Yikes it's been nearly two months since my last post... I'll blame that on my winter blues. I will say that SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder is a real thing and I'm pretty sure I had it the first couple weeks of January. It was tough coming back to the darkness after Christmas and I didn't realize how much it would affect me. I was tired and irritable and just wanted to eat and sleep all the time.
It was hard for awhile to find motivation to get outside, especially with the lack of cold weather and snow in Anchorage. And it's been sad hearing about all of the snow in Texas this month. Where are the feet of snow I was guaranteed to have all winter haha? So lack of snow means no downhill skiing, no cross country skiing, and no ice skating because I am definitely not going to risk falling through the ice. I'm pretty sure we had 2 weeks of temperatures above freezing this year already!
However, I'd say around the last week of January and first week of February things started getting better and I noticed a definite change in my happiness levels! The sun finally started following a more East to West path across the sky instead of just making its appearance in the South for a couple hours midday. It is so bizarre having the sun in the South, it really throws off my sense of direction. As of today though, the sunset lights up the sky until around 6:30pm, which makes for a much more enjoyable drive home from work in the evenings. Its also becoming easier to catch the sunrises in the mornings! I drove out to Beluga Point with a friend one morning to watch a beautiful sunrise over the mountains a little after 9:00am.
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| Sunrise at Beluga Point |
To help beat my winter blues, I bought a fun new pair of running shoes! Yes I know function is the most important aspect of workout gear, but a very close second (if not equal consideration) is the style. I love bright colored athletic attire and shoes, as they make me so much happier and excited to work out. So here are my new lilac running shoes!
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| Yay for bright new shoes! |
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| Run run run |
Yes they are beautiful haha, but they are also so comfortable. I have wide feet so it's hard to find tennis shoes that fit well. My friend Emily convinced me to go with her to check out this Brooks launch party at Skinny Raven Sports and try out their new shoes. They came in some incredible colors, but unfortunately were too tight on my toes. However, I did get a koozie just for trying them on! I told the salesman how tough it was for me to find tennis shoes that don't squeeze my toes so he brought me out a couple wide width shoes to try. I had no idea such things existed! So I did a couple test runs on the treadmill with no luck... but when I tried on these lilac Adidas ones, I knew instantly that they were the ones. I got them studded up for free with the shoe purchase so I can continue my outdoor trail running and the Tuesday night Pub Runs. And I also got a cute green glitter running headband in preparation for the Shamrock 5k I plan to run on St. Patty's Day weekend :) Also, I love headbands in general so it wasn't a hard sell! Emily compared me to Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl with all my headband accessories and I'm pretty sure that was one of the most amazing compliments I've ever recieved!
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| Can't forget the spikes for trail running |
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| Headband post-workout... Don't mind my sweaty face haha |
I've been running on the weekends when there is lots of light and trying out some new trails. I did one run along the Chester Creek Trail and had my first pedestrian moose encounter. I was finishing up my scenic run and had about half a mile left when I approached a bridge river crossing and there was a moose on the other side of the bridge! I immediately turned around and ran back a bit, hoping the moose didn't see me. I haven't actually seen a moose get aggressive myself, but I've heard they can be quite dangerous, especially if you come between a mama and her calf. Luckily this one was alone, but I had no idea if it was a girl or boy since all the male moose lose their antlers in the winter.
Anyway, I was in a panic and decided to Facetime my friend Abbey from back home because I had been talking to her before my run. I was quite terrified and kept peering around the corner as the moose began crossing the bridge and coming closer. It was really funny cause Abbey and Kate were at a bar watching my panicked face and getting some video of my new normal everyday life haha. After about 5 minutes the moose finally got off the bridge to walk on top of the frozen river. I immediately hung up the phone and sprinted across the bridge as fast as lightening, but managed to snap a photo as I was crossing as proof haha. Moose are soooo huge! I don't think the picture does it justice, but I definitely did not appreciate their size until I moved here. They are not just like horses, they are easily 8-9 feet tall! I'm glad I made it out unscathed haha (overdramatic much?)
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| Running around the frozen lake along Chester Creek Trail |
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| Crossing frozen streams |
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| Escaping terrifying moose |
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| And catching glimpses of beautiful sunsets on the mountains |
The next weekend I decided to stick with a more heavily trafficked trail along the coast rather than the wooded moose areas haha. I managed to run 4 miles without stopping, all thanks to my new shoes :) I've been toying with the idea of signing up for a half marathon this summer, but we shall see if my shoes take me that far!
So with this crummy weather as of late, I've been getting around to some of my chores at home. I hung the tv in my bedroom, some curtains, and a painting above my bed (which was my Christmas present to myself). It's just now going up, but I"m so glad because I love it! It matches perfectly and has a really cool 3D texture.
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| My new bedroom painting! |
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| Matches perfectly |
Winter weather also seems to bring about lots of drinking! Social events turn indoors during many of the dark winter hours, which leads to some fun events. One of my favorites was the Alaska Beer and Barleywine Festival. You got 30 tickets to try samples of some of the finest Northwest beers, with plenty of local Alaskan beers present. I apparently am a total newbie at beer festivals and didn't realize that people wear pretzel necklaces to eat in between all the beer tasting. Luckily all my friends had them so i just stole from their necklaces.
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| Pretzel necklaces at the Beer and Barleywine Festival - Jason was hungry |
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| Cute Cooks champagne bottles at brunch! And delish crabcake benedict :) |
Now that it's getting lighter over the past several weeks, I've been balancing my winter drinking with some outdoorsy things. I really love snow showing and had my first endeavor with it on Flattop one Sunday evening with Matt and Emily. It was really fun to trek up the hill and catch the mountain views at dusk. They were beautiful speckled with snow and we could see the whole city of Anchorage twinkling below.
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| Snow shoeing at Flattop |
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| City lights of Anchorage below |
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| Beautiful mountains at dusk looked like a black and white photo |
I also went on a lovely Coastal Trail walk with Emily and we walked all the way to the airport and watched the planes take off literally right above our heads! It was awesome. There were some great views of downtown from the trail as well.
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| Emily becoming a true Alaskan, braving the snow in capris |
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| Planes taking off overhead! |
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| Pretty mountain views along the Coastal Trail |
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| And a lovely view of downtown from the trail |
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| Just another beautiful walk in Alaska |
I visited Hatchers Pass a few weekends ago for a goodbye party for my friend Steph, who turns out isn't moving anymore! But thankfully she was planning on it or else we never would have had this great goodbye gathering in her honor. Hatcher's Pass is only about an hour and a half drive north of Anchorage. While we were hanging out in the cabins on Friday around midnight, a few of my friends that had gone night cross country skiing came yelling down the hill that the auroras were out. It was my first time to see the Northern Lights so I
didn't even get my full winter gear on before I ran outside and watched the beautiful green lights swirl over the mountains. It was such a treat, by the end I was seeing purple and pink swirls dance across the sky. I ran over to my friend Steph and started hugging her, partially because I was freezing and partially because it was one of the neatest things I've ever seen in my life!
The cabins we stayed in were so cute tucked away up in the mountains. It was dark by the time we got there on Friday, so I didn't realize the true beauty until the morning when I woke up. We spent the day snow shoeing and taking in the scenary before heading back to Anchorage.
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| Cute cabins at Hatcher's Pass |
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| What a beautiful sight to awake to |
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| Clear skies |
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| Hatcher's Pass |
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| View from the main lodge |
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| Afternoon of show shoeing |
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| Resting on the ridge |
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| Awesome day! |
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| The boys trekking up a little further |
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| Looking back down at the cabins from above |
So one of my New Years resolutions was to try to be gluten free for three months... I've cheated more times than I would've liked, but I am definitely becoming more aware of all the carbs and gluten I eat in general and trying to cut back. I'm focusing on increasing my daily fruit and vegetable servings to help fight the gluten cuts. I bought an immersion blender to help and have been making green smoothies a couple times a week. I basically mix some fruit with kale / spinach and coconut milk. The smoothies are way more delicious than I would have thought! I've also been trying to morph some of my regular meals into gluten free veggie substitutes - such as making my lasagna with zucchini slices instead of pasta, and using spaghetti squash in place of noodles. I think overall I'm feeling much less tired, so I'll give some credit to my gluten reduction... but it's also probably due to the sun returning to my life.
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| Kale Banana Pineapple smoothie |
It finally snowed a couple inches this past week (about time) and I took full advantage with an afternoon at Alyeska Resort for some skiing. It's definitely been awhile since I've skiied, but my friend Jodie was a good sport and spend the afternoon on the lower mountain skiing the greens with me. She made me try a couple blues and I was only slightly terrified. By the end I think I was getting the hang of it again. Although I'm pretty sure the rental guy gave me child skis when I told him it had been a few years. They only came up to my elbow! We were riding up in the lift with some little girls and my skis were the same length as the girl next to me, who was wiggling out her first baby tooth.. I was like, great I really do have child skis, and then she said no I'm advanced so I have adult skis! Haha, oh kids... But it was a perfectly clear day with such scenic views! And we ended the afternoon with a beer and the most delicious sweet potato fries I've ever had at the Sitz at the base of the mountain.
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| Riding up the lift at Alyeska |
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| Lift selfies |
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| My short beginner "child skis" |
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| Pretty trees covered in snow |
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| Jodie being a good friend staying on the Lower Mountain with me |
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| Lovely day for some skiing |
Well this has been a super long update on my winter life, but I wanted to end with some of my unique Alaskan daily life experiences from the past couple weeks. First of all, I cracked my windshield. This is apparently super common in Alaska because of all the gravel in the road when the snow melts. A rock hit while I had my defroster on and instantaneously there was a full crack across the entire bottom of the windshield. Someone told me it's because of the temperature differential, but I'm definitely still going to use the defroster and heater at the hottest setting on cold days haha. Three more rocks have dinged my windshield since then :( To minimize my rock exposure time in the car (by 3 minutes tops), I occasionally walk to the grocery store from my house. It's a nice short walk and is very pretty in the winter with the snow cover!
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| Walking route to the grocery store |
Also, one night this weekend I drove home to find two moose in my neighbors yard just chomping away at the tree branches! I'm always terrified yet so excited when I see moose. I went outside to try to take some pictures but it was really dark. They started walking away and I followed for a couple minutes before I realized I was too far away from my front door to be able to quickly run inside if they started chasing me haha. Only in Alaska!
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| Neighborhood moose I named Mindy... and a baby |
