This past weekend, I had a brief but very enjoyable trip home to Anchorage. Aimee is still in Boston for her spring break, so I went back by myself, on the early flight to Anchorage via Seattle on Friday morning, getting in around 1:00 in the afternoon, and returning on the non-stop red-eye, leaving at 1:00 am on Monday morning and getting in at 6:30, in time to head to work.

I did only three things when I was at home: hanging out with my parents, running, and eating at our favorite restaurants. The weekend felt nice and long because I wasn’t running around (except when I was running, of course) trying to pack in lots of stuff. I did my semi-annual computer check, cleaning up problems, installing stuff (this time, my old iSight so we can video chat with Anchorage and Charlottesville), and trying to fix problems. I also helped tackle some things in my Dad’s office, including stacks of CDs that needed a home, some photographs that needed hanging, and a closet that needed some new shelving. We got the old shelving taken out and the new ones painted, but we didn’t quite finish the project before it was time to leave, so I’m hoping it’ll get done before the next time I’m home.

I also programmed the universal remote and figured out the DVR; we watched the first episode of Planet Earth on the huge new TV the night I left, and enjoyed it very much.

It was the end of my first week of marathon training, and things seem (knock on wood) to be going ok. I ran a five mile loop around the roads near my house on Saturday, and after checking out the indoor track above the hockey rink at the local “Subway Sports Centre” (no thanks), I ran my eight miles on Sunday along Hillside Drive, down below the house. It had some killer hills in it, but most of the rest of the routes I run are flat, so it’s good for me to practice.

Over the course of the three days, we ate at Mexico in Alaska (it’s been awhile, but still the restaurant I’ve been to the most often in my life), at Snow City (mmm, Ship Creek Benedict), and at Moose’s Tooth, now twice as big and still just as busy as the last time I was there, a few years ago. Only Mexico was around when I was growing up; Anchorage’s restaurant selection has certainly improved in the last ten years. I ran into the requisite people I hadn’t seen in years at Carrs and Title Wave, and got a new running watch with my dividend at REI. The ground was still snow-covered at the house, but it was definitely breakup season: the roadsides were covered in gray masses of accumulated snow and trash re-emerging from months of winter. I’m looking forward to going back in May, with Aimee, for a nice dose of spring.