The not quite spring run...

The weather out here in Alaska has not really been cooperating with us. Well when I say not cooperating I mean that the weather doesn't give a damn about us and is probably wondering why the hell is it that we live out here. With that being said, gearing up properly has become of the up most importance.

As you can see in this photo, a proper toque (beanie for all the Americans reading this), sunglasses, face mask and coat is required. The goal I always have before an intense winter run here is to not leave any exposed skin. Not always successful, but the little patches left open to the elements tend to freeze and lose all feeling, so overall not bad.

Now throw some wind, snow and hills into the mix, you have a challenge. When I started experiencing ice cream headaches I knew that I was running into the wind, and when I would fall flat on my face I knew that deep snow was ahead. When you are out in that type of weather all depth perception ceases to exist, so you have to be willing to fall. I am not a huge fan of it, but it is growing on me. Eric on the other hand, well he lives for this extreme weather/running.

As you can see here he is bombing down a hill.

Enjoying a celebratory hand stand for all the cool miles we covered (it was like three but took us an hour, the terrain was not pleasant...)

And a hand spring. My camera doesn't have the quickest shutter speed so this was the best shot I could capture. But I think I have made my point. Eric loves to run in the challenging weather. The moment I think "Its to crappy to run", he says "Awesome".

After we hit the hills and made our way home we captured what tundra running in the winter looks like:

Eric

AND

Ed

Is there any weather that stops you from going out on a run? Or do you just go for it not matter the rain, snow, sleet, or wind?

Cross Country Sking...in Anchorage...First Time Ever!

So Eric and I were in Anchorage on a work trip...that is no surprise. We do it all the time and have been for a couple years now. The cool thing about this trip was we were able to try cross country skiing for the first time ever...

Usually in cases like this I like to do research, or take lessons, or you know go with someone who knows what they are doing. Well it turns out this is not how Eric does things. We literally stormed out of work, went to REI and rented ourselves some classic style skies, whatever that means. We went with classic because that is was the guy the day before recommended to us. We gathered up our skis and drove to Kincaid Park.

Now before I post any photos I have to say this. It is fun, but also very challenging to rent any sort of equipment and test it out the moment you want to use it. Meaning, we didn't look at the skies or boots until we were on the trail ready to use them. That makes things that are normally easy, very difficult. It took me about 40 minutes to get the bloody skis on! For anyone that has cross country skied before they know...this is very simple. They just snap on...little did I know that was the case. I kept pressing the release button to put the buggers on! After 40 minutes they magically were on my feet and we began or adventure.

At first thought, not so bad. It is very intuitive and easy to do...on second thought however, hills suck! Both up and down ended with me on my ass and very sore. And what is with those damn grooves? Everytime I would go downhill one ski would end up in one, I would cross legs (not a good feeling) and end up on my shoulder! The pain usually ended with me laughing, but still....damn. But being as I was on this adventure with Eric, we kept pressing on, ending up on intermediate trails and going down steeper and larger hills.

As you can see I was smiling by the end on the night. It was fun to get out and do something different and I did feel like a kid again playing in the snow. Sadly, all my pictures are dark and hard to see due to the whole out late and having a camera without a flash. However, this will not be my last post about our Anchorage adventures in December and cross country skiing. We got out 2 more times before we left Anchorage and I want to post about those (including an incident that involved crushing a perfectly good apple!). Also, I purchased some really kick-ass swag while I was in ANC and will be attempting my first few gear reviews....Happy Trails!

The first white trail of the season...

So Eric and I set out on our first run together in about three weeks. 

 

The air was crisp, and so was the newly fallen snow as we set out on a brand new trail. Well, it was a brand new trail for me anyways. Eric discovered this while I was gone, and I am very glad he did. It is hard to find new paths on our little chunk of land here in the middle of the ocean. But nonetheless yesterday was a first for me, and an exciting one at that. 

It has been a while since I had ran, due to work. Everything felt great until our first “hill”...more like a long gradual ascent along a access road. I was huffing and puffing right out the gates and reminiscing about that time two months ago that I could run uphill like a champ.

 

 All the effort paid off though, because once we hit the trail at the end of the road, the view was amazing.

Eric and I took in the view for a little while then set off back towards home. On our way back we decided to adventure from a previously trail a little and see what we could find. About ten minutes later we discovered this....

  

 Today I asked Eric if he thought that the sign meant landmines as well...his response was simply “Hmmm...possibly”. After running through the abandoned explosives cache (I may be slightly exaggerating this point), we made it home in one piece. It was great to get out again and explore some new territory. After a summer of running, I forgot how much I enjoy running in cold weather and the snow...it was cool to get back to it. I think it is going to be a great winter season! Happy trails....