Twin Peaks Trail

 After dragging gigantic log rounds through the woods for several hours yesterday, I took another rest day from the wood pile. I hiked with Pam and our dogs up the Twin Peaks Trail to the second bench, we were both pleasantly surprised that there was almost no snow or mud along the trail. We did find a small section of snow just below the second bench, and a little bit of mud just below that. But I'd heard it was all post holing through snow just last week. It was very cloudy but at least we didn't encounter any rain. I always love the view of Eklutna Lake from the first bench overlook. There was still too much snow to continue past the second bench to the ridge, so we turned back at the second bench. The dogs had a great time running ahead and exploring all the interesting smells along the trail. I enjoyed being far away from the wood pile!

Long Lake Loop Hike

I took a break from cutting and splitting fallen trees and went for the 4.5-mile hike around the Long Lake Loop at Matanuska Lakes with my friend Pam and our dogs.  It was a really nice day, and we managed to avoid any rain. Most of the trail was clear of mud, but we did find a few muddy spots we had to avoid. I really enjoyed getting a workout for my legs instead of just my arms and my aching back. I could tell that our dogs were very happy to go along with us too. Especially Bella. She's not been very happy with me for spending so much time out in the yard doing spring chores. We're both ready to start doing our typical summer hiking and running schedule.

Bodenburg Butte

 I've spent the last week doing massive yard projects. Cutting, hauling, splitting and stacking wood from a fallen spruce tree was the toughest 3-day project. I also had to plant new lawn in a large part of my backyard after having a gigantic tree stump removed. I had to take a break from all that. Plus, I think Bella was starting to hate me for not taking her hiking. We did the little 3-mile round trip climb of the Butte. The trail is now in great condition, with only a few muddy spots and small puddles. I really enjoyed the climbing workout instead of the obnoxious things I have been doing all week. When we reached the top, the wind was ferocious! So, we didn't stay up there very long. We did meet a few people on our way down, but I'm sure none of them lingered up there for very long either. It was beautiful as always with views of the snow-covered mountains and the Knik Glacier in the distance. Afterwards, I went home and finished splitting and stacking the rest of the spruce tree. Bella seemed very happy too!

Bella acting as a wind gage

Wolverine Creek Run

 Bella and I just ran from the house along Wolverine Road to the creek and back. It was a test run wearing my new road running shoes. They felt pretty good. Bella refused her breakfast this morning, but I see she gobbled it right up after running 4 1/2 miles!

Matanuska Lake Trails

 The trails are still very muddy, and it is suggested folks stay off of many of them until conditions dry out. I knew the Matanuska Lake Trails were not too bad in most places right now, so I went with the Valley Wanderers on a 6-mile hike in that area. It was a very winding combination of parts of the Long Lake Loop and the Bear Berry Loop. We did encounter a couple of huge puddles that we needed to avoid by climbing a bit through the brush. But otherwise, the trails were pretty good. We did have to climb around a giant fallen tree on the Long Lake Loop Trail that wasn't even there a few days ago when I hiked it with Pam. I had taken a load to the landfill earlier and it was raining, so I planned for rain by wearing my rain jacket and making Bella wear her matching raincoat. At least she was colorful and easy to spot as she raced on ahead of the rest of us. But we didn't even get a single drop of rain. We were not at all disappointed about that. We had our lunch at the picnic table on the Bear Berry Trail with the awesome views of Pioneer Peak. It was great to be out with the group again.

Long Lake Loop

 I hiked the Long Lake Loop with my friend Pam and our 2 dogs today. I'm still getting over a bad cold but felt pretty good just doing our 4-mile hike around Long Lake. We did find a few very muddy places but were able to navigate around them. It looked like it really wanted to rain on us, but we only got a few little grains of snow that pelted us for a few minutes. It did make for an interesting, although rather threatening, cloudy sky. Our dogs were happy and very muddy by the time we got back to our cars. Bella is ready for another bath.

Valley Thaw Out Marathon

 I initially registered for the half marathon because I have run it several times. The marathon is new this year and was originally advertised with a 5-hour time limit. I knew that was way beyond my abilities so reluctantly settled for the half. A few weeks later my friend, Alice told me she tried to register for the half, but it was all full. So, she registered for the full marathon, not really wanting to do the whole distance. Soon after, I noticed that they had changed the time limit to a generous 8 hours. I knew I could probably do that even if I walked the whole way. I tried to switch my registration to the marathon but got a message that it was too late to switch. A few days later I got a notice that if anyone wanted to drop out of the half to allow those waitlisted to get a chance, they could contact the race director. I talked with Alice and we decided it would be fun if we ran together. I emailed the director and switched to the full marathon. The day before the race, Alice switched to the half because her back hurt. She is a faster runner than I am, but I was looking forward to trying to stay with her most of the way. But that was not to be. There were only 34 runners doing the full marathon and they were all young enough to be my grandchildren, and a zillion times faster than I am. But that's OK. They took off and I was in last place in the first mile, which is typical. After a couple of miles, I found that my feet were really starting to hurt. It seemed to get a little worse with each mile. But I took it in stride and did a lot of short runs followed by periods of walking. My pace didn't seem to change much whether I walked or ran, and I could see I was on a pace to finish in time. I was so happy to see that a lot of the water had receded from that tunnel, and I was able to avoid getting wet feet. Although as I went through the tunnel for the second time, on the return course, I considered putting my feet in that icy water because by mile 17 or so, I was really having serious foot pain. I kept telling myself it's only a couple more hours, I'll live through it. The wind came up once out on the Springer system, and I was really happy I had brought my windbreaker with me. It kept me at the perfect temperature. It started out a gorgeous blue-sky day and was cooler and cloudy by the end. But still, a beautiful course with the mountains towering above me. I finished with 20 minutes to spare. Not a very good time, but still a finish. I'm so glad I upgraded to the marathon. It showed me that first I need to buy different shoes, then do some more training in the new ones. I need to pick up my pace if I want to finish the Anchorage Marathon in June. I should have plenty of time to remedy the foot and training problem by then. Plus, through the whole race I was also suffering with the blasted head cold that had not improved a bit since Tuesday. I was so happy to see that finish line!