I'm almost through with my Denali pictures...more to come!

McHugh Creek Trail

Last weekend, Frank, Galileo and I took some time out to hike on our beautiful Sunday. This time, we chose Table Rock out of McHugh Creek (along the Seward Highway) particularly because it would be easy enough for someone who ran 12 miles the day before to do :). It was a bit confusing at first -- the map we had was not very good, and there were definitely a few places where trees had fallen over the trail. Luckily, some hikers more knowledgeable than us came up behind so that we could follow them to the table. It was a significant hike up the hill, and a bit of a scramble at the end, but the views of the arm from there were spectacular!

Next up: Denali National Park on Friday!!!

Fall on the Seward Highway

Frank and Galileo made it!

Trees on the rock

This tree looks like it was eaten by spruce beetles

Turnagain arm from table rock

Galileo and Frank take a break looking out over the arm 1000 ft. beloe

Another Christmas card shot...

Weird Fungi

Another "finding this year's christmas card" shot

Pretty hillside picture

Back into the forest...

There were lots of rosehips on the trail

Keillor vs. MNspeak.com

Apparently, Garrison Keillor has no sense of humor in real life, and issued a cease and desist order for "Prairie Ho Companion" tshirts.

Scotland pictures are up!

Frank's Scotland pictures are up on shutterfly.

Running Report

So a running report is in order. As many of you know, I'm training for the Las Vegas Marathon on December fourth, and following the FIRST plan created by Furman University that was described in the Runner's World August issue.

This was week number 4. This week, I did the speed workout on the Treadmill (3x1600), a tempo run of 3 miles, and a trail race as well as a long run of 10 miles. This week, I felt pretty drained -- my change of diet to lots of veggies, protein, and less carbs has really taken a toll on my running enthusiasm. In fact, the 10 miler I ran yesterday from Kincaid Chalet to the Point (perhaps because it was the distance from Pluto to Uranus) felt like an 18 miler to me. But I completed it, although I walked significantly the last mile, which is all steep uphill. The good news is, the running can only get better from here, and the ten pounds I've lost on this diet will be ten pounds less that I will have to lug around 26.2 miles in December!

Next week is week #5, which will all take place in the next four days due to the fact that we were given driving tickets to Denali on Friday, which will take up a significant part of Thu/Fri/Sat. So I have four days, and three workouts to complete -- 10x400m speed workout, 5 miles tempo, and 14 miles long run -- plus how can I miss the punishment and torment that is the Tuesday night race series, this week at Chugiak High School?

I figure, it won't be too long before I'm forced to become a treadmill slave for many runs due to snowy weather, so I might as well get out there now and enjoy it!

P.S. Frank brought back pictures of Scotland from his trip -- I will try to get those posted on Shutterfly collections today sometime!

Results are up!

Hey, results are up from the Tuesday night race series! Yours truly is 45th out of 69 in the rankings -- not too bad for a slowpoke!

Cannonball Run, Part II

Get this -- the police are going to pay for a cannonball doorstop for the guy whose cannonball they destroyed just a few days ago!

Report from Foamy the Squirrel.

Along with Matt's dancing below, here's another amusing update from Foamy the Squirrel, my new favorite news anchor. WARNING: The report includes some significant, and somewhat unnecessary foul language not suitable for many situations. But it is funny...and true!