stumpy's went well, eh?  rave reviews, and great pix (although i can't get
to the results; a broken link?).  i have a feeling this ultra- and
marathon-organising may become a habit for the dawgs now!

alaska was AWESOME, in the true sense of the word.  we camped and hiked
and fished and goggled a lot in general.  we returned to the east coast
with 60+ pounds of halibut fillets!  we saw whales (beluga & humpback),
sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, a moose, and a lot of birds that got
dave really excited.  no bear, though we did camp amongst their scat (not
knowing it at the time) and tracks.  the bear were unusually aggressive,
the locals said, and accordingly hiked with loaded rifles (the locals, not
the bears).  i did an early trail run one morning, along resurrection
river, and got more and more freaked out about the bear situation to the
point where i thought every bird call was a distressed bear cub squalling
for its mother.  after 2 ankle twists and one bad sprain (cos i was too
busy scouting climbable trees instead of looking at the trail in front of
me), i was never so happy to see the end of the trail!  i got a whole new
perspective on trail running!

also did the homer half-marathon, and took 3:30 off my best philly
distance run time!  i was 5th overall and 2nd female -- though it's safe
to say that homer AK doesn't get the quality field of, say, caesar
rodney. http://www.coolrunning.com/results/02/ak/Sep1_HomerH_set1.shtml

and the woman with whom i warred for 1st place (until i broke on the final
climb to the finish) was on the olympic marathon team in the late 80s or
early 90s.  she won seattle and was 5th at boston, and then she moved to
alaska and married a fisherman.  we ended up camping at her place on
kachemak bay for a night, and she and i went for a great run through
homer the next morning.  people were so outgoingly kind out there; out
here in the east it's like we're shell-shocked or something.

however, the best thing about alaska is the atavistic connection people
have with the land.  it's something they don't even question, this sense
of ownership and entitlement.  you camp where and when you want, you hike
with a gun, you take from the sea.  there was no litter, and no traffic,
except where the DOT was repaving seward highway in prep for winter.

i hated coming back to delaware and upon return, promptly came down with
some crappy cold/fever sickness.  not particularly looking forward to this
weekend, which is dewey tri on saturday and philly on sunday -- but at
least i won't be overtrained!  are you doing philly, or sensibly resting
from your stumpy experience?