Big Wild Life Marathon

Well, I was slow but I made it to the finish.  Maybe my personal worst but considering the 830 mile bike ride and two weeks of illness and hardly any training, I was glad to make it to the finish line even if it did take me 6 hours and 12 minutes!!  I am making a promise to myself to train a whole lot harder for my next event which will be the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 18th.  I was 4th in my age group, but ha ha ha, there were only 4 in my age group!  I still feel good because I suppose the rest of those in my age group were home watching TV.

Biked Eklutna Lake

Got back on the bike yesterday, rode 10 miles to the Eklutna Lake airstrip and back for about 20 miles round trip.  No soreness this morning so I guess my biking muscles are still in shape.  It's pouring rain again today.  This summer has been nothing but a series of rainstorms.  Have barely seen the sun since I left California. I hope it won't be a torrential downpour on Sunday for the Big Wild Life Marathon.
There was a bit of sun at the lake yesterday but it was mostly cloudy and very windy.  Saw a big black bear while riding along the airstrip.

Back on Track

Well, I think I am now finally back on track with my training.  I am still feeling a bit weak from my illness, and maybe even a little from the long bike ride.  But I did have a nice 6 mile run today.  I will probably be keeping my runs fairly short for the next week because I am running the Big Wild Life Marathon in Anchorage on August 15th, just a bit more than one week away.  I don't expect an outstanding time on that marathon, but I do believe I will have no problem finishing it. 

This one is a very important one for me.  It will be marathon 11 for me, and it is also a Team In Training event.  This run is part of my Prudhoe to Palmer Team In Training event.  There is still time for last minute donations.  I have not even reached the halfway point of my fundraising goal.  So please, make a donation to this very important cause.  I rode my bike the 830 miles and will now run another 26.2 miles to complete this event.  Help make my efforts bring in more to the cause of ending blood cancer.

Please make a donation to my Prudhoe to Palmer Website!

THANKS!

Way Behind - Sorry

Well talk about after the fact!  I finished the bike ride, arriving in Palmer on July 19th at 8:30 pm.  Very exhausted after doing a full 90 miles the last day, all the way from Trapper Creek to my house in Palmer.  I was quite ill after that and after one week of feeling near death, found out that Giardia was the culprit.  Whoops, the filter broke and I had to depend on my iodine and well, guess they don't work quite as well. 

I finally started running again on August 1st and ran two 5 mile runs the 1st and 2nd, down in California.  As soon as I was done with the bike ride I had to fly down to California to help out my mother.  So, training and running sort of had to take a back seat.

But I am back now and trying to get back into the swing of things.  I will be posting the bike ride story one day soon.  I kept an extensive journal so will be writing it up soon.

Here is the final arrival in Palmer picture.  I was so excited!