Ice skating on the Tonsina Trail

Wanted to run a medium fast 4-5 miler today so I hit the Tonsina Trail. I expected it to be slick; parts of it run through the middle of a stream bed (yeah, through the middle--that's how trails are up here). But once through that, it usually evens out.

Today it didn't. I had on my spikes and was doing pretty well, couldn't go fast but I was keeping a steady pace.

When I met Cedar (winner of the Mt. Marathon Race like seven times in a row) and she and buddy weren't running but walking with ski poles, I thought: Uh-oh, maybe I'm being stupid. Because Cedar is one of the toughest women I know, and if she's walking with ski poles, why in the hell am I running?

But did I take that as a warning? Oh, no. I stopped and chatted, and they mentioned slick parts on the downhill with glacier ice and freeze-up. I wasn't sure what glacier ice was, exactly, but since it sounded deliciously threatening, I ran on.

About a half mile up the trail I hit the glacier ice, a long stretch of glinting bluish ice, wet and slick and slanted toward the edge of the cliff so that if you fell, guess which way you were gonna go?

I stopped. I looked around. I thought: Do I want to go on? Then I noticed that the cliff was over the side of a very large hill, not a mountain, and if I toppled down I might get hurt but probably wouldn't die.

It got bad in places, and was so slick that even with my spikes that I had to go down hills on my butt, using my spikes to steer as I madly bounced off rocks and torn my hands of frozen tree roots.

(The poor dog became quite upset each time I lowered my ass to the ground, barking and yelping as if to say: Get up and act degnified, woman.)

Part of the trail goes down the cliff in a series of sharp switchbacks, and those were the worst. The only thing that cheered me up was the thought that heading back uphill would be easier.

That was so not the case. I soon understood that attempting to run/walk/crawl up pure ice at the edge of a cliff demands fierce concentration, and many swear words.

When the dog slipped, her toenails scraping across the ice as she tumbled toward the edge, I reached out, grabbed her collar, dug in with my spikes and caught her, right before the edge.

After that the poor dog, who had barely recovered from the dog attack a few weeks ago, practically trembled each time we came upon yet another expanse of ice.

Once we got past the worst of it, I was able to run again, and I was happy because it was twilight, my favorite time of day. The trailhead is by the beach and after the run, I walked down to the shore and it was perfect: Everything blue and silver and grey, the water and the sky and the mountains. The tide coming in, the waves hitting the shore, the dog playing happily in the surf and I thought: What a wild, unforgiving, glorious, obstinate, harsh and wondeful place.

Then I drove home and cooked the dog chicken, even though I'm a vegetarian, because sometimes a good dog deserves a good meal.

Run: 4 miles

Reading: "Dalva," Jim Harrison

Short run along the bay

Took a short 4-mile run along the bay today, right at twilight. Oh, those blues! I can't get enough of the blue shadows. I swear, it really does something to me.

Sometimes when I'm holed up in the house writing, which I've been doing too much of lately, I become a little depressed, a little hard on myself. It's tough writing all day, just me and my mind locked in combat. I mutter, I yell at the cats. I wonder what in the hell am I doing in Seward, Alaska?

Then I go out for a run. And the views and the colors soothe and energize me.

The Beebs no longer limps and should be ready for her visit with Uncle D Monday when I leave for Hedgebrook. She's staying with my friend and his wife and their two dogs, Pearl and Rocky. Beebs LOVES Rocky. Last time they snuggled up and Rocky licked her nose, over and over again, dog love, dog kisses.

Have to get back to writing, sigh, sigh. Someday I shall have a life (she says, fist punched out to the sky like Scarlett in Gone With the Wind: "As God is my witness, I shall some day have a life again." )

Running: 4 miles outside, 3 on the treadmill

Reading: Poetry in various literary magazines

Mount Marathon Race registration

Yeah, you know you wanna do it, right?

Great photo, huh? I didn't take it. It's by Ron Niebrugge.

It’s time to register for one of the most grueling and glorious races in Alaska. Mount Marathon racers and wannabes must apply for a lottery spot before midnight March 31. Cost is $25 for junior racers and $45 for adults http://www.seward.com/ .

That's the good news. The bad news is that if you're a newbie, it's really hard to get in. This is because previous racers have priority, and once you've raced, you're in for life as long as you continue racing each year.

I was lucky: I got in one my first try. That was three years ago, when the odds were much higher. Last year, 7% of men got in through the lottery and 16% of women. When I first applied, almost half of all women made it in.

(Right now I'm sitting comfy on the sofa and I can see Mt. Marathon right out my window. It's covered with snow, but no matter. I truly believe that because I shed blood on the mountain, that late at night when I sit by the window and write, the mountain feeds me energy. Call me crazy but I truly and totally believe this sometimes.)

Off to run. Lost my second pair of Yaktraxs on the trails yesteray. Just cannot get those babies to stay on my shoes. The sad part is that the last 100 feet of the trail was pure ice and I thought, "No problem, I've got my Yaktraxs."

A moment later I hit the ground, hard.

Turns out that I didn't have my Yaktraxs, sigh, sigh. Must have lost them somewhere on the trail. Now I have a nice bruise on my elbow and butt.

What is it about falling, though? There's something almost enticing in that moment when you lose your balance and know you're going down, something scary yet exciting in a horrible yet exhilarating heart-pounding, fist-clenching way. It's similar to that feeling of standing at the end of a cliff or top of a mountain and imagining hurling yourself over the edge, not because you want to die, which you don't, but because you long to know how it would feel to let lose and allow yourself to fly for a few seconds or minutes or however long it would take before your body crashed against the side on the way down.

Thankfully I'm running on fairly flat ground today.

Hope everyone is falling fast through the day, and landing softly.

Ah, go jump in the bay

Okay, sometimes I do bitch about my job, but being a small town Alaska journalist has it perks. Such as when I get to sightsee in a flight plane or take boat rides to see sea lions or snag free kayaking lessons.
Today was one of those "perk" days when I got to shoot and interview some of the crazy jumpers who hurl themselves into Ressurrection Bay as part of the Polar Bear Jump-Off Festival.
The event raises money for the American Cancer Society, and the jumpers wear wacky and wild costumes. My pics aren't the best because since I was shooting for work, I couldn't use the shots I took on my work camera and had to settle, sigh, sigh, for my pocket-sized digital. Still, I think you'll get the picture (pun intended, hee, hee).

The water temp was about 35 degrees. The air temp about 32. There was a thin sheet of ice over the water when the jumpers started (brrrrr!).

Looks like they're wearing jammies but so what, they're braver than I am.

Hula dancers take the leap.





This dude makes a fine lookin' lady. This is as he stands in line waiting to jump.

Same dude after the jump. Gotta love waterproof makeup.

These two were dressed as bride and groom and were still on their honeymoon--they got married last month.

Can you believe it? Bikinis in January! Love the white socks.

A little afterjump eye candy: Yum, yum.

As far as my "other" life, I ran 5.5 tempo miles yesterday and two very slow trail miles with the dog. Loved the tempo run, it hurt in the most delicious of ways.

Here's the shot I took of the city from the cliff by the trails I ran.

And the Demon Dog is back! Love how Beebs' eyes glow red and fierce in my headlamp.

Gotta go take a nap and then cover the Oyster Eating Contest and Lip Snyc Contest tonight.

Here's a fact many of you probably don't know: Two years ago I placed second in the women's division Polar Bear Jump-Off Oyster Eating Contest. I had never eaten an oyster before in my life. We had to hold our hands behind our backs and slurp with our mouths. It was great fun. I threw up later that night, sigh, sigh.


Writing: Up until 6 a.m. last night (this morning?) writing; I was on a glorious roll

Reading: Stories and essays in "The Missouri Review"

Running: Two slow miles, 5.5 miles tempo, warm-up, 8:34 mile, 8 mile, 7:34 mile, warm-down

Writing + more writing = not very much running (sigh, sigh)

Oh man, it's Thursday night and I'm just getting around to blogging for the week (bad, bad, blogger, Cinthia!). It's been a bit hectic around here.

That's a lie. It's been very calm. I've been writing like mad, writing for hours and hours, barely sleeping, eating too much one day and hardly anything the next.

Oh, glorious!

I haven't been running much, maybe 2-3 miles a day (pathetic!), just enough to keep my joints from totally locking up.

I am going to lose a lot of my training benefits, but I had to seriously slack on something. Writing takes up so much emotional energy, this is something that very few people tell you:That it's exhausting and consuming. That sooner or later it will knock you flat on your ass.

I'm almost to that point, but not yet.

But, good news: The Beebs ran two miles today. Hooray for the old girl! Because her hip was injured in last week's dog attack, she has the most peculiar gait. But she wanted to run so run we did, very slowly and not very far. Afterwards, we were both a bit ashamed of ourselves for having taken it so easy.

The Beebs, feeling the shame of a short, slow run

More good news: In less than two weeks I'll be here:

Doesn't this look like a fairy tale cottage?

Yep, I'll be staying in a cozy cottage in the woods on Whidbey Island, Washington state, as part of the Hedgebrook Residency program for women writers.

I was previously awarded a residency there about five years ago and it changed my life. It was when I really started to think of myself not as someone who writes but as a writer.

The cool thing is that you get a cute little cottage all to yourself, and all you have to do is write. They cook your meals for you; you even get a lunch packed for you every day (!). No Internet or TVs in the room, no distractions. It's wonderful and a bit terrifying to be handed a space and time for writing (like,what if I don't write? What if I finally run out of things to say and I sit in the cabin for 10 days staring at my awful and useless hands?).

I'm taking my running clothes, of course. The temps are in the 40s right now, with rain. That's practically our summer weather, hee, hee. I can't wait to run on bare pavement and trails.

Anyway, I'm honored to have been chosen and hope I do the program, and myself, proud.

And I hope that all of your out there are chasing your dreams, a little bit at a time.

Running: Embarrassingly short distances

Reading: Not much

Writing: Too damned much, and loving every agonizing minute

Running skirt sale

Not sure if anyone else has blogged about this yet, I've been a bit out of the loop today. But my sister sent me an email that there was a sale on running skirts (I'm totally buying matching skirts for the next time we race together) and had to share

Check it out on at everyone's favorite running store. All the clearance skirts are $11 or $20. Wow, what a way to put a kick in my Sunday.

W-w-weather report (that's my teeth chattering)

Am I a wimp or is it just too cold to run outside today? Hate the idea of the treadmill but I swear, just walked the dog (she's well enough to take short walks--yay!) and man, that wind.

It's -3 right now at my house.

Here's the forecast:

Sunny. Highs zero to 10 below except 5 to 10 above along the coast. Near seward...North wind 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40 mph. Elsewhere...Northwest wind to 10 mph.

Supposed to go own to -18 to -25 tonight. That's COLD!