlier in life!

Today was another random Alaska state holiday–Seward’s Day, commemorating the day the Alaska Purchase treaty was signed in 1867. The photo at right, amazingly enough, is the check used to pay for Alaska!! That blows my mind. Don’t forget–Seward’s Day must not be confused with Alaska Day, commemorating the formal transfer of Alaska from Russia to the U.S.

Finally, a weather/sunlight report. We have just, with the spring equinox, transitioned to having MORE light than all you suckers down south–nigh on 13 hours/day right now. It’s really weird to look up into the sky at 7:30pm and realize the sun is at a height that was its peak in December. I’m beginning to think the increased light is going to have a greater effect on my mental state than the darkness of winter. Good or bad, crazy or sane, we’ll find out! The weather is still pretty cold, though–10s and 20s, and we’ve had some new snow recently. Yep, even in spring, it’s still “winter” in Alaska. As Johnny Cash wisely crooned, “when it’s springtime in Alaska, it’s 40 below.”

No place like Nome

Me and Kate, sunset over the Bering Sea
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

I want to move to Nome. Seriously. We had an amazing trip there this weekend, almost indescribably amazing. I will do my best to relate the highlights because there’s no way to really capture the whole weekend. All my photos are up on Flickr, and I’ve tried to include a lot of descriptions along with them. I’ve also done an experiment with my photo set for the weekend–since I know only the most obsessive Tara-trackers (mom? dad?) can be expected to peruse all 200 photos of Nome, I’ve chosen only my absolute favorites for this set. Take a gander.

Nome is in an amazing spot on the globe–right on the Bering Sea, and mind-bogglingly less than 200 miles from Siberia. It is below the Arctic Circle, but still gets up to about 22 hours of daylight in the summertime, and less than 4 in the winter. (On the way to Nome, our flight stopped in Kotzebue, which is above the Arctic Circle and the farthest north I’ve ever been.) Both in Kotzebue and Nome, it’s hard to tell where the land ends and the sea begins–the Bering Sea is frozen solid. We walked and frolicked around on it a good bit… some of our friends even entered a golf tournament on the Bering Sea! Here is a picture of me looking tiny on the Bering Sea:

Tara on the Bering Sea
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

And this is the Nome National Forest–every year, the residents of Nome “plant” their Christmas trees out in the ice. They are the only trees to be found in Nome and its surrounds.

Nome National Forest
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

Nome has about 3500 residents, one high school, two radio stations, one newspaper, and about 5 “Pizza and Chinese Food” restaurants. At its peak during the gold rush of the early 1900s, Nome had over 20000 residents and 100 saloons!! Nome still has a lot of historical buildings, and the main street, Front Street, still resembles a lot of the old timey photos we saw in the local museum.

But what were we really here for? The Iditarod, of course. We missed the winner crossing the finish line, but the race isn’t over until the last musher finishes–which only happened early this morning. We got to see a bunch of mushers finish over the course of our trip, and even got to pet some of their very tired doggies!

Me with frosty-mouthed sled dogs
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

When the teams finish, the dogs are taken to this big lot where they all pass out for about 4 days straight. Nome is a small town and it fills up with mushers–we got to meet or see or be photographed with just about every single musher that had finished… sometimes just hanging around in bars, but also at the musher headquarters or at the Awards Banquet on Sunday. I became quite obsessed with the Iditarod over the past few weeks, so I was able to recognize most mushers. They’re Alaskan celebrities. Here’s my photo with champion Lance Mackey!

Me, Julie, and Rebecca with champion Lance Mackey!!!!
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

It was really fun to talk to Zack Steer, the musher I was rooting for the hardest and who I met a few weeks ago at Sheep Mountain Lodge. He surprised all the experts with his brilliant third place finish!! Here he is holding our friend Kate’s third place plaque from the Businessman’s Race:

Zack Steer (#3 in Iditarod) holds plaque for Kate (#3 in Businessman’s Race)
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

On Sunday, before the banquet, my traveling companions and I had an unexpected treat–Karlin, an ex-clerk, Nome resident, and dog musher extraordinaire, graciously invited us out to his cabin, about 8 miles out of town, to mush his dogs! That’s right, I got to drive a dog team. All by myself. Here I am pulling back into Karlin’s yard at the mercy of 5 powerful pups:

Almost home
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

Karlin hitched up 5 dogs to the sled, then led the team (on his snowmachine) on about a 15-20 min mush for every one of us. Mushing takes an incredible amount of balance and grip to stay perched on the runners as the sled whips around corners and skids over icy patches. Not to mention patience, for when oh say some of the male dogs go crazy over some of the female dogs and you have to stop, pull them apart, shift them around into different positions on the team, and hope they’ll follow a dog who has never been a leader before. I managed my entire run without falling off once!! I also got to ride on the back of Karlin’s snowmachine when we were leading Dave on his run. Doesn’t he look like an expert musher?

Dave the musher
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.

We each all terrified before we went, and exhilerated when we returned. It was an incredible experience and one that I will remember for the rest of my life. Thanks a million, Karlin!!

After our mushing, we got to attend the Awards Banquet. The highlights of the event were incredible amount of fresh shrimp and strawberries (the strawberries were a particularly amazing feat, seeing as how I can’t even find one basket of ripe but not rotten strawberries here in Anchorage), and seeing seriously every single musher, even sitting at tables with some of them!!

Someone commented that being in Nome for the end of the Iditarod is like being in Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day, or in New Orleans for Mardi Gras–it’s true, it’s epic. A very memorable weekend–probably one of the most memorable of my life.