Alaska Part 2

Where was I again?  Oh yeah, Homer.  The tiny fishing village with lots of bears!  Well, I've made it through another week in Alaska without any serious wildlife confrontations.  The only bear I saw all week was a dead black bear in the back of a pick-up truck, but that's fine.  I got to see lots of wildlife this past week.  Bald eagles were all over the place, lots of moose, strange long-legged birds, and variations of fish being hauled in by the fishermen.  Speaking of fish, I ended up doing a little fishing myself.  I mean how can you go to the "Halibut fishing capital of the world" and NOT fish?  Let's get real here!  So I went out with my dad and brother to reel in some monster halibut.  For those of you unfamiliar with halibut, it's expensive.  Really expensive.  You won't find many places that will sell you a pound of uncooked halibut for less than 20 bucks.  So I was thinking I was going to pick up a rod and begin to reel in fish after fish all day long.  But there's a very good reason that halibut is so expensive.  It really isn't that easy!  The easy part was getting my line to fall 200 feet down at the ocean floor.  Within 20 seconds I was getting fish biting.  But that's just the beginning.  Then I had to haul that sucker 200 feet up to the boat, while it's thrashing about.  And believe me, these fish aren't small.  I was bringing in 15 pound halibut, and I could have sworn I had a great white on my line.  But apparently those are just the babies.  Big halibut can get over 300 pounds. Check out the pictures to compare for yourself.

Big Fish

Small Fish

I'd hate to have to reel one of them in!  I couldn't feel my arms by the time I was done fishing (notice the struggle to pick up the fish in the picture).  But I sure felt them the next morning!  But in the end, I came off the boat with enough halibut for...well...a long time.  My freezer at university is filled with frozen fillets, now I just have to figure out how to cook them!  But that's what Google is for, right?  And on the topic of university, it's sweet!  Even though there are more moose than people on campus so far, I'm already liking the place.  Lots of running trails!  I went on a run with a few of the guys on the XC team this morning, and I had no idea where we were going.  I was lost 10 minutes into the run.  For all I know, we could have been running in circles, because there were trails everywhere!  Way too many to comprehend.  Once I figure them out, I'll be able to fully appreciate the multitude of running trails, but for now I'm just plain confused.  Maybe I should bring a map tomorrow.

Alaska

Last week I departed from the Motherland, and landed in Alaska well before my University training camp in order to tour a little bit of the state with my family.  As I mentioned in the previous post, we were to spend one week in Wasilla and one in Homer before heading back to Anchorage, where I will be going to school.  So, where do I begin?  Oh yeah, the airport!  Fun stuff always happens at the airport.  That day, the airport excitement began when our first flight was delayed by half an hour, and with a connecting flight waiting in Philadelphia, it was shaping up for an exciting sprint for the awaiting gates at the opposite end of the airport.  It was only a couple minutes before the gates were closing that I saw a couple of figures in the distance absolutely hauling it down the hallway.  I then realized that it must have been my family who had been waiting for their bags.  I really wish I had a watch ready, because I'm almost certain my dad dropped a sub-60 second 400 with sandals and a suitcase to get to the gates with seconds to spare.  In the end we all made it, and our excitement was over just in time for our 7 hour flight.  Then, the next thing I knew I was in Wasilla.  Where Sarah Palin lives.  It's a pretty small town, and I figured it wasn't too big of a long shot to see her at the grocery store or driving around town.  Until I found out she was in Iowa.  Not cool Sarah Palin, not cool at all.  But other than that, Wasilla was really cool.  There were mountains absolutely everywhere.  And animals too.  One of the big concerns I had when I visited Alaska was the bear population, and being in a relatively wooded area, I was sure a bear was going to jump out at me while I was running.  I decided I would stick to the gravel path alongside the only road close by, and run up and down that road all week.  The first day, I decide I would keep my run very relaxed and low-key to flush my legs out after the long flight.  6:30/mile pace was where I hoped to start off, but with fear of bears occupying my mind, I proceeded to start off with my first two miles each in 5:40, before somewhat settling down towards the end of the run.  I didn't actually see any bears at all in Wasilla, but I did see some moose-s? meese? as well as bald eagles and unbelievable amounts of salmon spawning in the streams.  All these animals were awesome, but there was one animal that wasn't awesome.  Basically every house had a guard dog that barked and barked and barked and barked and barked and chased me down the road until I reached the next house with a dog.  I think these dogs sort of adopted the road as an extension of their property, which didn't make it very fun for me.  But now they have nobody to chase! I left Wasilla 2 days ago, driving to Homer.  I heard good things about this place all week,  and it has lived up to expectations so far.  From what I've seen so far, it seems like a small fishing town with lots of old fishermen sporting bad-ass beards.  It's really scenic too, as the entire town is built on a hill overlooking the inlet, with no shortage of mountains and glaciers.  However, I hear that there are plenty of bears all over the place, so I've elected to do all my runs this week on a spit that goes 7km out into the ocean, where I don't need to worry about bears or a lack of scenic views.  And that's basically all I've been up to the past few days.  Just chilling in Alaska.  Get it? Chilling...Alaska?  AHAHAHA...ahaha...ah...never mind.  It's a good thing I picked up running, because I wouldn't have made it far as a comedian.  But for real, 18 C in Alaska beats 30+ C in T.O. any day.

So basically, what I'm trying to say is if you're searching for a spot to take a vacation, definitely consider Alaska.  It's awesome!  There really are no other words for it, just awesome.  Go see for yourself if you don't believe me! And if you do believe me.

On a separate note, I figured I should probably be taking a few pictures here and there to share a fraction of the awesome-ness of Alaska with my fellow readers, so I'll be posting some pics for you all to see.  It's a good thing that I'm in Alaska actually, because this is one of the only places I've been to where you only need to know how to click the button on top of the camera to produce postcard worthy pictures.  And you can keep clicking that button everywhere you go, because the scenery is endless.  I can't even imagine how amazing these pictures would be if they were taken by someone who knew a thing or two about photography.

Click Here to see a few of the pics I took

To be continued...

Get Moving!

It's Time.  Time to Play.  Time to Play Ketchup Catch up.  That's right.  In the next few days, I will once again begin my yearly XC adventure with a couple of light runs to work the rust off before I submerge myself into some real university training.  A few days ago, I started to get that little itch to start running again, a sure sign that I have done a good job recovering, and that I'm good to go.  A lot of the Americans will be quite a bit further ahead in their cross country prep schedule, as most of them shut down in the first half of June before starting to train for XC season.  This puts me quite a few weeks behind their fitness level, but I am confident that I've given myself more than enough time to be fit as a fiddle when the real racing starts.  After all, there is no point in blowing everyone out of the water in September, if you can't perform when the chips are down in November.  So for now, I'll be playing a little catch up until I've piled 3 or 4 good weeks of running together.  This season will be long compared to my high school cross country seasons as my first race will arrive about 20 days earlier, and I plan on continuing racing through the end of November, compared to mid-November in previous years.  This season ahead will also open new doors for me.  Getting an opportunity to race against some of the best college runners in North America is sure to be an eye-opener, but also something that is required in order to continue excelling in athletics.  Being pushed by the big boys this year is something that will pay off for me down the road, and something that's necessary if I ever want to be able to push them back.  I've set very high goals for myself this season, and with smart, hard work I know I will be able to run faster than ever before, and shock more than a few people this year.  Also, after my university season, I will try to set myself up for an opportunity to challenge at the Canadian XC Championships.  This will be my last year to try to make the Junior National XC team, and I can't wait to give it my best shot!  Finally, the title of this blog serves a dual purpose, as I am packing my bags to head up north 7 days from now.  I know I already gave you a long speech about how excited I am in my last post, so I'll keep that to a minimum.  I'm going to be spending one week in Wasilla, Alaska A.K.A. hometown of Sarah Palin! Then, I'll be off to Homer, Alaska for a week, before I make my way back to Anchorage for the 17th of August.  I really don't know when I'll get the chance to update my blog, but you can be sure that when I do I'll have something exciting to talk about.  This is going to be my last post before I leave, so when you read my next post I'll be thousands of kilometers away, living in my igloo, riding my pet polar bear to school.  Until next time fellow readers!  Adios!  Farewell!  Au Revoir!  Bye!