Expectationless

Are we really breaking up??

Spring is here… Even though I have only been in Fairbanks for two Winters, I really really really liked this last one. It was my best Winter by far. I have had more opportunities to go on fun outings and activities. Skiing, skijorring, burbot fishing, travel and such. But, like all good things… Winter is over :(  Sunny spring days like this, driving with all the windows down, music blaring, makes me miss my old jeep.

Spring has some pretty amazing sunrises. The streak up there shows my river playground melting away… pretty soon it is all gonna bust up outta here!

The Pink dog soaking up some sun.

Looking out or in…?

She is just such a good subject.

  Today I drove a friends car to the airport and biked home. I took my camera to capture the last of winter.

Some peeps fishing on the Chena, a tributary of the Tanana, that runs through the middle of Fairbanks. I hate powerlines, I never see them until I download the picture.

Willlow buds are about to bust open.

And the Tanana’s ice is melting, Goodbye Winter.

Burbot fishing

Here is my adventure of cutting holes in the Tanana River and fishing for the illusive burbot. They remind me of catfish, but they’re in the cod family. Jeff Carpenter was my accomplice/photographer. 

  Getting the set lines ready for the water on the table.

Clearing the snow off the ice covering the secret fishing hole… haha

Chipping a nice start for the auger.

Drilling away.

Jeff (Jdizzle) using his amazing skilz, and mustache, to find the best fishing location.

More augering.

Jeff aguering away…

Measuring ice and water depth.

untangling lines…

Baiting the hooks.

Setting the line to the spruce pole that goes across the hole.

Covering it back up with snow.

Then you check the lines once a day.

I wish I had a picture to put at the end of me holding a GIANT burbot, but the holes did not produce. It was a lot of fun though.

I wish this was my burbot…

“Anyone can run hard when they’re feeling good…”

    I let my expectations and then emotions get the best of me today. I expected my exhausted body and brain to be able to function as normal. I was having a bad day, my emotions were running pretty strong, my dog got in a fight with one of the other guys dog, and I couldn’t keep up with my expectations. My legs were hurting from a hard run on Saturday, and well, I just had a break down… I worked myself up so much that I couldn’t even breath, which made me run slower.

    I have run upset before and been able to use pissed off or sad to make myself run harder, not this time. I had to slow down because I was upset and getting more upset because I was running slow? I thought, this is not how it works. It really got to me. Greg was waiting for me to catch up towards the end and said, “Anyone can run hard when they’re feeling good, it takes a special horse to run hard when they’re hurting.” He patted me on the back and told me I did good even though I felt I ran terrible. How did he know? I didn’t start feeling good about it until now, 4 hours later. I talked it over with Jenny and she made me realize that I had indeed “done good” in spite of feeling disappointed. I finished and ran it all plus the breakdown, plus the tired body.

    I hate disappointing people. It is my least favorite thing, ever. That is an expectation, I suppose, I need to rid myself of. Sometimes you fail, life is not fair, you don’t always win, you fail and disappoint people. Deal with it.

Running partners

Having a running partner can make all the difference…