Vacation is Over

I started work today.  After seeing folks again after 3 months, the usual formalities are exchanged, but this year I needed to refrain from using the word "summer" in front of vacation as summer never did quite make it to Southcentral Alaska.  Instead I asked, "How was your time off?"  or "Did you enjoy your break?"  On Saturday, Anchorage broke a record set in 1951 for the most consecutive days of recorded precipitation.  The local newspaper's headline was "Day 28: Anchorage reaches soggy milestone." 

In spite of the lack of the good weather, we managed to pack in some activities these last few days before the start of the school year.  Earlier in the year, our friends asked if we wanted to rent a sailboat in Seward for two days.  On Thursday afternoon, the boys and I packed the truck with gear and headed down to Seward to set up camp for a few days.  When Bryant arrived in Seward a few hours later, I had a great campsite right near the ocean all set up and the boys were already long gone exploring and immersed in Seward's kid/teen games on the playground nearby.

Enjoying a campfire in Seward

Under high grey clouds we enjoyed a nice campfire and then did our usual tour of the boats in the harbor.  Last year, we had Sol Searching (our 26 ft MacGregor) in transient moorage for August and September, which seemed to work well for us so we put ourselves on a waitlist for a permanent slip thinking it would be at least 2 years before one came available.  As it turned out, upon our return from Mexico without the boat (the original plan was to bring it back), we received notification that a slip had come available.  The unanswered question in this case is "Would we have brought the boat home if we knew a slip was available?"   It made for interesting conversation as we walked up and down the slips. 

Friday, we sort of sailed on a 32 foot Beneteau.  It is called "sort of sailing" when the wind is mostly non-existent, but every once in a while, a breeze would kick in.  And because we wanted to use the boat for its intended purpose, we'd put the sails into action and could sail 3 - 4 knots for about 20 minutes, and then the wind would die. 

Kaeson steering us out of the harbor

Around 3:00 in the afternoon, we made our way back to the harbor.  Not only did the wind disappear for good, but it started to drizzle and fog rolled in.  Seventeen hours later, the weather still hadn't improved and Sailing Inc., who rented us the boat, offered a refund for the Saturday rental.  The fog and no radar on the boat being the obvious safety concern. 

Leaving a little early allowed me the opportunity to swing through Anchorage on my way home to pick up my bib and chip for my running race on Sunday.  Back in January, I started running for 30 minutes a couple days a week on the treadmill.  As time went by, I knew I'd be more motivated to stick with it if I had something to work toward.  I verbally committed to the Skinny Raven 1/2 marathon in Anchorage on August 15th.  A couple of times last spring, I tested my running legs by extending a few runs into the 5-6 mile range.  I started feeling more confident with my abilities.  Then I went on the epic 5 1/2 week western vacation, which included hiking, camping, swimming, sailing, and driving from the Baja to Alaska.

Upon my return on July 1st, I remembered my verbal commitment to the race and decided I needed to get with the program.  The 12 week training schedules I found online needed to be trimmed into 6 weeks.  I made it work by skipping the first six weeks, then doing my best to stick with the second six that entailed 3-4 shorter runs in a week and one longer one.  My personal goal was to finish the race between 2:00 - 2:10.  Sunday morning, I crossed the finish line at 1:52.37. 

Although vacation is over, I was obviously pleased to finish off on that note.