2018 Onion Adventures in Review

Strava says I ran 1,550 miles this year. At the end of December that feels low and mundane, but it was actually a good year.

I didn't run much in January since I was still trying to interview for jobs (that ended working out fairly well). February was my best training month. March I completed one loop in miserable weather for a truly fun experience at the Barkley Marathons. April I ran Leona Divide 50 and May ran Silver State 50, both with extra side trips with Amy to see parts of California we might not see again for a while. June was another Double Dipsea with friends and a 80-mile fun run from Tomales Point to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Before the bonk, Leona Divide


Silver State 50 (everyone gets a medal, that's nothing special)
 
Tomales Point, 75 miles to go.
Almost done
Alive with Pleasure
Shortly after Dipsea I flew to Missoula, MT and walked out of my friends' house into the Rattlesnake Wilderness and on to the Bob Marshall Wilderness. (I would definitely advise against the route I took. There was a fire a couple years ago and it turned into a boring roadwalk--find another way to the north of the Flathead reservation South Jocko tribal members only area or just start at Seeley Lake.) The goal was to get onto the CDT and head north to and through Glacier, but rivers were flooded and uncrossable, so I detoured and hiked out the east side of the Bob to Augusta, MT and hitched around. Regardless, I saw wolves and the Chinese Wall formation, so it all turned out fine.

I started the Great Divide Trail at the Canadian border in Waterton June 30, and hiked 1,100km to the end(s) at Mt. Robson, Lake Kawkwa, and then back over the divide to Grand Cache, AB on August 2, just in time to run the 125km Canadian Death Race.

Floe Lake
Nothing special for the GDT
August 8 I flew to Fairbanks, met up with John Z and Daisy, listened to her dad's amazing Navy SEAL FBI agent Unabomber and DB Cooper manhunt stories, and started an adventure from outside Tok where the Tok River crosses the highway. A very wet August made for uncrossable rivers and long detours up onto glaciers to cross where the water was under rock and ice. We covered around 220 miles from Tok to the Richardson Highway and from Black Rapids to Healy. There we realized the weather was going to continue to be miserable in the interior and instead headed for 10+ days of uninterrupted sunshine on the Kenai peninsula.

The sun came out momentarily


Paddling with glaciers

I left Alaska mid-September and started a job as an economist with the government. Two weeks later I was in contract on a house and I moved in mid-October after running a miserably slow Grindstone 100.

I haven't run much November and December, just a 50km fatass and several 10-mile run-commutes home from work which have made me realize I want to get fast again.

See my previous post for details on what's on tap for 2019. I'm far down the waitlist for Big's Backyard; I think unlikely to get in. I'm also on the waitlist for High Lonesome 100, but I think somewhat likely to get in. Right now I'm focusing on a desire to get fast again and break 3 hours in a marathon, ideally trying at least twice, once in April and once in October.

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