Gold Mint Trail

 It finally stopped raining, so Pam and I hiked about 7 miles along the Gold Mint Trail with our little dogs. It was cloudy and a little windy but mostly sunny and beautiful. It's so incredibly green compared to this winter when it was so white everywhere. A couple miles in we encountered the remnants of the huge avalanche from this past winter. There was a gigantic crevasse with a stream running through it, right in the middle of the avalanche debris. We had to do a little bit of strategic climbing to find a way across the snow without crossing the crevasse. After that the trail was in pretty good shape but there are some muddy spots from the last few days of rain. I enjoyed getting out on a hike after being so busy this last week with non-hiking responsibilities. I belong on the trails, not working in my yard!!!

Butte Hike

 It's been a very stressful week of helping my friend Mark buy a new truck and generally recovering from the marathon. I'm feeling more tired than usual after a race. But still so happy I made it with a much better time than last year. I needed a stress and anxiety relief hike today, so Bella and I climbed up the Butte. It was a perfect day for it, and it was just what I needed to relieve all the stress from the last few days. It was a little windy as usual, but not bad at all. I felt like I could have stayed up there for hours. There were lots of kids up there today. When I sat down just to relax and admire the view, Bella and I were soon surrounded by little girls, all admiring Bella. She got pets from all of them and gave kisses to all of them. It was really fun watching her interact with the children. She loves kids and I always know they are safe around her. Other dogs, though - well, not so much! She gets loud and aggressive even if the dog outweighs her by 100 pounds. I could tell Bella really enjoyed the little hike. She has most likely also been feeling a lot of my stress this week. But happily, Mark has a new truck, and he can drive places without expecting to end his day in a tow truck with a huge repair bill. It was time for that truck to go to the great parking lot in the sky. 

Mark's new Truck

Anchorage Mayor's Marathon

 I am quite relieved that today is finally over. Last year I ran this race and beat the 7 hour 30-minute time limit with only 2 seconds to spare. I registered for it again this year with the intent to work hard and concentrate on improving my time. Unfortunately, I never did do the training I had hoped to do. So, I have been stressing out about it for many months, knowing my chances of finishing were next to none! I admit that my attitude has been terrible and negative and I even considered not even showing up. But I did really want to do it because it would be my first full marathon since turning 80 years old. I ran one marathon back in 1979 and swore I would never do that again. But in 2007 I changed my mind and decided to run the Anchorage Marathon when I was 60 years old. After that I became a true Marathon Maniac and today I ran my 176th marathon, the same one I ran when I decided to break my vow to never do such a crazy thing again. Today I was stressed out about the time limit almost the entire race. It was at about mile 15 or so that I realized I was running much faster than last year. My feet were hurting but not nearly as badly as they were last year. My new shoes were helping but it was still pretty painful. But more tolerable with the significant amount of Advil I had taken at the start and again at mile 10. Weather conditions were perfect too. It was sunny and warm, but not too hot. It was in the high 60's and even up to 70, but there was a nice cooling breeze, so I never did get too hot. I was amazed when I crossed the finish line with a time of 7 hours and 2 minutes. I ran this marathon in 2007 and 2008 but couldn't for the next few years because my job up in Deadhorse caused me to work all of June. I resumed running it again in 2021 and have run it each year since then. Each of those 6 I placed in my age group of 75+, all but one I was first, including this time. There are not a large number of women over 75 who do that one, or any full 26.2-mile marathon, which gives me a distinct advantage. They give the age group winners an extra medal that is a smaller version of the regular finisher's medal. I enjoy having them in my collection.

I swore I'd never put myself through the stress of doing this marathon again. But I can't say that for sure. I do know I'm not going to register for it the minute the registration opens next year. If I do decide to do it again, I will sign up at the last minute, but only if I feel extremely confident. Life is too short to stress out over a silly time limit for something that is supposed to be fun. Life feels even shorter when you are 80 years old too! But I am happy I did it this time!

Cottonwood Lake Kayak

Yesterday, Bella seemed really restless and uncomfortable in my kayak. She did have a couple of cushions on the floor to sit and stand on but seemed pretty restless. She also has trouble standing up because she wants to hold onto the front of the boat, but it is very slippery. After I got home, I bought some wide Velcro and put several strips of the soft side of the Velcro on the front of the boat. I will see if that helps her on our next trip. Today I also brought her fake fur fuzzy dog bed and put it on the flat cushion on the bottom of the boat. For the first time ever, she jumped right into the boat. She traveled much better today with her comfortable doggie bed. It was a little windy but easy to control the boat as long as I stayed fairly close to the shore. We went all the way to the outlet stream that goes into Mud Lake. It had a lot of branches and debris, and the water was pretty low and fast, So I decided not to travel it to Mud Lake. Most of the lakes and streams are a little low right now because it has been very warm and dry lately. We paddled for a couple of miles, and it was cool enough that I didn't even need to dip Bella into the water. I think she had a lot more fun today, just because of her little bed. She really liked barking at the water lilies for some reason, which I thought was rather odd. 

Rabbit and Palmer Slough

 I finally had a chance to go out in my kayak. I took Bella and we went to the Rabbit Slough dock and put in there and paddled up stream on Palmer Slough. It was a beautiful very warm summer day. Bella got kind of hot, so I ended up holding her by her lifejacket and giving her a quick dip in the water. She settled down and stopped panting after that. She doesn't seem to understand the point of floating on water in a little boat and would much rather be out running on the trails. She did enjoy barking at the birds and at nothing at all. I was just happy to be relaxing on the water in the sunshine.

Archangel Road Hike

They finally opened up Archangel Road because the snow is gone. The road is so awful with gigantic boulders and muddy ruts, that I refuse to attempt to drive up it. I did see quite a few large pickup trucks and a few cars, around the size of mine though. I could probably make it but have always decided it's safer to just hike if I want to do anything up at the far end of that road. Bella and I hiked the 2 miles up to the locked gate from the bridge where we had parked. Shortly after passing the gate, it was starting to get pretty muddy. I decided that was a good place to turn around. We ran most of the way back. The mountains back there are so rocky and spectacular that I just love getting back there. When I have more time, I plan to go back to Lane Basin or even up to Lane Glacier. There is still a lot of snow and mud on the Lane Basin Trail so I will want to wait a couple more weeks at least. But today was a nice little workout with delightful views.

Wetlands Trail

 I took my usual walk around the Reflections Lake Trail with Bella. Mark came with us and we decided to check out the Wetlands Trail that takes off towards the confluence of the Matanuska and Knik Rivers. Typically, it is very wet and often impassible. But it has been so dry around here lately that it was totally dry and nice walking. There were lots of bluebells and shooting stars blooming along the oath. We made it all the way out to the river. Bella had to sniff everything along the way. I took a few photos of the flowers. The other day there were 12 swans and their offspring, but today there were only a few grebes on the lake. We only walked 2 miles round trip, but it was a lovely day to do the little walk.