My August marathon was the “Moose’s Tooth Marathon” held in
Anchorage, Alaska. While I wasn’t
expecting giant herds of wild moose to give me yet another excuse for missing
out on the elusive sub-3 goal, I did think it was a possibility that I’d at
least see one – especially since photos from previous races included shots of a
Mama Moose with her baby casually snacking as marathoners ran by.
Travelling to Alaska was an exciting prospect even without a
marathon on the schedule. I grew up in a
family that places a high value on wilderness, and Alaska is probably the best
state in the US to experience outdoor adventure. My brother Darryl decided to make the trip
with me and we planned a very fun “brothers weekend” which included the race on
Sunday, August 19th.
August in Alaska is still close enough to summer that the
weather forecast does not include snow.
The sun still dominates the sky, with a late sunset time of around 10
p.m. Darryl and I arrived on Wednesday
evening and decided to scout the area on Thursday on bicycle. We rented a couple of bikes and spent about 4
hours cruising, mostly on the coastal trail.
The scenery was spectacular!
Green everywhere (something I’m not used to in Tucson), and overlooks to
the Cook Inlet where we saw white whales (beluga?) surfacing. Much of the marathon course was on this
trail, so I got a chance to get a preview, and realized that although we were
near sea level, this was actually going to be a hilly race. We searched hard for moose, but they
apparently had the day off.
We didn’t rent a car, so we did a lot of walking
around. Anchorage is a small town, and it
reminded me of the region where I grew up in upstate New York. It was evident that they depend on tourism,
and by mid-August the tourist season has slowed down so things were fairly
quiet. Our hotel was next to Ship Creek,
a pretty little creek where lots of salmon fishing happens. Interestingly, the creek goes through cycles
every few hours as the ocean tide causes it to rise and flow strongly, followed
by a near-emptying of the creek.
I enjoyed a couple of nice runs from the hotel along Ship
Creek. It was tempting to go far, the
trail system is very long in Anchorage and they are maintained very well. I carried my camera on the runs and took plenty
of photos. It seemed like every curve
revealed a new scene that begged for a photo.
I wish I could show them all here!
I kept an eye out for wildlife – unfortunately, no moose or bear
spottings, but I did see a few smaller creatures including this beaver who was
busy working on his dam:
On Friday, Darryl and I spent the day taking a glacier
cruise. This was such a fantastic
experience, I could write a whole blog about it. The cruise went into Prince William Sound, an
area rich with history of famous expeditioners including James Cook and John
Muir. There were only about 20 tourists
on our boat, and we had a great time cruising the bay and visiting glacier
sites. We saw some of the most beautiful
scenery I’ve ever laid eyes on. We also
saw some wildlife, including sea otters, seals, sea lions, lots of birds, and
even some whales. We used binoculars to
scan the shoreline, hoping to see bear or moose, without success. We took hundreds of pictures. I spent most of the day standing on deck in
the cold, maybe not the best move 2 days before a marathon but it was well
worth it. Here is a photo of Darryl and
I aboard the good ship Fairweather Express, in front of Surprise Glacier:
Saturday was expo day.
I was getting very excited about the race on Sunday! We walked over a mile to the convention
center to get our race packets. I was
signed up for the marathon, and Darryl was signed up for the Snow City 5k. We enjoyed the expo, which was small but well
organized. I had a chance to visit with
Olympian Jeff Galloway, who is now most famous for his ‘Run/Walk Method’, and
he gave me a nice interview for my SunRunner Podcast project.
We also had lunch at the pasta feed. I must say that this was by far the best pasta
feed I have ever seen at a race despite being the least expensive. First-class all the way! We also spent some time browsing a local flea
market. Later in the day, we decided to
have dinner at the race’s sponsor, the Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria. It was about 4 miles from the hotel so we
took a cab, and arrived to find a super-busy restaurant. We waited over an hour just to be seated, and
proceeded to eat some excellent pizza.
Sunday morning got off to a nice start. The weather was cool, there was some drizzle
in the air but it was not too bad. I met
up with some other Marathon Maniacs and we took a group photo a few minutes
before the start:
My race began first, with Darryl’s 5k starting later. It was a fast start but around a mile in,
things settled down and we worked our way on to the coastal trail. I was feeling good, the hernia surgery site
was hurting but not too bad. I kept a
fairly quick pace for a while, but felt myself slowing as the miles clicked by. For a relatively small race, I was very
impressed by the crowd support and aid station quality. At one point, there was an odd character
playing a guitar in a random spot in the forest. We ran by Earthquake Park, and next to the
airport where jumbo jets took of directly overhead. The cool air and beautiful scenery helped
make the race fun, but the hills definitely took their toll, especially since
my legs really did not get the proper rest in the few days prior when we biked
and stood on the ship.
The course is sort of a “Y” shaped out-and-back, but it
became difficult to gauge my position because we eventually were merging with
relay runners and half-marathoners. By
mile 20, I was feeling poor but kept trudging along. The worst part of the race was in the final
mile, when the course exits the trail and turns onto what appears to be the
steepest road in the world. It’s only
about a tenth of a mile or two climb, but it is a brutal blow to a tired
marathoner. I slogged up it and turned
onto the final homestretch. A nice
cheering crowd brought racers in and I crossed the line in 3:21:02.
This was a bit slower than I had hoped for but I was
satisfied and got a nice finisher medal.
I was 31st place overall, and actually got 2nd in
my age group! The age group awards were
a mug and ribbon.
The greatest part of the race for me, though, was that
Darryl ran the 5k. He’s not a runner,
and this was his first race. He worked
very hard and earned a nice finisher medal for his efforts. Taking a vacation with my brother was
awesome, but wrapping it up with both of us completing a race was just
incredible. I was so proud to be able to
share the event with him!
So overall, it was a wonderful weekend with so many great
memories. There’s only one negative – WE
NEVER SAW ANY MOOSE!
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