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Training in Alaska

© Rachel Batres

From Rachel Batres, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska:

If people want to make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, they should in my name, and send checks payable to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to:

Team in Training Washington/Alaska Chapter 2030 Westlake Avenue Seattle, WA  98121

-in name of Rachel Batres-

~Rachel
......................................... 

Training in Alaska

Saturday, October 20th was our 16-mile training run. I thought I'd share with you what it is like to train in Alaska on a snowy October morning. I think the following story proves how dedicated we are to training for this great cause! Or, it might prove that we are insane. I'll let you decide.

It was about 18 degrees when I woke up at 6:45 to get ready for the training run/walk. I looked out the window and saw that it had started snowing -- again -- overnight and knew that I would have to scrape and shovel before taking off to meet the team at Westchester Lagoon. The roads were slick and the driving was slow-going. Just getting to the starting point was a challenge, let alone doing 16 miles.

When I arrived, about 10 other teammates were there, huddled together in the cold darkness. It was windy, and the snow was blowing sideways into our faces, so everyone turned their backs to the snow.

Everyone was bundled up in all their new, high-tech running apparel. Most of us wore silk or capilene long underwear on top and bottom, and then 2-3 layers of various kinds of polarfleece and a wind/rain shell on top, and winter weight running tights on the bottom. And then of course we had hats, gloves, and neck gators, too. Even with all those clothes on we didn't linger long because it was way too cold to just stand around and chat.

Everyone was concerned about how icy the trail would be. It had snowed earlier in the week, and the result was that the trail was coated with a nice, thick sheet of ice that made walking treacherous. We walkers all agreed to go out three miles, and then come back, and then assess the conditions and decide then if we wanted to continue on for the remaining 10 miles or not.

And so the walkers started out behind the runners, single-file, walking in a little "aisle" carved out in the snow by the joggers. We stepped gingerly at first to figure out how icy it was. It was icy, but one good thing about the falling snow was that it provided us with some traction on the ice. We were all careful to NOT step in the same spot as the walker ahead of us, because each step taken moved the snow and exposed the ice below. I'm sure we were quite a sight, in the blowing snow and darkness, doing our ice-walking dance in a single-file line. One of us wore her Yak Trax -- slip-on plastic traction thingies -- over her running shoes. We all wished we had thought to bring ours along on this outing.

The copyright of the article Training in Alaska in Alaska/Northern Canada is owned by Rachel Batres. Permission to republish Training in Alaska in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.