Anchorage Mayor's Marathon

I finished marathon #172 today. It was a tough race for me, because I really haven't been diligently training. My two week hiatus from hiking while waiting for Bella to heal, has not been very helpful either. I knew I was not in tip-top running shape. But I never am lately. I have been worried that it would be too hot, since it's been in the 70's all week. That's hot for Alaska, even in summer. I had to get up at 3:30 am to have time for breakfast, a dog walk, and to deliver Bella to friend, Mark who agreed to watch her for the day. I caught the 6 am shuttle from the finish line to the start line and was freezing cold for an hour and a half waiting for the start. Being too hot was not a big worry at that time. In fact, dark clouds were moving in obscuring what little sun we had. Soon after starting, it began to rain. I hoped I could keep warm by running but I was still a little chilly. By the time we left the coastal trail and reached the lagoon, the rain stopped and it gradually warmed up. By the end of the race it was 70 degrees, but there was enough breeze that it really didn't bother me. However, my feet were really bothering me. Running on the hard pavement of the bike trails seemed to cause sharp pain to the bottom of my feet. I took a couple breaks at the porta potties, just to get off my feet for a minute. That actually helped. I was still mostly able to keep my typical running speed but the pain was definitely slowing me down. At mile 10 I considered dropping out. But I never like to quit. So, I toughed it out somehow. I knew I was going to be very close to reaching the 3 pm finish limit, which gives us 7 hours and 30 minutes. At mile 24 I caught up with a guy named Mike who said he had been using me as an inspiration to push on, when he was getting pretty discouraged. We ran together from that point on, encouraging and challenging each other. In the last 100 yards his wife was yelling at us both over his cell phone to keep running and not walk!  We pushed with all we had and crossed the finish line at almost exactly 3 pm. My finish time according to my chip was 7:29:58. I finished with 2 seconds to spare! We both had gun times of 7:30:30. I still got first in my age group of Female 75-99+ but of course I was the only one in that category. I got a gold medal and still finished last. 

I was so glad to get out of my running shoes after my drive home. I'm not sure if I will register for this race next year when I'm 80. But knowing myself, I'm sure I'll be crazy enough to do it. I will want to be a lot more conscientious about training though.

Finish Photo