More awesome runs

Well heck, I don't know what's up but I hope it sticks around because I have been having the most awesome runs of my life. Or at least the most awesome runs in a long, long time.

Last week I had a great, and fast, 9-miler on the bike path close to my house, and then I looped around the road up to the Campbell Creek Science Center.

We still have snow, unfortunately, since we broke the record this year with the highest snowfall: 133.6 inches, baby. And it takes a long time to melt.

But my streak continued, and the weekend was filled with two (two!) incredible back-to-back 15-milers.

Is anything better than a long run in the spring twilight? I swear, this place is pretty special once the light returns and the pavement clears. (Still waiting for the mountain and wooded trails to clear, but you can't have everything, eh?)

Saturday MM and I ran 15 miles around Lake Hood and out past the airport, and midway through we were hit with windgusts so strong they knocked me off the road a couple of times. It was wild. We had on shorts (such a thrill to run in shorts again!) and our legs were bright red. I couldn't stop laughing. By the time we finished my chest and stomach felt beat-up from the stress of fighting the wind.

We ate, collapsed on the couch and watched "Out of Africa" but fell asleep before the halfway point and left Meryl Streep fighting syphilis back in Denmark, poor dear. Didn't even get a chance to see Robert Redford fly his nifty little plane. We are such an exciting pair.

Sunday we walked the dog around Taku Lake and then went to Target--gotta love those big, red balls out front (what's up with that, I wonder). Target has only been here a couple of years and is still quite a thrill.

This is Taku Lake in the summer, which is a much prettier picture than in the slushy spring.

Then we ran another 15-miler (at least I did: MM only ran 10, hee, hee), and it was another incredible run. We followed the Coastal Trail downtown and then along Ship Creek, a newish section of trail that highlights some of the grittier aspects of Anchorage: Shipyards and storage facilities and not-so-scenic railroad areas. But it was in the open and we had sunshine the whole way. And I felt as if I were in a big city as I ran over the cool bridges, as if I were back in Philly running with my sister again (miss you, honey).

Cool bridge.

This was SO exciting because we don't have many bridges like this on running trails here in Anchorage.

Most of the bridges are just, well, bridges.

Just a bridge.

Note my cool pink compression socks. My sister got this for me and they ROCK!

This is MM. I take horrible pictures, hee, hee.

And what was The Beebs doing during all these runs? She was cozied up on MM's futon writing her memoir on his laptop.

Another writing in the family, can  you stand it?

Weekly total: 39 miles
Reading: Golden Days, by Carolyn See