HeR - Hello August, where did July go?

We made it out of Eagle River and onto the first destination!  I didn't think the day would come - although in reality we were only about 11 days past when I originally thought we would leave.  But had we left any earlier - we would not have had the opportunity to see my first up close bear, nor had a moose trample through a campsite in the middle of the night (i am telling myself it was a moose), drove through a rain & hail storm, met a Londoner on his 20th month of travel, a trip that started in South America, or tested each other's patience and resolve with all the "little shit" that happened up until our departure.  At any rate, I'll use the cliche phrase that I believe wholeheartedly in, "it all happens for a reason" and we were late departing for those reasons.

July was a flurry of activity - hence, another month goes by until I post.

Rolled off project July 6 so work was officially done at that point; however, has unofficially continued to take up my time as "minor details are sorted" with the contracting company.  A project end always seems to come with unexpected hiccups and now that I expect these instances, I pretty much take them in stride. Case in point, having to move from the apartment to a hotel for the last week of the project.  What a waste of time, but in hindsight it prevented me from procrastinating on sorting and packing clothing and possessions for Michigan, road trip, or storage unit.  I was pretty much ready to head out whenever I got the word.  

Michigan trip was fun - spent an entire week at a beautiful place with good company.  Can't ask for much better than that.  Indulged in delicious Michigan cherries and home-made raspberry jam along with gluten free goods from Unrefined Bakery - Barry's mom and sister (Anne and Taylor) own the business and make some really tasty non-allergen baked goods.  They have hooked us up with their snack bars and pancake mix for this trip - and I must say, not being a huge pancake fan, I love that stuff - it's pretty much been our staple breakfast along with eggs most mornings.

Upon returning from Michigan, Barry focused on getting his house ready to rent out, packing up everything for storage and the trip, building the platform for the back of the truck, organizing the heaps of gear in the garage, and building an additional wood topper to carry fuel, water, cooler.  He underestimated (by 11 days) the amount of time it would take to complete all this, which made for some terse moments as I don't do well sitting patiently and waiting.  If I have learned anything about Barry the past few weeks, its that he is a tinkerer, he measures everything to precise detail and then measures again, he is more of a gear head than I originally thought, and he is not a budgeter (which is the opposite of me).  Very interesting to watch him work - sometimes I wanted to yawn and knew that if I would take a 30 minute nap and woke up, he would probably still be measuring the same piece of wood to triple check that his fifth measurement of his seventh plan was in line with his tenth idea - oh and he might have to make his 15th trip to Lowe's to get the piece he forgot five trips ago.  But he completed it - and did a great job - so whatever gets the job done...

Two big highlights from last few weeks in Alaska were spent with some great friends - went to the Matanuska Glacier with a few girlfriends to learn and practice crevasse rescue.  It rained on us for a bit, but weather isn't much of a deterrent for me.  Rain, snow, ice, wind - certainly less than ideal, but with the right attitude and company it's no big deal (and can be quite fun!).  The whole walking on ice thing is still new to me.  Counter-intuitive.  Oh - here, take these spikes and put them on your shoes, carry these sharp picks around and just walk normal.  Same mental block I had with I had with ice climbing.  Ice is slippery - how the hell are the tips of few small sharp things going to help me climb ice and then you want me to hold this sharp thing that I will probably stab into my leg when I fall!  But it works, and it's fun, and I've learned to push the bush, and not swing like a girl, so I think I have found another hobby.

Second highlight was running Crow Pass. The race had been held the day before and the winner did it in 3 hours and some seconds.  The distance is 24 miles and after seeing the trail conditions, river crossing, and losing trail a few times -  I am convinced that Alaska is full of bad-ass runners (which I already kind of knew from Mount Marathon, Bird Ridge, Hatchers Pass, etc).  Definitely a novice - I am learning the ins and outs of descending quickly and ascending efficiently on uneven terrain.  Of course, I was the first in our group to take a spill, and of course it was in a little creek.  So much for keeping the shoes and socks dry - we were only 2 miles into the run.  My knee was bleeding, my elbow ached a bit, I was soaking wet, and I was deliriously happy. Not less than a mile or so later, another girl took a spill from stepping off the side of the trail - we both laughed and carried on.  Obviously, I desire nobody to get hurt, but part of trail running is knowing you are probably going to catch a rut or roll on a rock and take a spill.  And it's almost like a high-five moment when you do it, and realize that other than scrapes, bruises and a bit of pain, you are still able to get up and finish your run.  I also learned about "now you see him, now you don't" moments - one minute you are following the lead guy with the whistle and bear bell, the next moment all is silent and you can't see his head bouncing ahead of you.  You hear some rustling in the weeds, a few groans, and the dude pulls himself back on his feet again - that happened about 8 miles into the run to the lucky guy that was accompanying us ladies on the run.  The river was pretty swift and broad, more than usual, so we all met up at the crossing and crossed together - talk about a free f'in ice bath, glacier water is cold - and I am not talking just plain oh "shriek, that's cold", it's more like "piss your pants cold", which is what I would have done but everything was numb and frozen down there so it may or may not have happened - I have no clue.  After that (~mile 11ish), Neil and I took off for the last 13 at a reasonable pace.  At about mile 18, that reasonable pace became a face plant into the dirt for me.  I was going to play it off like it never happened (Neil hadn't turned around yet to witness me sprawled out on the ground), but then I looked down and there was no other explanation for the solid dirt from my chin to my ankles - so I 'fessed up on my second spill of the day.  Yay for me.

The following photo is from Hatchers Pass Relay - which was another super fun activity I did with a couple friends - so beautiful and an event that I want to go back and do again!

Ended that day with a BBQ with great friends - couldn't have asked for a better way to leave Alaska.  I certainly feel that I am surrounded by some truly special people and all will be missed while on our trip.  Not only that, we continue to meet wonderful people as happened with Ivan and Pattie - friends' of friends that joined at the BBQ.

Anyways - I will speak more to our first few days of the trip next post  Have the big marathon tomorrow so going to head out and make myself a burger.  Still downing the meat and iron pills to get my iron back up to a normal level - running with oxygen in your blood is much easier as I have learned the past few weeks of concerted effort to increase my iron (hemoglobin carries little oxygen molecules around to muscles - if that is depleted...you suck at everything).  

Next post - coming soon!