On June 20th, I participated in the Mayor’s Marathon. The morning started with my good friend dropping me off at the starting line. It was pretty early, she sure was a trooper ! It sure was an experience though, for the first half of the race I ran with the same blob of people. As the race progressed, I soon found myself running alone. Sure was interesting ;)

I was able to make excellent timing the first half of the race. I passed the half way mark in about two hours. Earlier in the run, around mile 9, I landed funny unfortunately. That took its toll on me at mile marker 18, when my foot was in pain. Pain shot up my leg with every step. Needless to say I did a bit of walking after that point ;)

It was great feeling crossing the finish line. Especially since I had to zig zag around the parking lot to achieve the final mile ;) It was worth it though, I had many good friends there cheering me on as I crossed. My goal was to finish in 6 hours, and I made that.

Thank you everyone who cheered me on. You are very much appreciated, and you know who you are !

The above is a brown bear at the Wildlife Conservation Center. I thought the off focus would look neat, and I am happy with the results.

I see this sign around a lot of parks, and every time it makes me giggle ^_^

There are two essential ingredients to a successful marathon. Good shoes and socks ? Nope, screw them. I ran 17 miles with an injured foot. I think that proves you can run in anything.

The essential ingredients to a successful marathon is Vaseline and Gu. Vaseline helps to keep your nipples happy, and each pack of Gu is 100 calories of pure sugar. You wouldn’t believe the energy you get with each pack ^_^

Here is a fine example of something not to do…I am a professional so it is OK. Here is a cute picture of a baby moose, and a picture of an angry mommy moose. Notice the ears being back and the hair standing up on her back ?

After the shot was taken I promptly rode out of there. I was almost killed, but wanted to take this shot for you. Enjoy ^_^

Derek tried to tell me that it is impossible to swallow cinnamon, I decided to prove him wrong ! Unfortunately I failed, I blame the laughing more than the cinnamon.

The cinnamon clouds are my favorite ^_^

This was taken last April on the beach of Kenai, Alaska. Mount Redoubt is roughly 80 miles south of Anchorage, and it had some eruptions during this time. At this time there were still huge slabs of ice, since spring hadn’t melted everything yet.

I thought it would be cool to grab a shot of Redoubt with the ice still visible. You can also see the ash plume coming from the volcano. I couldn’t frame redoubt in ice, but I did the best I could. I am happy with how it turned out ^_^

Skywatch Friday

Not sure what I did to piss off this squirrel, but she sure told me off. Even when I was out of sight I could hear it yelling. Typical female ;)

I went to watch a HS baseball game today, and I encountered this family. The folks near-by thought I snapped. Was just giddy because they are so cute ;) They were still pretty wobbly as they walked up the hill, I’d say they were a few days old. Now ladies, look at those two before complaining about childbirth. She gave birth to both of those a few days ago w/o drugs. Bunch of pansies ^_^

I do regret not having a better angle. I blame the fence, and the psycho mom, for not getting closer :(

Spur of the moment last week, I decided I wanted to go out hiking. Original plan was to go up Flat Top again, but it was too crowded for my taste. I settled on one of the mountains in the nearby valley. It was a bugger to get up, but the view was nice.

I believe I am the only one who can complain about mosquitos. That shot was not macro’ed, they are freaking huge!

The sunset photo was taken on my way down the mountain around midnight. The bugs are annoying, but I sure love these summers ^_^

Ruby Tuesday

By popular demand, and by popular I mean two requests, here is my hot cocoa mix recipe.

6 cups of dry milk powder
3 1/3 cups of confectioners sugar (I imagine powdered sugar should work fine)
2/3 cup cocoa
2/3 cup non-dairy creamer (I used hazelnut flavored creamer which worked pretty nicely)
2 tsp of cinnamon

Be sure to use a big big bowl when mixing. Enjoy !

Most of my friends were out of town Memorial Day weekend, so I decided to head up to Flattop Mountain for a quick hike. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Yeah. Everyone that didn’t leave town to fish was on that mountain with me. There were more cars around the bend down the road. Beautiful day for a hike. Would rather have gone fishing though ;)

The view roughly looked like the above, minus the lines, and the snow lined up better in real life ;) I have another to make up from the back view. Mostly mountains in that one though, nothing special ;)

A view of Anchorage can be seen in the top left of the photo, the inlet in the background, and more mountains on the left. Sure is tough living here ;)

I know, Jess, I know. I am lame. More photos are to come. Currently feeding a movie addiction lately. I will get some more up this week, I swear ^_^