Hi everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Mine was actually pretty awesome and I’m excited to share it with you! I feel like I never recap full weekends but it was a pretty good one with a surprise happy ending!
Friday: Our office had book club after work AKA an excuse for us all to hang out at my manager’s house drinking and loudly discussing Alaska politics. This is where I learned that Baileys + coffee = the greatest drink on earth. Then I picked Andrew up from work and went ugly sweater shopping! We went to a thrift store but had the most luck at Walmart. If you’re running an ugly sweater race this month, go to Walmart – they had some hilarious stuff there, including a vest that said “I fish you a merry Christmas” with a hideous picture of Santa fishing on it. I had to pass that one up in favor of one that was a bit warmer.
A pile of ugliness just waiting to be worn!
Saturday: Andrew and I have started setting our alarms for 9:00 on the weekends because otherwise we’ll totally sleep until the sun rises at like 10:30. But my mom called me at 8:30 and woke me up to discuss Christmas presents! I am so excited – she’s getting me nice black business casual waterproof boots that I can wear to work on snowy days! Although those are much cheaper on Amazon 🙂 After online boot shopping with my mom (not the same as shopping with her in real life but I’ll take what I can get these days) Andrew and I went for a run! He hasn’t run since the summer but since he signed up for the Jingle Bell for Arthritis 5k with me it’s time for some last minute training! He’s never run in the snow before and honestly I’m not sure he enjoyed it. But I had fun running around in the woods with my best friend!
Whoever decorated this tree on the trail is my new BFF
Sunday: I had to go to a work event in the morning, but when I came home I was greeted with the most amazing surprise: THE SUN!!!!!
I could see it from my living room!
There have been weeks of never ending cloudiness here in Anchorage and we only have about 6ish hours of possible sunlight in a day anyways. But I can’t even tell you the last time I saw the actual sun, not just sunlight through the clouds. So I was jumping around screaming! Andrew was watching the Eagles game, but I drove down to Earthquake Park to watch the sunset at 3:30!
Don’t mind me, I’m just drinking coffee out in the snow
Things are definitely getting rough here in terms of daylight. I’ll go into it in more detail on Wednesday, but it’s slowly driving me crazy and I need to do something to cheer myself up and remind myself that on December 22nd we will begin gaining daylight every day instead of losing it! So watch for a super fun announcement in Wednesday’s post!
Do you like running in the snow? What do you consider a must-have at a Christmas race? When is the last time you saw the sun (I’m about to get jealous here!)
Mom in the Mtns 
I live for sunlight! I would have a really rough time too…..but there is SUN on the horizon 😉
Haha yes there is! I can’t wait for midnight sun in the summer again!
I found your blog last week and was stoked because I was so curious to hear what it is like to experience winter/running in Alaska. I was out there two summers ago and ran the Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage, and I am from PA – the Lehigh Valley! We visited Seward, Anchorage, and Denali and I fell in love with Alaska. I am so super jealous that you moved there and can’t wait to get back there for a visit. While we were there, we got to experience the summer solstice – complete opposite of what you are dealing with now! I don’t know how I would deal with the lack of sunlight in the winter months, but I do know that I loved the crazy amount of sunshine in June!
Thanks for stopping by! I lived in Seward this summer – it’s the most beautiful place on earth! Actually, after doing a similar trip itinerary as your for our honeymoon (Seward, MatSu valley, and Denali) we decided to move here! It’s awesome, except for the sunlight issues. Over the summer I used to go running and hiking at midnight which was awesome! I feel like I never slept and was constantly outside. I knew it would be rough dealing with the opposite, but didn’t realize how little light there actually was! I’m jealous of all the sun you must be getting back at home!
I did some running/hiking in Denali at midnight when I was there! It was the most amazing thing ever. One morning, I woke up at like 4am and went running and it was almost as bright as the mid-morning back home. I would honestly move there if my husband wanted to go. Have you done the Mayor’s Marathon yet? It is awesome and I highly recommend it. I know there are a few others there – plus that sweet run on Mt. Marathon – and I am definitely planning a return trip at some point! I’m trying to run a marathon in all 50 states and that is one I am set on returning to. I’ll soak up some sunlight for you here in the northeast!
As someone whose mood is directly affected by the amount of (or lack of) sunlight, I’m pretty sure I would be nuts with only 6 hours of daylight. I love your ugly sweater. I wish we had one of those races around here. Sunny days are ahead!
I really had no idea it would affect me this much. It’s killing me! My body can’t adjust to the fact that it’s dark for so long in the mornings. I’m really looking forward to this time in January when we’ll be gaining 6 minutes of sunlight per day instead of losing it!
Gorgeous photos!! That decorated tree on the trail is fabulous! Hopefully Mr. Sun comes and visits more often. He wasn’t out on Saturday around Philly, but Sunday he was and I highly enjoyed seeing him again too 🙂
Ugh I hate you. And I’m just kidding, it’s the lack of sunlight that’s talking right now. 🙂 And yes, the tree was the highlight of my run!
Hey I have that same coffee mug! I’m spoiled with the sun here in Colorado. I don’t think I’d do so well without it.
Yay for the Hot Chocolate race mugs! And I heard Colorado has much better sunlight than Anchorage. If it doesn’t work out here, I know where I’m moving! 😛
I just said I’m convinced the sun doesn’t exist anymore. Haven’t seen it in weeks 😦
I love someone decorated that tree!!!!! So fun!!!
Okay glad to know that I’m not the only one living under a massive cloud of darkness all the time now! Hopefully we both get clear sunny weather soon!
The lack of sunlight definitely must be a challenge! I have a hard enough time with the sun setting at 4:30! The darkness just makes you so sleepy and kind of gloomy!
Yes that is exactly what is happening! I hate it! I’ve been wearing a lot of bright colors lately to make up for it haha.
Not only am I not a cold weather person, but I’d go bonkers with such little sunlight!
I went to college at Virginia Tech – in the mountains of southwest VA, and I remember one year shrieking in delight at the first really sunny day in April. It had felt like a never ending winter full of gloomy (rainy and/or overcast) days, and I couldn’t contain my excitement at the sun finally being out again. So I know how you feel missing the sun!
Haha that’s awesome! Yeah I love Alaska but this is a bit much. I now understand why the depression and suicide rate is so high here – the sun does crazy things to people! I had no idea how much it would affect my mood but it’s definitely making me feel pretty terrible.
I love that someone decorated the random tree on your running trail! It is the Charlie Brown Trail Tree! Nice sweater finds at Walmart – I found all my throwaway clothes from there for the marathon – sweats and top for $10. Our Jingle Bell 5K give us… bells for our shoes.
We get bells for our shoes too! I am really excited! In Anchorage people use bells on their shoes in the summer to warn bears that they are coming so I can use them year round 🙂 And yes, the random Christmas tree was an awesome surprise!
Poor thing. I thought having the sun set here at 4:30 was bad! I’m so glad you got to enjoy some sunshine for a bit! Not much snow running experience for me but I would love to try it someday!
It’s fun in the snow! Definitely a challenge but if you don’t think about wiping out you won’t. It’s second nature to me now but at the beginning of December last year I was really worried about it! I was happy to get so much practice in Philly last year!