State #23 Anchorage Alaska
I don't know who was more excited about Alaska... my wife, my mom, the kids, Keeley's BFF Coral, or my friends and family... but everyone was sure excited about Alaska. From the minute I proposed running 50in50 they were all clamoring about who was gonna go to Alaska.
Well, one cannot simply fly over to Alaska the day before, pick up their race packet, race the next day, then fly home. The flight over took about 12 hours with a stop in Seattle. So, we decided to make it a family vacation and spend 5 days to enjoy the area, and enjoy it we did. We had a party of 7 and we are all still friendly with each other after the trip. Most of this blog will appear more like a recap of our family vacation than a recap of the race, because the race was only one day of our trip. If you are not interested in the details of our vacation, then you can skip to the middle to read about the race. If you are not interested in the race, then you can skip over the middle section. If you are not interested in any of it, then you can just send cash or cashier's check to my office address. ;) Thanks.
When we arrived in Anchorage, we rented a minivan and headed to downtown Anchorage where we had booked a VRBO for the week. It was less than a mile from the start/finish line and just a couple blocks from the touristy parts of downtown. Of course, the major industry is tourism, so that was not too hard to do, but my point is that we were close to everything. Although it was still pretty light out, we were all exhausted from the trip over and so we headed to bed. Truth is, all I could think about was "flapjacks". For some reason I wanted pancakes, but they made me wait till "morning".
We got a few hours of sleep and arose, sleepy-eyed to the bright light of the sun. It was mostly overcast, but still light out. For the record, I went for my run EVERY day. There was a middle school directly across the street from our house that had a quarter-mile track, and I ran on that most every morning. As you can see, if you look closely, the boys and Valerie ran out there too. It was nice to have a training facility across the street.
After my run, I finally got some flapjacks, then we headed out to tour the city. We took a nice trolley tour and learned some very interesting things about Anchorage and the earthquake that re-shaped the city. The scenery was beautiful and majestic. All the flowers were in bloom and there was still snow on the mountains and glaciers. Lots of planes all around. It was very nice to take a leisurely day to just take in the sites. Here are a few from the trolley ride and the flight in.
It is difficult to distinguish which pictures are taken at 10:00pm and which are taken at 4:00am or noon. It is actually brighter during the day, but there was no real darkness even in the middle of the night. I found myself waking at 3 and 4 am and not being able to get back to sleep... maybe a little cat nap here and there, but my sleep schedule is all out of whack.
We all woke Friday at some point -- who knows what time it was -- it was light out. Our big outing for the day was to go to the expo and get my race packet and then a dogsled tour on a glacier. First was the expo. All 7 of us went to the expo. It was a small expo, but we literally stopped at every booth. The kids and Grami got stickers and pens and pencils and anything that they were giving out. This is not the way I normally experience the expo, but then I am not normally carrying 6 other people around with me. I finally got my race packet, which really only consisted of my race bib.
Valerie drove us north of Anchorage for about 2 hours where we came upon a lodge. We were bundled in layers as we were told that it would be potentially very cold and windy and wet. I think we would have been fine in a medium jacket, but we did not know that before we went. We got all checked in and proceeded to the helicopters that were going to take us to the glacier.
After a 10-15 minute helicopter ride we landed on the glacier, met the guide, a several time Ididerod racer and his 48 Alaskan Huskies. Every one of them had a name and a different personality. We harnessed up the dogs on two different sleds in a particular order. There were lead dogs and mid pack dogs and back of the pack dogs and each was paired with their best friend. It seems to me that this is different than humans, or at least than how i was treated. Everyone always seemed to want to separate me from my friends. We were able to greet the dogs and get to know them a little bit before the ride. The kids LOVED the dogs. They were all very sweet.
Then we went on a short dogsled ride with our harnessed dogsled team. Each of us had an opportunity to drive the sled and to brake and sit as a passenger. It was fun. There was only one small casualty as Grami fell off the sled at one point, but she was not injured.... and the dogs were indifferent.
The glacier and the scenery were very pretty. We had a nice time.
I don't remember which day it was, but one day we had lunch at a local, popular pizza joint named The Moose's Tooth, and we had dinner one other night at a place called Ginger. Both were good restaurants. Good food and good service. We were pleased. Otherwise we ate at our house. The Friday pre-race meal in particular was oven baked salmon and halibut with pasta and trimmings and sides. It was a very nice pre-race meal.
Most of the races that I run begin at about 7:00am, but this one started at 9:00am for some reason. Of course it was light out. There was a full marathon, but it was on a different course with the same finish line. There was also a 5k that started after us. We all went over to the start and waited for the start. It was about 48F but very little wind. I was wearing Keeley's sweatshirt to keep me warm until it was almost race time. Thanks Keeley. The race started right at 7:00am. There were no corrals or any markings for time or pace or even pacers for that matter. it was a bit of a free for all. Fortunately, I started very near the front, so I did not have to dodge too many people. Here is a picture of me still in good spirits at the very beginning of the race. My entire fan section was cheering some turkey call of some sort and rattling cowbells for some reason.
The race started and finished at the same area, but it was not exactly out and back. There was really only a few miles that were on the same trail. We started out on a road and went mostly downhill to a trail... like a biking trail. It was paved, larger than a sidewalk, but smaller than a one lane road.
The trail also consisted of a couple of wooden bridges.It was open to the public and there were people out on it, but they were very accommodating and were not a hinderance at all. (The pictures of the race route were taken from some of the Facebook pictures taken by some of the other racers in the 50 states half marathon club. I did not take any pictures during the race).
It was a scenic route, for the most part. This trail was designed to highlight the river and the mudflats.
There was one section that went through the woods. I was not expecting to have a trail section, nor was I expecting a long trail section, nor was I expecting a STEEP, uphill, wet, long trail section. There was a lot of groaning from the racers around this section. Mostly because none of us knew how long this trail was going to go. It ended up being nearly an entire mile. From mile 6 to mile 7. 
Then we got back on the same trail for the trip back to the finish. My time slowed from mid 7 minute miles to 8:12 per mile. It took a bit of steam out of me. The rest of the race was as one would expect except for the finish. The last 0.5 miles were a very steep uphill. It was the same downhill that we encountered at the start, but it seemed much steeper going up, plus it was after already having run 12.6 miles. Anyway, I finished with a decent time. I was really hoping for 1:38:00, but I will take 1:41:24 on this course for now.
My cheering section was there at the finish, cheering me on with that same strange turkey call and the cowbells. They were a welcomed site and even the turkey call was good to hear.
The shirt is nice too, but I forgot to take a picture of it. You'll probably see it on the pictures at my next race. probably.After the race I was feeling pretty good. I was not all worn out and sore. We had an easy afternoon planned, then dinner at Ginger. In all it was a great day and we were all kind of tired and went to be early. It was still light out.
Sunday we got up early and ran. I ran 4 miles and even did some speed work. I felt pretty good... still. Then off to the train station. We took a train to another glacier a few hours away. The train route was in part along the race trail, so the scenery was very similar. ALL ABOARD!! Once we got to our destination we were driven to a wildlife and conservation park-- basically a zoo.
There were caribou and elk and porcupine and bison and moose and bear... no lions or tigers -- oh my.
From there we got back on the train and off to the glacier where we took a raft out of the base of the glacier and down the river. It was no class 5 rapids, but there were some splash points and we had a nice time floating down the river and enjoying the beauty of the mountains.
Then back on the train for the trip home... but the train ride became a bus ride so we did not have to go the wrong way before we doubled back. This was designed to save us 4 hours of travel. The only hiccup was a wreck on the road. Notice that reads THE road. There is only one road. One can only get to the glacier area by plane or train. Then the areas that are accessible by auto are only accessible by one road. So, the wreck caused a dead standstill for a good 45 minutes. There is only one road, so we had no choice but to sit and wait. So, we got home kind of late, had some dinner and went to bed.
We took a gondola ride to the top of the mountain and the kids made snowmen and played in the snow. 
We had some lunch up on the top of the mountain.
Then headed back. One the way back, we still had some time, so we stopped at a gold mining place. It was a waste of time, but we had time to waste... and mining for gold meant fishing through some mud from a bucket that you paid for that had a tiny nugget of gold in it somewhere. We opted not to do that one. 
We still had some time, so we stopped back in downtown Anchorage and watched a movie about the Aurora Borealis. It was terrible and all I can hope for is that anyone that might consider going to see it has read this far down in my blog to read that it was not even worth the waste of time... not to mention the money... even if you have both the time and the money to waste. If you are interested in Aurora Borealis -- Google it!!
The flowers were pretty in downtown though. So, off to the airport and a sleepless night of travel. It was worth it!The race was a nice one and the course was nice and the vacation was a good one. I would go again.
Next race Narragansett Massachusetts July 14.
