The second time I was attacked

It was the second attack in a week. This time, I had taken advantage of an early arrival into Skagway by hitting the roads in the small, Alaskan panhandle town. Once again, I heard the raven ruckus (they may have been crows; I'm not sure), but mostly ignored it. Until, that is, it became louder and more menacing. That's when, once again, one swooped down at me, causing me to wave my arms and yell at it. It flew away, but the ruckus continued. Another runner (we were the only people about at 6am) witnessed the attack, and we talked about it as we ran together for a while. "Where I live, they get out of your way," he said. I agreed. The ravens just sat back and said, "Nevermore will this bald guy again bother us."

The other time, I was in Vancouver on the morning before embarking on our Alaska-bound cruise. The same darn thing occurred. I wish I could understand why they didn't like me. Maybe it was something to do with a bald head jogging by? 

My running on board the Sapphire Princess was less eventful. The Promenade Deck goes most of the way around the ship, and there are around 3 laps per mile. I say almost, because you have a choice whether to go up and down a flight of stairs (which are sometimes closed) to make a complete loop, or turning around to make a big 'U,' which is what I mostly did. It wasn't the greatest running, but at least I got a few early-morning miles in. Nothing spectacular.

Once the cruise was completed, I did some running in the Denali National Park area. The scenery was awesome, especially along the Nenana River. The running was only so-so, though.

After Denali, it was back to Anchorage for the first time. This trip was complicated, with several return stops to this beautiful city with many fine all-purpose trails throughout. This was my best land run so far, but it was only six miles. Had to get moving on, you know.

In Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, I did some excruciatingly slow running back and forth on the only road around. I also did some hiking and running to and from the car parking area. I was glad to feed the mosquitoes some of my DNA. They needed it more than I.

Then, there was Kotzenbue. We only spent one night, but I managed to get a North-of-the-Arctic-Circle run in. It's not a large town, and I ran the length of it before heading up the small hill to the East. That's where the skeeters got me. Nice view up there, but I quickly came right back down to town.

Kotzenbue

By the time we arrived back in Anchorage for the third time this trip, I knew my way around fairly well. Had some time, so I finally got a long run in. I've already mentioned what a wonderful city Anchorage is for running, and I still feel that way. Except more so. This run was 18 miles at a half-way decent pace. Most was on the Chester Creek Trail and the Coastal Trail. Seen along the way: homeless people, a black bunny, numerous attacking seagulls (yes, now they are after me), a bald eagle, a train at the station, bunches of skeeters, no sighting of Denali, no hassles.

Long run in Anchorage

I did three additional runs in Anchorage, all on these same trails, but none were as long as that 18-miler. 

If you would like to learn more about this here Alaska trip, check out the travel blog post. 

It will be good to get home and to get serious about this running stuff.