Alaska, in general, seems to be a transient sort of place. People are always shuffling and moving around. Nome is a rather harsh environment and I have seen a lot of friends (and not-so-friends) come and go over the years. Last week 4 friends left town with their kids to move to Anchorage and Talkeetna. I suppose the constant rotation brings fresh (or not-so-fresh) new (and recurring) faces and makes a small town seem larger than it is but it's always sad to see good folks leave. So here's a little tribute, my favorite picture of Wayne, Owen and the kids.
Since returning from NY the temperatures have steadily been 15 – 25 with practically no precipitation. The ice base is forming really well, I wonder if this will be more of a snowless winter unlike Anchorage which has been hit with a few bouts of snow. It’s a little early to tell. I put away my boats for the year and have been eyeing up my snowbike and snow machine, biding my time for a creative excursion. The waterways are frozen which opens up some interesting options. I don't think any recent pictures are worth adding so here's what I'll miss about the Nome summer....
And here's what I look forward to...
The only outside activity I’ve done recently is driving down to the beach cutting wood for the stove. I have about 5-6 face cords- or 1.5 full cord- and am a little frantic to get a few more before the snow flies. I put the saw aside for a half hour the other day and managed a 4 mile run on the sand before getting back to it. Otherwise the training focus has been building my core strength through swimming. I have an hour to swim in the morning and started at 2 km workouts and on my way to 3 km. The 5:30 am wakeup has been getting easier and easier (especially since Hahnah has been training us to wake up at 3am).
There are two races I would (ideally) like to do in 2009, the 350 Ultrasport bike in March and the Yukon 1000 kayak in June/July. The 350 would be a training run to see if my body will adapt a little better to the bike this year for another go at the 1,000 mile to Nome the following year. I really should have done the 350 last year and the 1000 this year instead of vice versa but, hey, hindsight is always 20/20. The words, "don't get injured", will be plastered in my mind. I'm hoping it will activate as a flashing neon sign before the "don't be a wussy" sign starts in on me.
Since returning from NY the temperatures have steadily been 15 – 25 with practically no precipitation. The ice base is forming really well, I wonder if this will be more of a snowless winter unlike Anchorage which has been hit with a few bouts of snow. It’s a little early to tell. I put away my boats for the year and have been eyeing up my snowbike and snow machine, biding my time for a creative excursion. The waterways are frozen which opens up some interesting options. I don't think any recent pictures are worth adding so here's what I'll miss about the Nome summer....
And here's what I look forward to...
The only outside activity I’ve done recently is driving down to the beach cutting wood for the stove. I have about 5-6 face cords- or 1.5 full cord- and am a little frantic to get a few more before the snow flies. I put the saw aside for a half hour the other day and managed a 4 mile run on the sand before getting back to it. Otherwise the training focus has been building my core strength through swimming. I have an hour to swim in the morning and started at 2 km workouts and on my way to 3 km. The 5:30 am wakeup has been getting easier and easier (especially since Hahnah has been training us to wake up at 3am).
There are two races I would (ideally) like to do in 2009, the 350 Ultrasport bike in March and the Yukon 1000 kayak in June/July. The 350 would be a training run to see if my body will adapt a little better to the bike this year for another go at the 1,000 mile to Nome the following year. I really should have done the 350 last year and the 1000 this year instead of vice versa but, hey, hindsight is always 20/20. The words, "don't get injured", will be plastered in my mind. I'm hoping it will activate as a flashing neon sign before the "don't be a wussy" sign starts in on me.
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