As many of you know, Alaska is the land of the “Midnight Sun.”
Today’s official sunrise/sunset times:
Sunrise ~ 4:38 a.m.
Sunset ~ 11:19 p.m.
In the summer, there is an abundance of daylight. Here are some recent photos I took at various times throughout the day.
What it looks like at 4:00 a.m.
(looking east)
(off to the west)
And then of course, the sun is high in the sky the rest of the day.
You can see by 9:00 p.m. it is still very light out!
(off to the west)
I took this picture at 10:00 p.m. last night. It looks darker than it normally is because it was cloudy, but 10 p.m. doesn’t look much darker than 9 p.m.
(I didn’t stay up any later than that–sorry.)
However, when I did wake up at 2:00 a.m. to go to the bathroom, I pulled out my camera and snapped a few pictures. I probably looked absolutely ridiculous!
2:00 a.m.
This is as dark as it gets during the night! It never gets pitch dark outside right now.
So there you have it! And as you can probably guess, these pictures (and pictures in general) do not do justice. And even experiencing it during a one-week summer trip here doesn’t do justice. Not until you actually live it do you really understand!
Click here if you want to see just how dark it gets during the winter! (Those pictures of snow just made me shudder!)
Today’s Run
Distance: 10 miles (with 7 miles at marathon pace)
(I am shooting for 8 minutes/mile for my marathon pace, but I’m sure today I was running closer to my half-marathon pace of 7:45.)
Time: 1:20
I wasn’t super pumped to go and run outside today because it was raining, but then I thought back to all those bitter cold mornings this winter when I was wishing it was raining instead of snowing, so I knew it wouldn’t be worse than that!
I made sure to put a hat on, which makes a world of a difference when running in the rain! And within a few minutes, I nearly forgot it was raining, I wasn’t chilled anymore, and I was feeling great! 🙂
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On a side note, I did end up bruising a little from the Graston Technique I had done yesterday to my IT band. It is tender to the touch, but it did not bother me at all when I was running, which I was very glad about.
The black tape on my leg is to help keep my IT band in alignment. The chiropractor put it on, and I will leave it on for 3-4 days.
I’m off to spend the evening with Craig. We have a date to watch the second half of The Bachelorette from Monday night on Hulu! 🙂
Amazing! Do you have a hard time sleeping with all that light? It’s dark here when I go to sleep, but the sun starts to rise at around 4:30 and it often wakes me up!
Yes, sleeping has been more difficult to come by lately. I have had a particularly hard time falling back to sleep after waking up around 4 a.m. since my eyes see light and think it is time to get up.
Does everyone has the darkest, thickest curtains ever? I would definitely need those to sleep. Glad the knee is feeling good!
Some people (probably most) have thick curtains or shades that do a good job of blocking out the sun. Some people even use aluminum foil, but of course that looks really tacky!
7 miles at marathon pace! Dayum girl, great work. You are going to do hella well at your marathon.
I bet you are going to rock that marathon.
Cool pictures, Michelle! I totally want to experience that day light thing myself, I’ll make it up there one of these days! You are going to do awesome at that marathon, I can’t wait to see how you do 🙂
Do you wear sunglasses when you run? I’d like to get a pair but am not sure which is a good brand to go with (that doesn’t cost a ton). I notice that I squint a lot when I’m out for a run, it can’t be good for my eyeballs!!!
You have to come up!!
I do not wear sunglasses when I run. It is strange. . . even though the sun is high in the sky, it doesn’t seem as intense as it does in MN and I don’t find myself squinting that much. I am not sure if this is possible??
I know the blogger “Skinny Runner” wears sunglasses all the time, so I would check out her blog for a recommendation. Although, I’m sure the ones she wears aren’t cheap.
i bought a $16 pair of running sunglasses from champion by target. they’re a white “sport” style…definitely not cute but they do the trick!
Hopefully summer 2012! I’m hoarding my PTO for the wedding and I’ll pretty much bottom out after that. So I’ll be back up to vacation mode by next summer 🙂
I like the skinnyrunner blog and read that now and then, I’ll have to search around on there for a post on them. I also saw someone posted about the target ones, I will check those out too. Thanks! 🙂
I am so nervous about being able to sleep when I am in Alaska. It is only a week and a half away! I am so excited… What does one pack in this weather? I will be on a cruise through Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. HELP!
I would think the cruise boat will have really dark curtains.
Definitely pack a rain jacket! I know it rains a lot in Southeast AK. Also, if you are always cold like me, be sure to bring a lot of winter/fall clothes. Even though those towns are south of Anchorage, I don’t think it gets that much warmer. If I were you, I would also bring mittens/gloves. I just know when I go camping and spend a lot of time outside–even in the summer–I always end up having to dress warmer than I think I should.