Anchorage Mayor's Marathon

 I am quite relieved that today is finally over. Last year I ran this race and beat the 7 hour 30-minute time limit with only 2 seconds to spare. I registered for it again this year with the intent to work hard and concentrate on improving my time. Unfortunately, I never did do the training I had hoped to do. So, I have been stressing out about it for many months, knowing my chances of finishing were next to none! I admit that my attitude has been terrible and negative and I even considered not even showing up. But I did really want to do it because it would be my first full marathon since turning 80 years old. I ran one marathon back in 1979 and swore I would never do that again. But in 2007 I changed my mind and decided to run the Anchorage Marathon when I was 60 years old. After that I became a true Marathon Maniac and today I ran my 176th marathon, the same one I ran when I decided to break my vow to never do such a crazy thing again. Today I was stressed out about the time limit almost the entire race. It was at about mile 15 or so that I realized I was running much faster than last year. My feet were hurting but not nearly as badly as they were last year. My new shoes were helping but it was still pretty painful. But more tolerable with the significant amount of Advil I had taken at the start and again at mile 10. Weather conditions were perfect too. It was sunny and warm, but not too hot. It was in the high 60's and even up to 70, but there was a nice cooling breeze, so I never did get too hot. I was amazed when I crossed the finish line with a time of 7 hours and 2 minutes. I ran this marathon in 2007 and 2008 but couldn't for the next few years because my job up in Deadhorse caused me to work all of June. I resumed running it again in 2021 and have run it each year since then. Each of those 6 I placed in my age group of 75+, all but one I was first, including this time. There are not a large number of women over 75 who do that one, or any full 26.2-mile marathon, which gives me a distinct advantage. They give the age group winners an extra medal that is a smaller version of the regular finisher's medal. I enjoy having them in my collection.

I swore I'd never put myself through the stress of doing this marathon again. But I can't say that for sure. I do know I'm not going to register for it the minute the registration opens next year. If I do decide to do it again, I will sign up at the last minute, but only if I feel extremely confident. Life is too short to stress out over a silly time limit for something that is supposed to be fun. Life feels even shorter when you are 80 years old too! But I am happy I did it this time!

Cottonwood Lake Kayak

Yesterday, Bella seemed really restless and uncomfortable in my kayak. She did have a couple of cushions on the floor to sit and stand on but seemed pretty restless. She also has trouble standing up because she wants to hold onto the front of the boat, but it is very slippery. After I got home, I bought some wide Velcro and put several strips of the soft side of the Velcro on the front of the boat. I will see if that helps her on our next trip. Today I also brought her fake fur fuzzy dog bed and put it on the flat cushion on the bottom of the boat. For the first time ever, she jumped right into the boat. She traveled much better today with her comfortable doggie bed. It was a little windy but easy to control the boat as long as I stayed fairly close to the shore. We went all the way to the outlet stream that goes into Mud Lake. It had a lot of branches and debris, and the water was pretty low and fast, So I decided not to travel it to Mud Lake. Most of the lakes and streams are a little low right now because it has been very warm and dry lately. We paddled for a couple of miles, and it was cool enough that I didn't even need to dip Bella into the water. I think she had a lot more fun today, just because of her little bed. She really liked barking at the water lilies for some reason, which I thought was rather odd. 

Rabbit and Palmer Slough

 I finally had a chance to go out in my kayak. I took Bella and we went to the Rabbit Slough dock and put in there and paddled up stream on Palmer Slough. It was a beautiful very warm summer day. Bella got kind of hot, so I ended up holding her by her lifejacket and giving her a quick dip in the water. She settled down and stopped panting after that. She doesn't seem to understand the point of floating on water in a little boat and would much rather be out running on the trails. She did enjoy barking at the birds and at nothing at all. I was just happy to be relaxing on the water in the sunshine.

Archangel Road Hike

They finally opened up Archangel Road because the snow is gone. The road is so awful with gigantic boulders and muddy ruts, that I refuse to attempt to drive up it. I did see quite a few large pickup trucks and a few cars, around the size of mine though. I could probably make it but have always decided it's safer to just hike if I want to do anything up at the far end of that road. Bella and I hiked the 2 miles up to the locked gate from the bridge where we had parked. Shortly after passing the gate, it was starting to get pretty muddy. I decided that was a good place to turn around. We ran most of the way back. The mountains back there are so rocky and spectacular that I just love getting back there. When I have more time, I plan to go back to Lane Basin or even up to Lane Glacier. There is still a lot of snow and mud on the Lane Basin Trail so I will want to wait a couple more weeks at least. But today was a nice little workout with delightful views.

Wetlands Trail

 I took my usual walk around the Reflections Lake Trail with Bella. Mark came with us and we decided to check out the Wetlands Trail that takes off towards the confluence of the Matanuska and Knik Rivers. Typically, it is very wet and often impassible. But it has been so dry around here lately that it was totally dry and nice walking. There were lots of bluebells and shooting stars blooming along the oath. We made it all the way out to the river. Bella had to sniff everything along the way. I took a few photos of the flowers. The other day there were 12 swans and their offspring, but today there were only a few grebes on the lake. We only walked 2 miles round trip, but it was a lovely day to do the little walk.

Portage Pass Trail

 I was quite sick of working in my yard and I jumped at Mark's suggestion to drive down to Whittier. It's a beautiful drive down along the inlet, to Portage, then the trip through the tunnel to Whittier. We decided to check out the Portage Pass Trail just to see if the parking mess had improved. I was delighted to see that they now have a huge parking lot. Mark has never hiked any of this trail. I have done it to the overlook several times but have never done the whole 2 miles down to Portage Lake. I knew we wouldn't even have time for that but did hope we could hike up to the overlook. Mark needed to rest a bit but we both made it to the high point where we could see the glacier and down to the lake in the distance. That is about the halfway point of the trail. Bella had to stay on her leash because there were a lot of people also on the trail. It was 75 degrees and mostly calm, which is very unusual for Whittier. Last week it was snowing there. It is usually foggy and raining or snowing. So, we picked the most perfect day ever to give it a try. Mark loved it and was so happy we had decided to hike up there. We had time to grab a nice salmon burger for lunch and catch the 6pm tunnel opening to drive back to Portage. What a spectacular place that is. Maybe next time I can get there early enough to hike all the way to the lake. But I was really happy to make it to the overlook. It's amazing up there. 

Gold Star and POW/MIA Peaks

 Today was a spectacular climb up Gold Star then on to POW/MIA. The weather was perfect; the trail was perfect. It was the best time I've ever hiked up there. Pam went with us and was worried she would not be able to keep up with the group. She really didn't have any trouble at all and really enjoyed the beautiful hike. It seems like a very long hike because it's quite steep. But in reality, it's only about 4 miles round trip. But the trail has very few switchbacks and basically follows the fall line all the way to the top. We were very fortunate to have the entire trail all to ourselves too. There is only room for about 5 cars at the little turnout where we have to park. But the 5 of us drove up in 3 cars and had it all to ourselves. We did run into a couple of other hikers on our way down, but no one else was on the upper mountain with us. It was 70 degrees out with nonly a light breeze. Typically, it is a howling wind on top but today the light breeze was a welcome addition. We took a nice long lunch break under the POW and US Flags. I hiked down the ridge until I reached the steep drop off so I could get the closest photos of Twin Peaks. Bella went with me of course. Instead of following the ridgeline back to Gold Star, we hiked over to the far ridge where we could look out over the valley below. I love that part of the hike because the ridge is full of interesting rock formations. Bella took off on her own at one point, and I had to yell "Treats" loudly to finally get her to catch up with me. She likes to explore up there just as much as we do. The trip down through the rocks and scree was a bit slow going, but we were soon back down to the saddle where we took another break. The lower trail was nice and dry. We took another nice long break in a soft meadow on the lower trail in the sunshine. We all wanted to just stay there and sunbathe for the rest of the day. But of course, we did need to go home. It was an awesome hike as always. Plus, it's a great way to pay tribute to our fallen heroes who made it possible to have the freedom we have to do such a hike.