Walking Is Out of the Question

Click to zoom in... (Thank you Jaime)

What Happens In Vegas...

I spent last week in Las Vegas for work (yes, for work). It's always nice to get away from the office, and I had a little fun too. I made $75 on the penny slots and had some really good dinners, including Knobhill Tavern at the MGM Grand (Michael Mina restaurant) and a $55 steak at the Palms. YUM. I can't handle Vegas for that long, so I was ready to go by the end of the week. Plus I had to get back for Homecoming Weekend at Bucknell!

Unfortunately since I wanted to drive up Friday night, that meant I booked the 6 AM flight Friday morning. Ugh. Didn't help that Delta made me check one of my items because for the first time in 4 or 5 years of flying with them, my garment bag counted as an item. Go figure that they weren't following policy before... At least I got enough sleep and didn't even have to take a nap between! I was sure pooped when I got there though!

The weekend was great - got to see friends and just relax and hang out! Plus it was Halloween weekend! In retrospect, I wasted 3 hours watching MSU get destroyed by Iowa (bye bye BCS Championship bid)...

Crisis Averted

Registration for the Boston Marathon opened this morning at 9:00 AM (EST). Last year it closed in record time, on November 13th. This year I figured it would close quicker, but I figured I'd be able to just do it when I got home from work. WRONG! Luckily someone let me know it was filling up and I was able to do it while I was at work. Registration closed at 5:03 PM, which means 19,000 people signed up in about 8 hours. That's ridiculous! I feel bad for the people that couldn't sign up because they don't have computer access at work or something! I was panicking for a minute there...Heck I almost didn't get registered myself! I was worried that my friend wouldn't be able to register and I didn't have her phone number or email so I was trying to find a way to contact her. My buddy at work reminded me I should probably sign up before it was too late, and I was like "oh yeah!" I finally did get a hold of my friend and she had found a way to register. Phew!

So what does this mean for the future of Boston? Well, I don't think we know yet... it could mean stricter qualifying times (for women and possibly also men)... it could mean fewer charity runner spots... it could mean changing the day/time that registration opens... I don't think they would increase the field size because I think only so many people can fit in Hopkinton... I vote for shaving 5 or 10 minutes of the female times. Maybe 5 off the male too if they want. That's from someone who made the current time by 3 seconds...

Officially registered for the 115th running of the Boston Marathon!!!

Just Keep Swimming!

Guess they found a new fish in the South Pacific. It's a ghostly white snailfish - not sure if it has a specific name yet. Kind of cool looking though! To me.

Weekend Thoughts

Wednesday when I got home from work I was pleasantly surprised by a package - my gear that I left at the finish line in NH. A BIG thank you to the Clarence DeMar people!

Today was a 9/80 day (off work) so I did a little shopping, trying to finish my Halloween costume. It wouldn't be any fun if I told you what the costume is, so all I will say is that I learned how to put on suspenders...ha!

Tomorrow is the Baltimore Marathon. I found out just last week that one of my roommates is running! How did I not figure that out before last week?? Got an LVM friend in town for the race too. Good luck to everyone running! I will be getting up bright and early to help man the water stop before the 6-mile mark. I will be wearing my orange wig :) After cheering on the runners I'll be heading to the bar to watch the MSU-Illinois game. Go Green! No let down week!!

I put air in my bike tires (since I haven't ridden it since I moved) so that I can get around easier tomorrow. Driving would be a major pain. My own long run will have to wait until Sunday. Which is probably for the best anyway, to give my hip extra rest. Thursday's successful run was definitely a good sign. Only 15 weeks until Houston already!

New Template

Alrighty. I'm really excited about this new template. Thank you to Lasantha at Premiumbloggertemplates.com (I got it from btemplates.com) for putting this together. Obviously not specifically for me, haha...

Let me know what you think! :) I'm sure I'll be playing around with it from time to time.

Four Seasons

So, based on a few comments from my Uncle on my Facebook status about listening to James Taylor songs with the months in them, I was inspired to think of playlists like that. And, well, I love making lists (and music)...

The Four Seasons (with Frankie Valli?)
Your Winter - Sister Hazel
Springtime - Mike Errico
Cruel Summer - Ace of Base / Bananarama
Autumn Leaves - Eva Cassidy (French popular/folk song)

Months
October Road - James Taylor
November Rain - Guns n Roses
A Long December - Counting Crows
January Friend - Goo Goo Dolls
February Song - Josh Groban
The Imperial March - John Williams (cheating? haha)
Pieces of April - Three Dog Night
Mayday - Dispatch (again, cheating?)
Evening in June - Van Morrison
On the 4th of July - James Taylor
August & Everything After - Counting Crows
September Grass - James Taylor

(Incomplete) States
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
California Girls - Beach Boys
Connecticut - Bing Crosby
Georgia on My Mind - Ray Charles
When You Dream About Hawai'i - Bing Crosby
Indiana Wants Me - R Dean Taylor
My Old Kentucky Home - (Stephen Foster)
There's A Girl In the Heart of Maryland - Bing Crosby
Especially In Michigan - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Mississippi Queen - Mountain
Theme From New York, New York - Frank Sinatra
Ohio - Neil Young
Oklahoma/Texas Line - Rascal Flatts
Pennsylvania Polka - Frankie Yankovic
Tennessee Waltz - Norah Jones
Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Meet Virginia - Train
On Wisconsin! - (Univ. of Wisconsin's fight song...)

"Counting" Crows...
One - Three Dog Night
Two Days in February - Goo Goo Dolls
Three Times A Lady - Commodores
Four Wheel Drive - CW McCall
It's Five O'Clock Somewhere - Alan Jackson & Jimmy Buffett
Every Six Seconds - OTown (yeah...)
Seven Nation Army - White Stripes
Eight Days A Week - Beatles
Cloud Nine - Temptations
Ten Years Ahead - Soundtrack of Our Lives

I tried to pull from my iTunes collection first...

How the Mighty Have Fallen

College Football comment...

I could write about #1 Alabama being upset at South Carolina or MSU's awesome game against Michigan (GO GREEN!!), but I'll choose to comment on Kentucky's cheerleaders. They were shown holding up signs that said "Yell With Us" and "Make Some Noise" ... come on, really?

BURN THEM

I am beginning to run out of words already at how angry this makes me.

http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/tennessee-firefighters-let?xg_source=facebook

This is outrageous! That policy should be thrown out the window with the people who put it in place. It's hard not to be disappointed in mankind when there are stories like this. Just following orders? Screw that. They should be ashamed.

Do they respond if someone hasn't paid their $75 but their kid is trapped?

Bump. Set. Spike.

I played 6 games of volleyball tonight (double-header), for the first time in about a year. That combined with 9 days after a marathon? Sore legs! Not used to moving and twisting like that. Good news is that my hand held up (i.e. sprained right thumb from basketball last winter). It took me a game or two to feel comfortable again. I had some nice digs, and towards the end I started passing better and even had a few good hits.

Went out for a 3-mile run after work today and felt pretty relaxed doing 7:45 pace. Cool. I still have to nail down my training plan for Houston (today was day one)...

I booked a room for Boston! And a flight for Christmas. Now I just need the flights for Houston and Boston :)

Work's been pretty crazy the last month or so. Even put in some overtime last week! Some of it is frustrating, but it's better to keep busy (and get things done!) than not have enough to do.

Rain Rain Go Away

Come again...like in a month - we've had enough for now.

Big win for MSU against Wisconsin yesterday! Go Green!

Tigers finished off the season with a win to get back to .500 (81-81). Stay healthy next year, kids.

Did my first run (2 easy miles) since NH this morning. Legs were a little tired my right hamstring was a little tight. AKA time to start training for Houston!

Been looking at hotels for Boston. Anything downtown is like $250/night. Yikes! Looks like the outskirts for this dude.

Did some Halloween costume shopping today. All I have to say is it's hard to find candy canes this much before Christmas!

Laterz.

THANK YOU

This was lucky number 13 for me: 13th marathon. 13th year of running. 3:10 backwards is 13 (thanks Pat). I stayed in 13th place for most of the first half of the race...plus it was "Year of the Moose" - as in my marathons this year were in moose country (Alaska & New Hampshire). Finally getting that BQ was a long, difficult journey full of hard work, ups and downs - and there are a lot of people to thank that have helped me along the way. So here's my Oscars speech:

I'd like to thank...

God, for giving me the tools to make this happen and providing a beautiful day for a run. My family for all their support and encouragement. Uncle Bill for hosting us. Aunt Jeanne for shouting at me as I made the final turn. Ethan for being there on this great day. Eva for lending me her room (as she's not in NH after all). My friends for their support, encouragement and inspiration - especially Molly & Becki, Karen, Randy, Sze, Alan, Stephanie, and all you LVMers. The medical team at the marathon, and the rest of the Clarence DeMar crew. Pre. My legs for hanging on for me. The Boston Athletic Association for providing the quintessential marathoner's goal. And, reluctantly, my 3:11:03 finish at Vegas last year... **music plays**


If you're interested in my splits... (let me know if the link doesn't work)

Next stop, Houston (1/30/11). State number 13. Then on 4/18/11...

I think I'll go to Boston....

Done!

I looked up ahead to the finish clock and saw 3:10:43. At this point I was past running on fumes. I had nothing left. So I gave more.

I rode a personal-best 1:24 for the last 385 yards into the finish, crossing the line at 3:10:54 on my watch and 3:10:56 officially. I did it! I qualified for Boston!!!

Out of pure exhaustion, I stumbled through the finish chute, nearly into the guy ahead of me getting his medal. Luckily two people on the medical staff caught me and helped me over to the medical tent. Needless to say, I didn't provide much of the walking power to get there. They took some vitals and brought me food and drink to refuel, and were really helpful. Once I had the energy to stand and walk around a little, I gave my mom a hug and headed over to the finish area to see my dad finish and celebrate with my cousin, aunt and uncle (and family friends who happened to be in NH also showed up a little later too).

Little medal, big significance

My dad came in at 4:26:38, his best time in roughly 3 years. When I told him my time he got really excited, hugged me, poured his water over my head and cramped :)

I finished 17th overall out of 305, but only 12th in my age group, since the age group was 39 and Under. 39 and Under? Haha, oh well. At that point, I didn't much care. It was, however, the first time I was counting places in my head as I was running a marathon.

I thought for a second I had accidentally erased the splits on my watch, which upset me until I realized they were really still there. We showered up at the Keene State College gym and headed out to celebrate with nice, big juicy burgers!

Mmmm

Overall, I thought the course was pretty good, though not nearly as easy as I expected. The fall colors made the first half beautiful, and most of the town wasn't too bad. Small race and small town meant very little spectators until the last turn. That made some stretches VERY tough mentally and, frankly, a little boring. We did forget to pick up our bags that we left at the start... but it was a nice, small-town marathon without many frills, good organization and friendly people. The weather was a few degrees warmer than perfect (51 at the start, 65 by finish), and less cloud cover than we had hoped, but we can't ask for too much now can we?

I ended up with several PRs: Full and Half marathon times, overall finish, time spent in the medical tent...

I also hit 9,000 miles for my running career somewhere in the first half of the race.

Back For Seconds

I woke up at 5:45 AM. Slept a total of about 5.5 hours, which is pretty good for the night before a marathon. I was relaxed and ready to go. When we got there, it was a little chilly (compared to the 90 degrees I was seeing during the week in Baltimore), a nice cool 50 degrees. We made a quick stop at the port-a-potties before a short warm-up. The start I had been waiting for, for nearly 10 months, was just minutes away.

We could have slept right at the starting line.

I was a little concerned that I would go out too fast due to the small size of the race and quick drop in times. Based on past results, the winner was generally in the 2:30s and by 15th place, times were already around my goal (3:10). Not to mention the downhill start. I was also a little concerned that the early mile markers would mess with me mentally. They had construction before mile 13 and had to re-route it a little, and to compensate moved the starting line up 65 yards. They didn't, however, move the mile markers at all. In the end, the fact that they announced it made it all okay. Since there were no chips, I started in the second row.

Soon after the gun went off and we turned the first corner, I settled into a comfortable pace and a solid 14th place. I came through the mile at 6:43 (I added 20 seconds for the 65 yards) - rather fast, but considering the downhill and how I felt, I kept going. The first half was mostly downhill, making it a fast half - I PR'd with a 1:30:40. It was also quite pretty. Fall colors filled the tree-lined country roads, some along the river. A few rolling hills were thrown in the first half to keep us honest. My mom and Ethan surprised me with a visit around the 9.5-mile mark and I was feeling great. I didn't have a split above 7:00 until Mile 11. There was a big hill in Mile 12 (7:23) and I bounced back with a 6:53, my last sub-7:00 mile. At the halfway point we started weaving our way around the city.

Some scenery along the course (taken Saturday). Notice the cracked, uneven pavement?

Then the second half of the race started. I knew with the downhill first half and tougher second half I had to "bank" some time, even though I don't like doing that too much. It was inevitable, really. Overall I think elevation profile is a little misleading, and now I know that it is actually similar to Boston's. A few hidden hills were in there and we didn't get to drive Mile 20, since it was on a park path. Now it was just a matter of if I banked the right amount.

(1) CDM, (2) Boston, and (3) my log's mapped version of CDM.

About Mile 14 things started to hurt. My ankles were sore, perhaps from the uneven footing (some canted roads and a few bad spots paving-wise). My right heel began to blister, as I had feared. I focused on staying strong mentally - and physically - and worked through the pain. It's rare not to have any pain in a marathon, after all.

There were a few tough little hills before 19, and Mile 20 in the park surprised us with a couple tough hills of its own. About then I started to struggle a little bit. Some dude named Paul, a high school coach from Connecticut, helped drag me along through the first part of the park. The next 4 miles were the toughest on me, time-wise. I hit near 8:00 for Mile 21 and Mile 22, and then we hit the biggest hill on the course in Mile 23 (8:39, my slowest). I walked about half of it and at that point, even the downhills after that started getting difficult. I hit the 24-mile only 10 seconds ahead of my Vegas time and knew that I had to pick it up. I had to break 8:00 for the last 2 miles to have a good shot at a BQ.

I managed to run sub-8:00s for the next two miles and turned the corner and hit the 26-mile mark two seconds behind my Vegas time despite running a faster 26th mile. I knew I had to go. I wasn't going to let it happen again. I got to the last corner and heard my aunt yell "20 SECONDS!"

Gotta go, Mike. Gotta go now.

The Motivation

The date: December 6th, 2009
The place: Las Vegas, Nevada
The event: Las Vegas Rock N' Roll Marathon
The result: Ultimate motivation

My training for this year's Clarence DeMar Marathon in Keene, New Hampshire began shortly after finishing last year's Las Vegas Marathon, where I ran a 3:11:03. Four seconds - count them: 4 seconds - shy of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, the Mecca of marathon running. While being quite happy about running so well, and feeling like I couldn't have given anything more, I was understandably crushed. I knew that race would be my motivation for my next attempt.

I started feeling good about a month ago (near the end of August) when I ran a Half Marathon up in PA. It was a tougher course than the Half I ran last year and was pouring rain most of the way so that all considered, I was feeling good about my 1:32:55. Most of my runs, especially the weekend long runs went really well. I don't usually get that excited about a marathon so far in advance. I was anxious to get my chance.

I had a long week of work before flying out to NH after work on Friday, but I made darn certain that I still got some decent sleep. Saturday I woke up after a good 9 hours of sleep and we had brunch in downtown Peterborough.

The Fall colors were starting to change, making the scenery rather beautiful.

Brunch at Nonies (right)

Dad and I watched Prefontaine before heading out to Keene. We drove the first 19 of the course (can't drive 19-20) and headed over to pick up our packets. We checked the board for our numbers - and for some reason they didn't list the people alphabetically, but by race number - and couldn't find our name! It should be easy, right? Look for the longest name? We went over to the registration table and told them we couldn't find our names. After checking the list as well, they had us just fill out forms for new numbers (no extra charge) - which was super nice of them. With one last check before they handed us numbers, the guy came over and said he found us in the database. Apparently our last name was too long and they listed us under "Ski" - why wouldn't you abbreviate it from the beginning!? Well, bags (number and shirt) finally in hand, we headed out to drive the rest of the course and then dinner at Olive Garden.

After a rousing game of Mexican Train Dominoes - I won the 3rd game, though tainted by Dad's misplay - we got everything ready for the race and headed to bed.

Summer Aftershock

It was absolutely disgusting outside today. 90 degrees and muggy and buggy. Today and the next two are hot remnants of summer.

Then I head north to New Hampshire for the marathon! Latest weather? 64/44 mostly cloudy - perfect! :) I've been excited for like 4 weeks now. These last two days of work are annoying and in the way!

After recently watching Evita, I took an immediate liking to "High, Flying Adored" and now I can play it on guitar! Woot! Tonight I also learned to play Coldplay's "The Scientist" and sort of learned "Breakeven" by The Script. Hooray for the growing binder of music!

More ESPN

More from ESPN the Magazine...

Their MLB preview for the year had the Red Sox winning it all and Joey Votto having a down year. Haha...

Best NHL franchise as voted by the players? Red Wings. Darn right! Smartest coach? Babcock.

Apparently if you catch a fly ball intentionally with your hat in baseball, the batter is awarded three bases. Weird.

Number of hot dogs sold in a typical MLB season? 21,733,839

Sports Technology

I've spent a little time today going through some magazines I never got around to reading. ESPN the Magazine published (1/25/10 issue) a poll of "which sport has benefited the most from (legal) technological improvements to its gear?"

I was surprised to see Track and Field came in at 5th behind Golf, Motorsports (obvious), Football and Tennis. What, shoes?

America's Got Talent

...and apparently more smarts this year after making Chicken Boy (Kevin Skinner) last year's winner. This year's dude is a good singer (and his name is Michael), and I've never seen a girl Jackie's age that can sing anywhere near that. Fighting Gravity will probably be in Vegas anyway. Hopefully anyway!

In other news, I heard Cake's version of "I Will Survive" on the way home from work today. Yuck. I like me some Cake, but nobody should re-do that song. You just can't. Doesn't work.

Never Forget

Do You Remember?

Happy September everyone!

The parentals are coming to town for the Labor Day weekend. Looking forward to that :) 4-day weekend + family = yay! Definitely ready for the work week to be over. Still a bit slow.

Work has been pretty slow again, but running has been good! A good half and then a good 20-miler last weekend. Yesterday I ran with some really fast people at the track. I averaged 6:13 for 5 1-mile repeats, with only 90 seconds rest. Oof. Sweet. I'm feeling pretty good about NH...3 1/2 weeks...can't wait!!!

One Week

Bad news with my router. It crapped out on the 20th. I had a one-year hardware warranty. I bought it 8/15/09. Go figure. Oh well. Linksys sure got their timing right...

Back to Work

Time to get back to songwriting! I haven't done any in a while! More is better, right? It's like buying lottery tickets, right? The more you write the better chance one is a winner? :)

Long Overdue

Okay, so this is LONG overdue...every birthday I try to compile a list of a few things I've learned, as long as some firsts, over the past year. Hey, I'm only 2 months late...

**Version 25**

Firsts (not many that I can think of)
- PT for a running injury
- Double run (i.e. a two runs in a day)
- Trip to Alaska!

Things I Learned
- Don't buy magazine subscriptions in person
- Cancel your trial subscriptions early if you're done with them!
- How to file a claim with an insurance company
- What plantar fasciitis really is
- What city life is like...sort of...
- More about corrosion and types of corrosion than I thought I ever would
- Mick Jagger sang back-up on Carly Simon's "You're So Vain"
- ALT & Enter in Excel creates a new line within a cell
- A lot about crabs and crab meat
- Snoopy was sort of a mascot for NASA
- The most deadly creature is the malarial parasite
- Don't run a marathon in worn out shoes :)
- Flexibility is vital
- How to turn on a furnace for radiated heat
- Jumping isn't good for shin splints or stress fractures
- What exactly a sprain is
- Missing BQ by 4 seconds SUCKS!
- How to make eggs overeasy
- How to drive a jetski
- Totem poles are not completely round
- What Qiviut is (musk ox wool)...and how soft it is!
- My great-great-grandfather Alexander Niebrzydowski landed in America on my birthday in 1906...in Baltimore...

Bored@Work

No I'm not at work right now. But it's been pretty slow at work lately. I need stuff to do! I hate feeling unproductive!

Bimbo Bakery

Sorry, that's just a funny name. To make it even better, I saw a little league team (or soccer, I can't remember which) that apparently has them as a sponsor because on the front of the uniform it said "Bimbo" - proud to wear that uni...?

Dreams, O Dreams

It's weird how if you wake up during a dream in the morning, your day starts off like the dream. I had an extremely depressing dream this morning and I was dragging through the day the first couple of hours. It wore off, but it was a little strange.

Also, you can get poo from food!

(Bonus points for the reference)

Hot Hot Go Away

After today's crappy run in the 92-degree heat after work (at 7pm), I'm definitely ready for the heat to go away. Here are some of the numbers on Baltimore:

23 days in July over 90 degrees, including 11 straight days
3 days in July over 100 degrees
3 more that hit 99
1 more that hit 98
As of today, 6 of the 10 days in August have hit 90 degrees

Add humidity to that.

Yuck. Blah.

Vancouver, eh?

Day 10 - Vancouver (I)

We got off the ship bright and early Sunday morning in Vancouver. We stayed near a poorer part of town, so my impression of the city probably wasn't fair. I think it really is a nice city. Probably would have been good to spend a little more time there. We did see the Olympic torch and all on the trolley tour, so it was all okay.



There was a jazz festival going on in "Gastown" so that was kind of neat. Street performers and all. It's also the home of the thinnest building in the world, apparently.


Day 11 - Vancouver (II) & Amtrak

We spent the afternoon in Vancouver before boarding the Amtrak to Seattle (to catch the plane). We just toured around again and had lunch on Granville Island, which really isn't an island anymore.

View of the city from the island

Bye Bye Canada!

We got in late to Seattle and flew out in the morning (Day 12).

Awesome trip!! :)

Ketch-me-if-u-Kan

Day 8 - Ketchikan

The third and final port stop was a little town called Ketchikan. Its claim-to-fame, other than copious amounts of totem poles, is that it is the "first" city in Alaska if you sail up the coast. Thus, it is called Alaska's First City. It is also Salmon Capital of the World, apparently.


By the way, I forgot to mention in the last entry that the only way you can get to Juneau is by boat (or seaplane) or birth canal. A little trivia for ya.

We went off to Saxman to see a bunch of totem poles while Vicki and Alberto went kayaking. I always thought totem poles were completely round (like a tree), but I guess they aren't...


There wasn't much else to do there unless you took an excursion, so I did a lot of walking around town and visiting the gift shops. One thing that was there was the old red-light district, which is now mostly shopping and restaurants, Creek Street.


We again ended the night with some dancing and fun (and karaoke) at the Crow's Nest lounge.

Day 9 - My Birthday!

The next day was a lazy day aboard the ship, as it was a travel day. It was also my birthday! Celebrating on a cruise is not a bad way to do it! We partied all night and said goodbye to our new friends. We shall meet on another ship? :)



It was an awesome time. I highly recommend it if you ever get the opportunity!!

Not quite done yet...

D'ya know?

Day 7 - Juneau

Our second port stop was the capital, Juneau. We walked around town for a short bit while Dad and Alberto went and got the rental cars so we could explore more. Juneau is a VERY hilly city (though you can't tell from the picture) and I'm glad we didn't run the marathon there!!


We drove on over to the Mendenhall Glacier. We ended up going for another long hike to see if we could get closer. Unfortunately the river had flooded over the trail and it was impassable, but it was fun and there were some nice views and nature-ness.



Afterward we also visited the Shrine of St. Therese, which was a neat little retreat out in the middle of nowhere and on the water.


That night was one of the formal dinner nights on the cruise, so we had a nice meal (not that the others weren't nice...)



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Now playing: Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
via FoxyTunes

(odd...haha)

Ice & Haines

No, not the underwear.

Day 5 - Glacier Bay

First day of the cruise was all on-board, but highlighted by a tour of Glacier Bay. Bet you can't guess what's in Glacier Bay! Dang, you're smart. It was cool. And cold.

Margerie Glacier

After spending most of the afternoon outside in the cold and light rain (hey, it's Alaska) we decided to hop in the hot tub. I think that was a splendid choice. Pat and I played some chess and ping-pong, and we did some trivia, and of course ate some awesome food at dinner.

Day 6 - Haines

First day in port was in Haines, which apparently is the home of Fort Seward. Why it's not in Seward...who knows. Anyway, the weather was decent again for us (i.e. minimal rain and even some sun). We rented a couple cars and did some of our own sightseeing.


Moose!

The second half of the morning was spent at Chilkoot Lake. Some nice views and more bald eagles. No bears though :(


After lunch we split up. My car (Mom, Dad, Pat, Me) went out for a little hike in the rainforest. Yes, you read that right. Alaska has rainforests. I suppose the other car did too, just in a different spot. It was a pretty difficult, and sometimes wet/muddy trail, but it was a neat hike. I love me some hiking.

Very big plants (Devil's Club?)


That tired us out nicely, and we got some good views, a nice nature hike and saw some pretty...interesting...plants.

I can't remember if that was the first night we went up to the Crow's Nest to do a little partying.

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Now playing: Live - The River
via FoxyTunes

Seward & Seaward

Day 4 - Seward & Wildlife Cruise

We got up early Sunday morning and took a cab (or rather, cabs) to get to the place where we needed to board the bus (shuttle) to Seward for the cruise. It was an extraordinary drive. The fog lifted, for the most part, for some amazing views. We even saw some wildlife along the way - sheep, goats, eagles, moose...!

We stopped at a lodge to transfer buses, and it had to be one of the most beautiful parts of the trip, in my opinion (and that is saying A LOT). The scenery was absolutely incredible!

One of my favorite pictures from the trip
We got to Seward around lunch time. We walked around a little, saw a lot of bald eagles, and then boarded the "little" boat for a couple-hour wildlife cruise. All-you-can-eat Prime Rib and Salmon? Yes, please.

Seward's Harbor

We did see a good bit of wildlife, though some of it was far away (or small, like the puffins!), but all-in-all, probably worth it. We even had some playful little porpoises that decided to swim with the boat for several minutes. Absolutely beautiful day too - 60s and sunny, which I understand is pretty rare around those parts.

My pictures don't really do this tour justice, but here's a pretty decent one of our first (of many) glacier sightings in the next few days:


After the wildlife cruise we boarded the CRUISE! :) So weird to see a sunset at like...midnight!

Mayor's Marathon

Day 3 - Race Day!

Good morning!
We got up nice and early and headed out the door. There was some trouble with the buses that made a LOT of people worry if we'd even get to the start line in time! Luckily we did with a few minutes to spare, but not much.

We started off towards the back of the group since we were all going to run together towards the back of the pack. It was a pretty course, but I think our expectations were probably a little over the top (i.e. we didn't see much wildlife or crazy views). One of the prettiest, but definitely not over Big Sur.

Good amount of streams

There was about 9 miles of the course on a loose gravel road through a military base, which wasn't too bad at first, but after a couple miles it really started to take a toll on the legs. My foot that had been injured wasn't too happy about the uneven either. We did get a little bit of rain in there too. Add in some hills and it wasn't exactly PR material.


After we got off of the gravel, we crossed a little bridge onto a little forest trail that was kind of neat. I like running on trails like that.



Even when we got onto the streets, those didn't last long. We went through some parks and around lakes and through tunnels and on trails...


Almost done!

Now that's just cruel!

We did a lot of walking towards the end and came in around 4:55 - all four of us together. We even did a little conga line before the finish :) And we tried the Wazzu kick at the line, but the photographer apparently didn't get me in the photo :( Oh well.

Love me some watermelon!

Afterward we went to Moose's Tooth (yay) to celebrate. 11 down, 39 to go!

Another one bites the dust!

It was a late lunch, so I don't think much happened after that. We had to get up early to catch our transportation to the cruise ship. I know I went to bed early...