Not So Fast

Oh, oh, oh, summer in Seward!

The weather has been mostly great, which means the running has been incredibly great. Thursday evening I did a nice 10 miles on hilly roads and felt super. So when J called Friday morning to see if I was up for 10 miles on the Primrose side of Lost Lake Trail, I said, "Totally."

It was an awesome morning, sunny and, dare I say it, hot. I mean like Lower 48 hot. I mean temps in the (gasp!) 70s.

The trail travels up and up and up before leveling off at around 2,200 feet in elevation before going down and down and down. The climb was fairly gradual and runnable, and the views were breathtaking.

The trail looks so peaceful before the climb.

J. getting ready to tackle yet another incline.

Right before we got to the turnaround point, my watch beeped and I knew it was noon, and of course that line from Richard Siken's poem ran through my head: "That means it's noon, that means we're inconsolable." I wasn't inconsolable, of course, but running throgh all of that beauty I wondered if Siken ever imagined that part of his poem would play through the head of an Alaska writer as she ran mountain trails. Then I wondered if anyone ever recited lines of any of my poems as they ran or hiked or walked.

Then we started running downhill and I gave myself over to the motion of my body and the speed of my legs and yes, the joy of flying over rocks and tree roots and uneven footing.

After I dropped J back at her house, I stopped my sweaty, stinky self at the pet store to pick up more doggie biscuits for The Beebs. When I got back into the car, the universe threw me a little surprise.

My gearshift wouldn't budge, guess the cable snapped. No one could get it to work so I had to call a tow truck.




My beloved Ford Escort wagon.


A few minutes later a HUGE tow truck barreled in the parking lot and this manly looking man swung down from the cab with a small dog perched on his neck. He lumbered over to me.

"Heard you got a car that won't work," he said, and then instead of waitng for a replay, he turned and kissed his little dog right on the nose.

This dude had another dog in the truck cab, along with his cat. Yeah, he takes his cat along with him on tow truck jobs. Really wild. And the dog inside his cab was none other than Lady, The Beebs' arch enemy. It is truly a small world in this very small town.

I sadly watched my poor car as it towed away, all the while wondering if it was perhaps mocking me. Because the name of the pet store?

Wait for it.

Knots-So-Fast.

Get it? My car chooses to break down in this parking lot after I return from a run, and it kinda like it's saying, 'Hey, lady, you think you're a runner? I say, you're Not So Fast.'

So much for impressing my car, eh?

Knots-So-Fast pet/feed store

Running: 10 miles Thursday, 1:26; 10 trail miles Friday; 10 miles Sunday, 1:28
Writing: I'm like three hours away from finishing my final novel edits. SO exciting!