Twin Peaks Trail Hike

I was thinking of skiing at Eklutna Lake today.  But when I got there I found the Lakeside Trail looked kind of icy. So instead I just put my ice grippers on my snow boots and hiked up the Twin Peaks Trail. It was perfect, hard packed and easy to walk on until the last part near the upper bench.  Hikers had post holed through there so it was a little rough.  But I made it all the way to the second bench.  It was nice and calm, which was a relief after the 50 to 70 mph winds going on down in Palmer. It felt great to get out of the house and into the outdoors instead of being stuck in the house all day during the covid19 pandemic.  The governor encourages us to get outside as long as we keep our distance from other people.  So, I'm just obeying orders!  I did see several other hikers, but it wasn't very busy for such a nice day.

Independence Mine Skiing

Another gorgeous day!  We are encouraged to stay home because of the Corona Virus.  But we are also encouraged to get outdoors.  So I went to Independence Mine and skied the trails all by myself.  It was fantastic.  It's getting pretty warm so skiing may not go on for much longer. But with several feet still on the ground, it could be a while until the trails are bare again.

Since we are told to stay away from other people during the pandemic, I'm going to be doing lots of solo exercising.  All of my upcoming marathons and trips have been canceled or postponed, so I'm taking advantage of anything local that I can do solo.

Archangel Valley

What a spectacular day to get out on my cross country skis and explore.  It started out very cloudy and the light was so flat that sometimes I wasn't sure if I was moving or not.  But after a couple of miles the sun broke through and it was amazing.  The snow was wonderful too. Groomed powder.  I skied to the creek and back for my usual 5 miles. Once I got to the multi-use area, it was pretty chewed up by snow machines.  But the rest of the trail was great.  I only encountered a couple of other skiers with their dogs.  It was good to get out of the house and into the fresh air. 

Wolverine Creek

It's a sad time right now.  Most of my upcoming running events have been canceled.  First it was Big Sur, although it has been moved to the fall.  Then I learned that Nepal has canceled all visas so the Everest Marathon is out.  Kathy Loper let us just move our registration to next year.  I was still planning some local races, like the Green Day Gallop Marathon for this coming Sunday, and the Valley Thaw Out Races half marathon for April 4th.  But both of those have been canceled.  They even canceled tonight's Palmer Happy Run!  That one really surprised me.  This is all because of the Corona Virus 19 pandemic.  Almost all races world-wide have been canceled.  But I figured these tiny ones would still happen.  I'm hoping the Alaska Endurance Trail Runs in Fairbanks will still happen.  I registered for the 12 hour race just last night.  That is June 6th so things may have settled down by then.

I bought some new Icebug studded running shoes and tried them out for the first time today.  I had planned to do the Palmer Happy Rum 5 miles tonight, but since it was canceled, I did my usual 5 mile run to Wolverine Creek and back.  It's a beautiful day and 35 degrees.

Morgan Horse Trail Ski

I decided to check out the Morgan Horse Trail at the base of Lazy Mountain.  I know in the past it has been groomed for skiing.  It was fabulous and I skied most of the loops.  The Crazy Lazy Mountain race up Lazy Mountain is supposed to happen this Saturday.  I'm not registered for that, and it is sold out.  I have to wonder if it will even happen.  However, the trail is apparently in good condition.  So I may give climbing up Lazy Mountain a try.

It was a lovely day for a short little ski trip.

Los Angeles Marathon

After a bone chilling 3 hour wait at the start line, I finally warmed up around mile 4.  It was kind of crazy because the shuttle was at 3:30am. My hotel was just a 10 minute walk from the shuttle pickup place. So I figured I would get up at 2:30 so I could eat breakfast, and walk over there.  First I set my phone alarm for 2:30 and also asked my hotel for a wake up call.  Later it dawned on me that since daylight savings comes in at 2am, my phone would automatically jump to 3 when it reached 2am. So there would not be a 2:30am at all this morning.  I changed my phone alarm to 1:30am and woke up on time.  The hotel staff didn't figure it out though so I, as well as others, never got a wake up call.

It was pretty cold, around 50 in the morning, and the race didn't start until 7am.  I hung onto my jacket as long as I could then finally had to check it at the gear check.  I huddled under my plastic poncho for another hour, shivering uncontrollably until the race finally started.  It warmed up to the low 60's and was quite pleasant without getting too hot.

I did this one back in 2016 and really enjoyed it.  Once again, I really enjoyed it.  The course is mostly gentle hills, and I gained some speed on every downhill.  But I was still too slow to meet my goal of beating 6 hours.  My final time was 6:23:18.  Not as bad as some, but still not good enough for Big Sur Marathon next month with its 6 hour time limit.  I hope the snow lets up at home so I can get in some good speed training before that.  I did register for the Green Day Gallop on March 22, which is a local Palmer marathon.  If this current continual weather system of daily deep snow continues, that will be a very challenging marathon.

The medal for today is gorgeous. One of the nicest ones I have.

We encountered some interesting cheerleaders in Chinatown

Palmer Rail Trail Hike

The best way to describe this hike today would simply be interesting.  After scouting it out earlier this week, I determined it was not very good for skiing.  I felt it might also be questionable for snowshoes.  My Walkabouts hiking group planned to ski, hike or snowshoe it today so I had been checking the conditions.  We all met at the trail head at 11:30.  A couple decided to use snowshoes, but since most were just planning to walk, I left my snowshoes in the car.  That turned out to be the best option.  There were parts that might be good skiing, but the first part is quite wind drifted.  snowshoes were OK but not really needed.  There were several places where there have been large landslides.  These places were quite steep and the wind had blown enough snow away that it was just icy exposed rock.  This was pretty treacherous, so the snowshoes had to come off.  When we reached the worst slide area we all decided it was too dangerous to continue, so we turned back.  It was snowing the whole way but a nice temperature with no wind.  It was somewhat difficult walking because the path was basically packed by other walkers over the last few days.  I had to watch where I put my feet so I didn't stumble or fall into a deep hole.  It was a nice little 3 mile hike with good company though.