It’s been some time since I returned from Geoff Roes’s amazing Alaskan running camp. I’m currently sitting in a comfortable office with precisely zero rocks or chunks of ice in my shoes. I’m not covered in sweat and I’m happy to say that I smell great. I’m in 0 danger of wiping out down a snowy hill or of losing my shoe in a mud puddle. I haven’t had to do ANY bushwhacking to get here, nor have I recently spotted any bears.
Needless to say, THIS SUCKS. Send me back to Alaska. Please?
Here's the short version:
Let me start from the beginning. Meredith talked me into going to run camp this last year, but it wasn’t a hard sell. We’d spend a week up in Alaska in a seaside cabin, eating fresh homemade organic meals, and running the trails near Juneau with not one, but two world class ultrarunners. What wasn’t to like?
To my surprise, the biggest challenge was just explaining to nonrunners why I was going.
“So...you’re heading out to a cabin in the woods with a bunch of strangers and you’re just going to run for a week? Why?”
After an breathtaking, magical, transformative week, I finally have answers for them:
Because spending time doing what you love is never time wasted.
Because enthusiasm is infectious and strangers who share passions are about 10 minutes away from being “fast friends” (running entendres are the BEST).
Because personal growth never happens inside of your comfort zone.
Because in what other sport do you get to spend a week hanging out with some of your sport’s legends?
And because, well, this:
Like with the best trail races, I am coming away from this experience a different person, both humbled and triumphant, with great memories and new friends.
The camp:
Geoff Roes (at my right shoulder) is the camp organizer and invited Krissy Moehl (lower right) to help coach this session. Both are amazing, warm, passionate people who also happen to be badass runners. Geoff's wife Corle also had a huge contribution as camp mom, helping to look after 12 hungry, hungry runners with copious amounts of fantastic food. Huge, huge thanks to all three of them for taking such good care of us!
Here are our digs: a cabin at the Shrine of St Therese
that also happens to have gorgeous views out the front window.
The running:
Day 0: Geoff picks us all up from the airport and we quickly become The Real Ultrarunners of Juneau Alaska. Everyone is super chill; there’s folks there who are just starting out in trail racing and folks who have run multiple 100 mile races. Everyone’s got a story to tell but we are all united by a keen appreciation of no longer being the running extremist in the room.
Day 1: The weather is great, so Geoff decides to take us up the iconic Mt Juneau. The trailhead is literally 3 blocks from downtown and, like the rest of Alaska, it is breathtakingly gorgeous. We’re met there by some local runners who are just as friendly as can be. We gear up (hydration packs and dry fit all around!) and set off down the trail together. The flat portion quickly ends, as we start to ascend. The happy chatter slows a bit as people concentrate on breathing as our run becomes a fast hike and we start to wonder what we’ve gotten ourselves into. I fall in behind Guy, one of the locals, and his amazingly fit dog Puzzle. Guy sets up the mountain at an effortless pace while giving me the guided tour of the Alaskan mountainside, while I’m struggling along behind him sucking wind. After an eternity, we make it to the top and my heartrate falls enough for me to actually see what we’ve done.
WOW.
We set out across the mountain ridge and it feels like a movie. (cue slow pan from aerial shot)
It’s hard to concentrate on finding footholds since there’s so much natural beauty around and below us but miraculously none of us eat it.
We then hit a series of snowfields and Geoff teaches us the finer points of glissading. There’s about 3 inches of soft snow covering firm footing, so we quickly learn that the only penalty for slipping is an exhilarating few seconds sliding on our asses. We bomb down the mountain, whooping like kids and laughing like idiots. It is a unique feeling that leaves us helpless with pounding hearts and breathless laughter.
The return trip takes us from rocky paths to lush forest and then, magically, we’re back at the van where we’ve stashed sandwiches and beer. WIN.
Day 2: It’s raining. Hard. And so we’re sticking to the least technical run of the week, a flat jaunt through the forest to a glacier viewing point. We quickly abandon all hope of staying at all dry and just lose ourselves in the rhythm of fast footsteps. Trevor is gleefully jumping in every puddle he can find and the enthusiasm is infectious! After a few stream crossings and countless puddles to jump in later, we pop out into a gorgeous vista.
The trip back is a blur. Well, at least Samir, Garrett, and Jim are a blur as they accelerate to what seems like Mach 1. In what will become a recurring theme for the week, they admit to underestimating the distance back and kicking it in for multiple miles. (Geoff confesses to exactly the same mistake when guiding his pack back!)
And then when we get back, Corle has made us hot muffins and it’s the best thing in the world.
Day 3: We’re offered a choose-your-own-adventure today: go up and over another peak, or stay low and blast through another forest. I take the high road (for once) and we are paired with Rachel, a nurse transplant from Pennsylvania, and the garrulous John who is our primary guide for the day. In a Wester States-esque move, we start out by climbing out of a ski area and straight into some gnarly "trails"
...which go up…
Fortunately, it warms up quickly and we get some bushwhacking to raise our spirits.
Hey, where’d the trail go?
The run culminates in a 2ish mile stint down a raised boardwalk. It’s slick, there’s mud on either side, and the steps are annoyingly varied in height and length. It’s a finicky little section which demands our full attention about 5 feet ahead of us at all times, and for some reason I love it! It feels like a mini-obstacle course and after our slow going uphill it feels like I’m flying.
Elapsed time? 3 hours for 7 miles, and we are DONE. Off to the brewery for celebration beers.
Day 4: This is it, the big one. We are going up and over four peaks: Gastineau, Roberts, Sheep, and Clark. We start out climbing, of course, and gradually make our way up to the Juneau tram station to the astonishment of the cruise ship tourists.
Our reward is getting higher than the eagles.
But wait until you see where we head next (Four Peaks!)
Our reward is getting higher than the eagles.
But wait until you see where we head next (Four Peaks!)
And then the fun begins. I elect to stay with the lead group, and cut a counterpoint to their chatter with my grim determination to keep on breathing. We get up Gastineau and I’m seriously reconsidering my optimism in staying in the lead pack. These guys are FAST. Fortunately, Krissy and Geoff talk me into staying up with them. One line sticks out in particular, delivered to my sweat soaked self atop an Alaskan Mountain: “You are stronger than you think.” Coming from two world class runners, this was quite the confidence booster!
Which was good, because we promptly set out in a combination ice climbing, snowfield traversing, glissading, scree surfing, and bouldering journey that took us up some gnarly slopes and across some truly breathtaking vistas that had me shaking in fear, awe, and fatigue. Crossing the icefields was one of the most physically and mentally demanding challenges I’ve ever done. Geoff and Jim were quick to casually powerwalk their way across, but Garrett, Samir, Krissy and I were left gaping at their surefootedness. We eventually followed, but with agonizing care. John was with us again there and he demonstrated recovery techniques by suddenly flopping down to show how we could arrest a fall by digging in our fingers and toes. He nearly arrested my heart, but he made his point.
(Thanks to Krissy for some of these amazing shots!)
The run back was fantastic, as usual. Gorgeous vistas, amazing terrain, great company, etc. etc. etc. Funny what you can get used to!
Day 5: Our last day was unique in that there was precisely 1 person who knew where we were going, even amongst the locals. We started out by heading up a trail and boardwalk (where, I might add, we had seen a mama bear and her cubs disappear just the afternoon before) to a cabin in the woods.
After a breather to warm up, we set off directly across the meadows.
After a breather to warm up, we set off directly across the meadows.
Or, should I say, the bog.
And just like that...we were done.*
Not shown: General smack talking, life story relating, beer sampling, pained foam rolling, cards against humanity-ing, guitar playing (ok, just Garrett), detours down icy hills, cow parsnip, eagle fights, and all around good times and shenanigans
The takeaways: coming soon!
*Ok, Garrett from Kansas did team up with me and Meredith to run the most awesome midnight 5K ever. Oh yah and there were other random adventures we had in Alaska.
Thrift shop!
Gee Mer, I don't think we should have left those fish heads here.
Yarr!
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