March!

It is Sunday night, spring break is over! This is why I am writing a blog post and procrastinating finishing some homework that is due tomorrow. It's been clear and cold for the last two and a half weeks. Consequently, it's starting to feel a little like spring when the sun is shining midday. However, my trip around the middle fork this evening was anything but spring-like. I decided spandex with only long john shorts were adequate bottoms, and boy was I wrong. I felt like someone was jabbing tiny pins into my knees the entire second half of the ski. Fortunately the conditions were quick, and I got around in about 85 minutes. Tonight is another beautiful sunset, and maybe we will have the spectacular northern lights we had last week.

Since I last wrote, we had the Sven (good race) and the Tour (a character builder). I am happy to be done and rest up a little bit before I start training for the Gold Nugget and bike season. Spring adventures and pictures will hopefully be forthcoming...

Pias!

I must say that I love Pia's Classic. Yes, I had a good race, and I was skiing strong for most of 30km yesterday. But Pias is the best race of the year, and I had a blast. Today I am exhausted and actually feel on the verge of being sick; I'm lying in bed, hoping the feeling will go away with a little rest and caloric recharge. For the first time I felt like I skied a race and kept fully focused for 30km. This marks a new high in fitness for me, the ability to really race for 30km. It really is an awesome feeling.


Kick double poling it on lap one.


photos by Barry J

I've also been busy with school. I just started my Masters in Education in Counseling program at UAA. I think I'm already flying by the seat of my pants, but I'm enjoying my classes for the most part so far.

It's a New Year.

This is that time of the year where I find myself stagnating a little bit. It's cold out. It's dark, most of the time. And for whatever reason, this is the second year in a row where I thought that January would be the best time to bog my life down with insane busyness. School starts tomorrow. That is a point of stress, and additionally, all the other winter things are swirling around me (literally, and figuratively). In the back of my mind live the constant thoughts of planning for the rest of my life (a disease born of being a Gardner). My only salvation appears to be skiing, and my friends. And though my friend time is sparse (as is my tendency), I find that a good dose refreshes my soul.

As to what I have been up to-- let's see, I spent Christmas with my parents, Nellie and Aunt Lynnie, and it was a blissfully simple. We went to church had a relaxed Christmas morning, I skied and then we ate Christmas dinner. Apart from having to work on the 26th, all was well. New Year's found me out in Willow at some friends' cabin. We had an epic ski, ate too much good food and blew things up (albeit on a relatively small scale). All in all a great weekend, again slightly ruined by the need to return to Anchorage, and work on the 2nd.


A poor picture of the December eclipse.


Yahtzee had us captivated.


This was as close as we got to spelling 2011.


Happy New Year!

Winter is upon us.

Tomorrow is my 28th birthday. There's no denying that that is late twenties. Oddly enough though, I find myself contented going in to this birthday and winter. In past years I wallowed in a strange darkness going in to another year of my life-- overwhelmed by a sense of emptiness and a lack of accomplishment in the proceeding year, and years. This is not to imply that I have achieved the things I was worried about before, I'm just in a mood to spend less time worrying about them. I'll get there, or maybe I won't, and that will have to be enough.

So what have I been up to lately? Work, training, cyclocross races and enjoying friends and family.







Let's hope this is a sign of maturity, as opposed to resignation.

Fall is Here.

I didn't post pictures from my Washington trip, or from two weeks of sailing. Although pictures of both are on facebook. Those events past, and I didn't post. Oh well. Moving right along to now, to today, where my computer has crashed and it's September. On a whim, I dropped my only class, and I have a feeling like I have this freedom that I am not going to utilize. I need to utilize it. I want to travel somewhere, somewhere cool and exotic. However, being a woman can be prohibitive to free travel. I need a partner to go with me, and it is frustrating to need another person. This can only lead to trouble.

This weekend brings a couple of days on the boat, and then a couple of days off next week. I have not planned anything, but I feel that I need to go somewhere, even if it is just to camp for a night. Life has settled down, but I am not sure that I like the rhythm of it all. I find myself thinking about those three things you need to be happy: I have something to do, but I need something to look forward to, and my someone to love, well, that's just going to have to be Nellie for the time being.

Washington Trip

Somehow or another it is June. I am not quite sure where the time disappeared to, but it is gone, and now it is summer. My days are currently monopolized by the World Cup, which started less than a week ago, but I feel a strong addiction to the matches already.

I spent the past two and a half weeks in Washington state. It was a vacation that did not involve too much adventure, but was a much needed break from my day to day in Anchorage. The first weekend found Andrew and I zipping down to the beach house in Ocean Park, arriving at 3:30am after a fun middle of the night drive down from Seattle. It is a good way to avoid the traffic!

The weather did not exactly cooperate and we spent most of the weekend playing games and watching movies. Saturday was the one decent day, allowing us time to go on a beachwalk, where we saw a resting baby seal. Supposedly the mother was hunting and returning to pickup the nearly newborn pup. I also took a trip out to Leadbetter State Park, where I saw the first bear of the season, a small blackie, strange to see one away from Alaska.

After the beach weekend, I spent the week in Seattle-- enjoying sleeping in, morning runs, afternoon naps and evening movies. On Saturday, my parents arrived in Seattle. We saw the Mariners lose on Sunday to the Angels, went sailing in Elliott Bay on Monday, a trip to Paradise at Mt. Rainier on Tuesday, a Sounders game with Kelly on Thursday, and graduation on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday I zipped back to Alaska, back to work for a few weeks before the sailing trip. Pictures to follow...

March

The last few weeks have been a blur. The first week of March was the Tour of Anchorage. I finally bit the bullet and raced the 50km. I was incredibly intimidated by the thought of the Spencer Loop; the horror stories I had heard about blowing up by skiing too fast up the monster hills and slow snow of the Spencer kept me awake at nights in anticipation of the race. The day finally rolled around and I was feeling quite good-- race start was early, and we were off and skiing at 8:34am. This was the only race all season where I can honestly say I pretty much skied exactly the way I wanted to ski. Despite relatively slow snow, I hit my goal time of 2:45. The new snow Anchorage we received prior to the race made for absolutely perfect trails and the grooming was excellent. And the real icing on the cake: I won my age group for the first time in a long time, and seventh woman overall.

After the tour I worked the first four days of spring break before heading down to Washington state for my grandfather's memorial service. He passed away on March 4th of cancer. While he had been quite ill, no one expected him to slip away so quickly. While it sounds cliche, I suppose his quick passing was a blessing. The service went smoothly-- and I jetted back to Anchorage after driving to Seattle, and flying home through Salt Lake City. I was thoroughly exhausted by the time I returned to Anchorage on Monday night.

The next adventure found me cutting class this past thursday to head up to Turnagain with some crazy guys: Charlie, Jeff and his Aussie friend Chris (aka Darlo). We toured up the Bertha Creek Valley under sunny skies and in warm weather. Once we reached nearly the headwall, I set up shop and waited for the boys to ski the big shoot above me called Granddaddy. Darlo ended up skiing back down the headwall and waiting at the bottom with me, our cameras ready to shoot Charlie and Jeff on their descent. Charlie dropped in first and did a ski cut, letting loose a two foot crown of slabby blocks into the shoot. This set off a small avalanche clearing the whole shoot of loose snow. At this juncture I was so glad I was down below, and that Charlie and Jeff were safely above the accelerating snow. The two skied the cleared shoot without incident and we headed back down to the car after a glorious day in the mountains.