Theresa and I arrived back in Anchorage and headed for our couch surfing hostess’s place. Gabrielle is a very cool lady into sustainability and living off the land. She has extensive gardens in her back ground and plans to join a permaculture group in Hawaii next year. For more on permaculture check this out: Permaculture. Theresa and I made dinner for her and her roommates and then she took us out to taproot for some live music and dancing. At the taproot I met the opening singer, Paul Caltado from Asheville, NC. I spoke with him and his girlfriend for a while very cool people. The next day Theresa and I visited the Midnight Sun Crewing company in Anchorage then we headed to Hood Lake for a picnic and watched the float planes take off. Sarah joined us there. We met Sarah through Lisa, and she had just quit her job and wants to do some float trips and backpacking with me now that she has free time. Sarah is an Anchorage resident, and very much into the outdoors, fishing, climbing, and backpacking. She took us on a short hike off the Seward highway, and we had great views of the inlet. 
The next day Theresa drove me to the start line for the marathon. I met with James there as planned. Soon afterwards we were off in the race. Our goal was to run a 3:30 finish time. The weather was perfect, mid 50s and sunny. About 2 miles into the race, James could not hold back any longer and wanted to go, I let him run at his paced and continued on shooting for a 3:25-3:30 finish time. The race was a bit hilly and about 50% was on pavement the rest was on gravel roads, and single track packed mud trails. This was the first time I ran a marathon on trails, and it was great fun. There were times when I was completely alone running through the woods. Most of the time though there were people around. The marathon had nearly 1000 participants so it was a nice size race that you are not always alone, but not too crowded either. The race went really well and I was on track for a 3:25 finish, but the last 6 miles came up on me with a vengeance, I slowed my pace significantly (despite my best efforts) and ended up with a 3:32:14 finish time, not bad but not great. I was happy though. I found James at the finish line and another Couch surfer that I had been in contact with but not actually met, Thomas, another resident of Anchorage. James ended up really going for it and finished in 3:05, and placed 12th overall.
After meeting with my old Tegron manager Brad Rogers and his wife Barbra for lunch in Anchorage, I relaxed most of the afternoon. Saturday night Theresa and I went downtown to see our hostess Gabi play in the Solstice festival with her band. I met James for dinner, and we bumped into Rose downtown too. We celebrated well into the night.
The next day James and I climbed to the top of flattop, as a way to loosen up our legs. It was cloudy but we still had some decent views of the city when the clouds parted briefly. The next day James left for Colorado for his next race. I promised to visit him in Sidney when I get there later this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment