Where to run in Fairbanks, Alaska: Creamer’s Field

I do a lot of travelling, and I’m always trying to figure out where the best places to run are wherever I’m going. I’ve been in Fairbanks a lot lately, and I’m lucky enough to have a couple of running friends up there showing me their favorite spots. I figure I’m probably not the only one that wants to know ahead of time where they should go for good running, so I’m going to highlight a few of my favorites. First up, in what I think is my favorite right now in Fairbanks, is Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge.

So, Creamer’s Field was started by a couple that brought three cows up to Fairbanks during the gold rush in the late 1800’s and started a dairy. It became the largest and most successful dairy in Interior Alaska, and was in operation until 1966. It is still farmed and managed with the goal of encouraging migratory birds to visit. The refuge currently has 2,200 acres of fields, woods, and ponds, and some of the historic dairy remains, and currently houses a visitor’s center and gift shop. The refuge is open year round, and the trails are groomed in winter. One thing runners need to keep in mind is that there is no potable water at Creamer’s Field, so BRING WATER WITH YOU.

A community organization, Friends of Creamer’s Field, provides guided nature walks and educational opportunities for visitors and there is a network of trails throughout the refuge. There are trails alongside the fields in the refuge, and a trail through boreal forest.

The boreal forest trail is a 1 mile loop, and there are parts of it that are just beautiful. There are long stretches of boardwalk that are really fun to run on, and a viewing platform that you can climb up to a bird’s eye view of the area.

 The boardwalks are my favorite part of the trails here, and I make sure I run them each time I visit.

There are only a few miles of trails on Creamer’s Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, but they connect to skiing and dog mushing trails that for the adventurous could add close to 30 extra miles of trails, depending on weather. When it’s rainy, some of those trails become inaccessible.

I really enjoy running here, and when I was here for a week earlier this month, I visited here twice to run. I love it that you can run in both woods and fields, on boardwalks and trails. The variety is fun, and the scenery is great. It’s totally awesome, and you should go.

Right round baby, right round, like a record baby…

SO.

Resurrection Pass 50 miler was this past Saturday.

Resurrection Pass trail (photo credit to Michele Harmeling)

I looked forward to this race all summer. Hell, ever since I finished it last year, I have looked forward to doing it again. I planned carefully, made sure I had everything I could possibly need, even talked a sucker friend into running it with me (Michele, you rock!!). Rented a hotel room near the race start, etc., etc. As of Friday afternoon when I got off work, everything was running smoothly, so I jumped in my car and headed towards Cooper Landing, full of optimism and excitement.

Resurrection Pass trail (photo credit to Michele Harmeling)

I had one errand to run in Anchorage, and then I was going to get my run in on the coastal trail, grab some dinner while I was in Anchorage, and then drive the rest of the way to Cooper Landing to check into my hotel. Best laid plans…

I pulled off the highway at the exit to the shopping center where I needed to run my errand, slowed to a stop at the light, and disaster struck. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I suddenly felt dizzy, lightheaded, and incredibly nauseous. I was like, OMG, what the HECK is going on? I parked in the parking lot, and got out of the car, and had to lean on the car to stay standing up. Like, my legs totally wanted to buckle under me, I needed to throw up (I didn’t; I would do ANYTHING to not throw up), and the world spun around me. Like a record, baby, right round, round, round. Yeah, it was not pretty.

I got back in the car, and sat there, with my head pounding and my stomach in upheaval. I took some motion sickness medication that helped the last time this happened. I reclined the seat in the car and laid there for an eternity over an hour. I had to keep my eyes closed, because if my eyes were open, and I moved them at all, it made my head spin. The whole time, all I could think about was whether I could get things under control enough to get to Cooper Landing, and whether I would feel good enough to race the next day. After more than an hour, when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I called my daughter, Becky, who lives only one freeway exit away, to come over. She got there pretty quickly, and sat with me for a few minutes. It didn’t take long once she got there, however, for us to decide that she should take me to an urgent care place. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was pretty sure there wasn’t anything an urgent care doc could have done, but I just desperately wanted to feel better, and was hoping there was some magic trick the urgent care doc could do to get me back on my feet and safely on my way. I also didn’t call James right away, partly because I didn’t want to worry him if I didn’t have to, but also partly because I knew he would put the cabosh on any further attempts to drive 2 or 3 more hours that night….

To make a long story short, the urgent care visit was a waste of time and money. The doc told me I had BPPV, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, gave me a prescription for more motion sickness meds, and told me I couldn’t drive until I felt better, but if I felt better in the morning I could run. In the meantime, Becky told James where I was and what was going on, and he met us at the pharmacy after I left the urgent care place, packed me into his truck, took me home, fed me (I love him), and tucked me into bed.

This had two big implications.  First, I had not yet run that day when I got sick. Afterwards, I could hardly walk, much less run. I had to break my streak. That day would have been Running Streak Day 724. So close to 2 years of running every single day.
Second, clearly, I was going nowhere.  The race started at 6 am the next morning and I was more than a 3 hour drive away. Clearly, I was not going to be on the starting line, no matter how good I felt. I was SO UPSET. I cried, and felt sorry for myself, and worried about Michele, running the race alone. In addition to missing the race myself, I had talked Michele into running this race, she had never run this distance before, and I really wanted to be there for her. And I wasn’t. So I felt guilty too.

Juneau Lake, Resurrection Pass trail (photo credit to Michele Harmeling)

Saturday, I felt pretty good, and if I had woken up in Cooper Landing instead of Wasilla, I’m sure I would have run the race. I felt good all day on Saturday, until I had to drive into Anchorage with my daughter to retrieve my car. I didn’t get dizzy or lightheaded again, but I did get pretty motion sick. I was very glad to get home, and promptly went back to bed.

Michele, that wonderful, strong woman, made it about halfway, to the single aid station on the course, and had to DNF after rolling her ankle and having a lot of hip pain. It turned out that she didn’t have to run it by herself, because another runner we both know from other races ran most of it with her, but that was probably a blessing and a curse because they each have very difference paces and race day outlook and strategy. Michele and I are pretty good running partners because we both have similar paces, and we tend to think the same way about racing, and we both get stubborn and sarcastic when the going gets tough, so it works well for us. I’m still very sorry for wimping out on her, and wonder if we would have both made it if we had been together to push each other along.  We make a good team.

Sunday was better, and Monday was better still. Tuesday and today I have had no dizziness or nausea. The pressure in my ear is mostly gone. I feel back to normal. I had a follow up appointment with my primary care doctor. I had spent some of my in-bed time to research vertigo, and I had come to the conclusion that the urgent care doc was wrong in his diagnosis. My primary care doctor agreed, and thought maybe it was labyrinthitis, since I just had a cold, and am still on antibiotics for strep throat. But he gave me a referral to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist for further evaluation, since this is the second time in a year that I have had severe vertigo that lasted for significant periods of time. I’m currently waiting for the ENT to call me back to make an appointment.

In the meantime, I’ve signed up for another race, A Day at the Beach, in Chugiak. I signed up for the 12 hour race. It’s a 4-ish mile loop on trails that are ski trails in the winter. I ran the 12 hour in 2016, and the 6 hour last year. I’m excited to tackle the 12 hour again this year. Now to convince Michele to run it with me….