Am I A Fat, Balding Man?

Weekly round-up:

Monday: 4 miles, treadmill

Tuesday: hike fail

Wednesday/Thursday: nothing

Friday: 3 miles, treadmill

Saturday: hike win!

Sunday: TBD (probably a few treadmill miles)

I think we can all agree that treadmill miles are the worst miles, but most of the time they're better than no miles. I haven't dared to run outside yet since I know the treadmill doesn't hurt and although my knee hasn't hurt in a couple of weeks, I'm still worried about it. Cutting my run short a few weeks ago (last month? How long has it been since my marathon? Ten years?) was significantly more traumatizing than a non-event like that should be, so I'm eager to avoid a repeat.

This past week I increased my activity level by infinity. That's true of any increase from zero, right? I'm pretty impressed with myself. Of course, I only made it outside twice, which absolutely needs to be remedied this coming week, but it was nice to move again. I'd almost forgotten how.

Yesterday's hike was a real beauty. I managed to convince my dad to return to the site of my awesome banner photo (and the inspiration for this blog's rebirth). It looked like it was going to be a drizzly day, but we really lucked out and were treated to pretty great weather.

I have to admit, I think this area is prettier when there's snow on the ground. Maybe that's my inner Ice Queen talking, but there was something so magical about last fall's hike. Yesterday was awesome, but it didn't knock me off my feet. I think what I'm saying is, I miss snow. YES, I'M CRAZY, THANK YOU. And now I'm sad I'm not going to see snow this winter.

Photo dump!

Towards Anchorage

That light green is all moss lichen! Pretty cool, right?

That cloud was not black. This photo is deceiving. 

Looking towards Powerline Pass, a place I vowed to run to sometime this year. Looks like I was lying.

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I got sucked into an internet black hole yesterday and am now obsessed with the story of Emily Dirr. Have you guys heard of this lady? She started impersonating an older Canadian Mountie (!!!) when she was 14 years old, which turned into her impersonating an entire family (WITH 11 CHILDREN) for, like, 8 years, and then killing them off when one of the Flickr accounts she stole pictures from to use as her character's "cancer-afflicted child" became private. This family experienced tragedy after tragedy and yet no one ever suspected a thing, probably because she never asked for any money. Oh, and because she created something like 81 Facebook accounts to make the whole thing more believable. To me, the craziest thing of all is that Emily Dirr was a med school student. When did she have time for this shit?!

Of course, Emily Dirr's story got me to thinking about all the blogs that I read. Are you guys real people? Am I real? Am I a fat, balding man sitting in his basement? The world may never know. The internet's a crazy place, y'all.

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In life news, my dad dug up his passport and discovered it expired two years ago. He's working on renewing it ASAP, but since there aren't any "regional passport agencies" in Anchorage (where you can go to really expedite the process), it seems my road trip to Eugene may turn into a solo effort. Oh, Canada, do you REALLY need passports from Alaskan citizens?! But actually, this may not be the worst thing ever, since in my (admittedly limited) experience, solo road tripping is actually pretty fun. Oh, and I have housing in Eugene now! Temporary housing, but still.

Note: it was a busy week at JJ-o headquarters so although I read all your blogs like the diligent blog-reader I am, I didn't comment on many. My apologies!