Alaska (Humpy's Marathon) 8/15/10

Well after a 2 month break and spending a month of that spoiling my granddaughter it was time to get back to the marathon scene. We picked things back up with Alaska and this was one that I was looking forward to after all the heat here in Texas. The race was in Anchorage and the weather was between 50 and 60 degrees. We flew in early Friday morning which gave us a couple of days to goof around. The race was on the coastal trail system so we decided to rent bikes on Saturday and ride the course. It is a beautiful trail with rolling hills and alot to see. The course had 2 different out and backs and we rode the main one which was a 22 mile ride. During the ride we were lucky enough to see moose which was great. We saw the mother and 2 calves feeding right along the trail. The calves were about 10 yards away from the mother and they were very curious of Wendy and I. The calves actually came up to Wendy and I but we kept a close eye on the mother hoping she wasn't going to get spooked and want to protect her young. After the ride we went and picked up our packet, spent some time walking around downtown Anchorage and then went to the free pasta dinner that night which was very good.

As far as race day we woke up to some really heavy fog. The race started at 9am so it had time to burn off. The temp during the race was 50 at the start and about 60 at the finish. With riding the course the day before I knew what to expect with the hills and where the bigger climbs were. During the race I saw moose again right along side of the trail this time 3 females all eating. The volunteers working the race did a good job telling the runners to be alert and that there were moose ahead. None of them seem to mind us running next to them and they went about the business eating the leaves off of bushes. Overall it turned out to be a great day and a pretty good run after coming off a 2 month break with not alot of long runs. There were alot of 50 Staters and Maniacs there so it was good seeing alot of them again. Next up is Idaho on Labor day weekend so until then hope everyone is doing good.