I love summer. I love being home. Home makes me happy.
Friends make me happy.
Alaska makes me happy.
So naturally, we promptly left Alaska and went on a 'let's visit family' tour.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Our first night in Denver, Paige suggested we grab some pizza and beer at a nearby pizza place. Ev and I were pretty hungry and she said that they had some massive pizzas, so we were totally in.
It turns out that our (mostly Ev's) mental sizing of a 26" pizza is... off. When it arrived it was more like 30" and scarily huge.
 |
| This pizza was massive. Words cannot describe it |
It took four people and three days to polish that monstrosity off. And it was delicious. Although a bit shameful.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
And then it was race day.
Somehow a few months back Paige decided she wanted to run a half marathon. The Rocky Mountains Half Marathon. Naturally, I told her I would run it with her, as I'd done the same for Rachael a few years back. So she trained and I 'trained' (which translates to 'stressed out, took exams, went rock climbing, and ran, like, 6 times in the month leading up to the race').
Upon arrival in Estes Park, we were informed by our hotel that our room had flooded and they had transferred our reservation to another hotel. Which had no idea what the hell we were talking about when we showed up. And every hotel in the area was booked full. Eventually we stalked back to our original hotel and I had a bit of a (mostly civil) hissy fit. It turns out they'd transferred the wrong reservation (wtf), and scrambled to make it right. A few hours later we got a call telling us they had a no-show and a room for us. Thank god. Sleeping in a real bed before a race is kind of amazing.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I have some advice for my runner (and aspiring runner) friends: don't train for a half marathon at -6m (-19.5 feet), then run a race at 7,800ft. It's kind of exhausting. Sure, you can finish anything on pure stubbornness alone, but, as has been pointed out to me several times, that doesn't mean it's a good idea. So, for the first time in about 5 years, I did intervals after the elevation change hit around mile 4. Run for 2min, walk for 1. Unless the air felt too thin, in which case it was more of a run for 1, walk for 2.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried to stick with Paige. We ran together for the first 3.5 miles. Turns out, I'm a terrible sister and pacer.
Around mile 6.5 I picked up a Race Buddy. Race Buddies are awesome. You chat, you commiserate, you encourage, you learn way too much about each other's bowel movements, you push each other forward. And at the finish line you sprint in together, high five, and part ways. You've formed an intimate bond that lasts for a race. I was happy to hear that Paige found one, too
 |
| Before this most excellent life choice |
 |
| After. We're so pretty. |
 |
| The finishers medal is massive. It's surprisingly rewarding to carry a 2 lbs piece of metal around your neck post-race. |
I can say with absolute certainty that I was unprepared for the race. I probably should not have run it. But over the last couple miles, when other, more prepared people were stepping up their pace, I was complimented multiple times on my tattoos and told they'd been following them for miles. It was flattering to hear the appreciation for the (what I consider) art on my back, and that people thought I had a consistent enough pace to, well, pace off.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day we went on a post-race 'recovery' hike in Red Rocks. I'm not sure my legs actually believed me, but the rocks were beautiful and the hike was lovely.
For the next four days we went for hikes, wandered around Denver (well, walked down Colfax which was, to put it mildly, a sketchy life experience), and ate amazing food.
I cannot recommend Paige's restaurant, Root Down, enough. It's kind of amazing.
And then we went to Philly for my cousin's wedding. We got to see my sister and her boyfriend (who are awesome and super busy so I never get to talk to either of them), my 92 year old Grandma, and the entire extended family. It was a party with lots of delicious food and resulted in a couple family pictures where everyone has their eyes open. It's kind of a miracle.
 |
| SISTERS! Holy crap, it's a thing! |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
As is probably apparent, I'm not the biggest fan of cities. There are too many people and not enough mountains. And, after a year in Europe, I've been feeling increasingly overwhelmed by large groups of people and noise. So the week we spent in Fairbanks was amazing for my mental health. When we stepped off the plane (after a 34 hour day. Thank you, time zones) I felt a giant weight lift off my shoulders and for the first time in almost a year I felt like I could breathe deep and free. Then we went to Denver and Philly and the weight returned. The noise, the smells, the buildings, the congestion... by the end of our week and a half in the Lower 48 I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Leaving to go to Dillingham was possibly the happiest I've ever been to get on an airplane.
Dillingham is a wonderful place. Population 2,000, mountains, tundra, ocean, and lots and lots of space. And puppies. And Ev's parents.
So we hiked and fished and picked berries, smoked a couple cigars, helped Ev's dad cram an insane amount of insulation into a connex trailer, and played with the puppies.
 |
| I may have tried to steal a dog... |
 |
| the traditional cigar with Todd. We had to have it a tad early, since I didn't stick around for moose camp. This is the last year I'm skipping moose camp. I miss it. |
Pete even paid up on a bet and we got a bottle of Dom Parignon (which was super tasty). We'd kind of written it off months ago, so it was a welcome surprise.
It was rejuvenating. I didn't want to leave.
I think I want to be a hermit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
And now, amazingly, I think I'm caught up for the month of August (gasp!). Next week I head back to the Netherlands for the second (and hopefully final) year of grad school. I'm leaving Ev here (actually, I left him in Dillingham) until October, and it's been weird not being with him constantly. 51 days is a long time to go without seeing him. Hopefully I can maintain my grip on sanity.
No comments:
Post a Comment