a run on the coastal trail

Seriously, I think the best thing about Anchorage is the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.  It runs from downtown, past the airport, and all the way to Kincaid Park, along the edge of Cook Inlet, for a good 12 miles or more. The views of the inlet are fantastic, and the scenery is just beautiful any time of year.

So on Saturday, when I went in to Anchorage to pick up the bib for the Resolution Run 5k on New Year's Eve, I had to take the opportunity to go for a run on the coastal trail.

Of course, I took Daisy with me, and we started at Westchester Lagoon.

At first, I was only going to run 3 miles, but when I got to the planned turnaround point at mile 1.5, I just was not ready to turn around, so we went another half mile. When we got back to Westchester Lagoon (mile 4), I wasn't really ready to stop running yet, and I hadn't run over the new bridge yet, so we ran another half mile towards downtown, before heading back to Westchester Lagoon, for a just over 5 mile run.

As usual, it was absolutely beautiful:

There were huge blocks of ice along the shore, and although we don't have a lot of snow, we have enough to turn everything white:

Seriously, if you are visiting Anchorage and need someplace to run, walk, or bike (or cross-country ski most winters,  but not this one, not enough snow), you just can't go wrong with the coastal trail. Plus, it's easy to access from several points downtown.

When we were done running, we got back in the car to head home, and Daisy immediately laid down in the front passenger seat and fell asleep. I guess it was a good run for her too :)

Merry Christmas

Wow. I just looked at my blog and realized it's been a year and a half since I posted anything. What's up with that???

What's up with that is that I have been insanely busy, and kept putting blogging last. And what happens when you put blogging last is that it doesn't get done.

Last night I was thinking about New Year's resolutions and I realized that one of the things I really want to do this year is actually blog, as opposed to thinking about blogging. So here I am. I am still, and probably always will be, insanely busy, but I'm doing it anyway.

So... I've been knitting. Since I am so busy, I didn't do much Christmas knitting, to lessen the stress of deadlines. But I did knit two gifts, one for my mother, and one for someone else. The one for my mother is done and went out in the mail on Tuesday, just in time to arrive tomorrow, the day after Christmas. That's way closer to on time than my Christmas gifts some years.  I forgot to take any pictures of it before it left, so I can't show them to you.

The other gift, however, luckily doesn't have to be done until Tuesday. I say luckily, because it's Christmas Day already, and it's not done.  I'll try to attach a picture.  I hope it turns out to be the right colors.

And... I've been running. Last year, I tried to do a running streak from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day, in which I ran every day. I didn't make it. I made it less than a week, I think.  This year is going better. I'm on day 30 today, and I'm determined to make it all the way through.

Yesterday, it was -6 when I was ready to run, so off I went to the gym, and ran 5k (3.1 miles) on the treadmill. I did it in 29:32, which happens to be my fastest 5k time ever. When I've had to use the treadmill instead of running outside, I've tried to focus on increasing my speed. I think it's working.

It was warmer today, about 20 degrees, so I took Daisy out on a short (1.24 miles) Christmas Day run.  I also got to test out my Christmas present from the hubby, a Garmin Vivosmart HR. I'll tell you more about that later, but have a look:

Merry Christmas!!!