Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Winter's Got It's Hold On Juneau

We are in the midst of the longest stretch of constant wintry weather that I have experienced in years. I can remember winters like this growing up in the snowbelt east of Lake Ontario, but that is also based on my childhood memories which I'm sure are likely to be exaggerated. Even the one winter I spent in Homer, Alaska which was by far the snowiest winter I have ever experienced never had a stretch that I remember where the weather didn't warm up and calm down for this long. For one month now it has been well below freezing and very snowy. When it's not snowing the wind kicks up and the temperature drops down near zero with windchill around 30 below zero. I'm just glad I don't live in Fairbanks where it's been around 40 below zero most of this time.

I am now, after a month, finally getting accustomed to this weather. It's almost beginning to seem normal. I can't imagine how abnormal the 80 degree temps are going to feel in Hawaii next week!

5 comments:

  1. I get it! Winter's Got It's Hold on Banff, as well....

    I can't imagine myself doing a race in the tropics in mid-winter, unless I were to partake in some crazy-ass, wildly creative, guaranteed-unpleasant-scenarios involving treadmills, saunas, my bicycle, a heater in the bathroom with the shower on...etc, etc!

    So good luck with that! And enjoy the adventure at HURT!

    Leslie

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  2. Amen Brother.

    Eagle River has been bitter cold as well. We can expect 100 degree turn around next week at the HURT. Dave said that his secret at the Cactus Rose 100 was to pour ice water into his ear to stay cool. I might be the first ultrarunner to finish a race with swimmers ear. I am also scared to shave my pathetic beard because I am just coming right back to this crap and it took me 2 months to grow it.

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  3. Greetings from that snow belt east of Ontario ;0
    The weather here has been crazy. One day 50 degrees, the next day, below zero. One Day freezing rain, next day, a blizzard. It's a strange one alright.
    Personally, I'm not liking the weather fluctuation very much and I don't envy you going from one extreme to the other to race 100 miles.
    I do envy you going to Hawaii though. It's really a breathtaking place. I hope you can enjoy it.
    Good luck with your trip from your whole family.

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  4. touche on that one man. Colder than billy blue blazes up here in the mid-west although I'm 2 hours south of the Lake Superior shores which really gets a cold effect in Duluth. Nonetheless we had a 28 degree day here yesterday and it felt quite tropical on my run.

    Upper Midwest is bizarre. Can be antarctic in the winter and sultry/equatorial in the summer.

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  5. gonna be interesting to see how cold it gets for the folks doing arrowhead 135 this year. Last year had the best finishing rates, but temps I don't think were as harsh.

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