I was glad Aimee could come up here with me for the wedding we attended last night, firstly because it gave her a chance to meet Neil and Melanie, and also because it was one more opportunity to see the uniquely Alaskan way people do things here. The ceremony was great – equal parts religion and philosophy (at no other wedding do I think I’d hear the words “As S?ren Kierkegaard once said…” in the marriage vows) and definitely personalized – and the reception afterwards was fun as well.

The goal for today was to get the 12 mile run done that I’m supposed to do tomorrow, because I decided I’m allowed to fudge things a little on vacation. I decided to revisit the scene of the first running race I ran (not counting the 60 Minute Challenge races we ran as kids), the Humpy’s 10k in 2001, and run on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. In order to maximize the number of times I could see Aimee, who was my water/gu/gatorade helper, i started out going into town along Chester Creek, and then headed back through the Coastal Trail start and out towards Point Woronzof. I stopped there, at the eight-mile point in my run, in the shadow of extremely low-flying and almost motionless-seeming cargo jets taking off from the airport out over Cook Inlet. I felt great, especially with the help of my first use of a shot of carbohydrate goo during the run, which I guess I should have been doing all along. I managed to set a good pace and keep it thoughout, and finished the twelve miles at about an 8:10 pace, which I was very happy with. Tonight we’re off to Neil’s brother’s house for a barbeque, and then we’re going to pay another visit to NYC in Anchorage, the ailing Sub-Zero bar, home of great Belgian beers, expensive martinis, and a tiny clientele. We’re doing our best to keep it going, and we’ll see how it’s doing tonight.