Majors Anchorage Marathon.

I sit in a state of pure delight as I fly out of Anchorage several hours after finishing the marathon. The marathon just had so much that came together perfectly – A few highlights:

• Anchorage was a quick stop (less than 15 hrs to be exact) I planned 6 months ago on the way to a family fishing trip – when I signed up the plan was to jog it for fun – but after Boston in April I felt like I wanted to go after another race before the long summer so I decided to train hard for it and race it.


• Training since Boston – a few hundreds miles of treadmill which actually wasn’t all that bad until the end when I just really missed the good outdoors which holds so much of what I love about running. I subjected myself to the treadmill to enable fast running training and to avoid the unnecessary and somewhat counterproductive (for a cold race) heat acclimation I would get running which was impossible outside due to the heat/humidity in Houston. Miles included tons of the fastest running I’ve ever done – somewhat enabled by the lack of wind resistance – but still the fastest I’ve moved my legs for the distances – felt like I was in GREAT shape – right at 6 mpm capable was my read on my capability at ideal conditions.


• Travel plans were less than ideal but options were limited since I was using free frequent mileage to get to/from Anchorage. Specifically I had to accept a non-direct routing with an extremely short layover and I had to land around midnight night before the 8am race start-time – but on the other hand I was at least able to get first class for the trip up for a more relaxed pre-race journey and I have a good friend in Anchorage that was able to take care of details like getting my packet, picking me up at the airport and giving me a place to sleep before the race and drive me to and from the race – and extremely great company. Of course the travel didn’t go smooth – finally getting off the ground in Houston 50 minutes after the scheduled departure I was convinced the 40 minute layover had me SOL. I figured my best case was to catch a red-eye to Anchorage and get there an hour or so before the race, get to the race late, starting way behind the walkers and just enjoy a “fun run”. As it turned out running out of the plane upon landing and RUNNING (MP pace +) thru the airport at least 1/4 mile to the designated gate – discovering the plane had moved gates then running another 1/2 mile to new gate – I made the flight – all is SO GOOD!!! I slept like a baby on that second flight – combined with a few hours at my friend’s house and a 8 am start that felt like 11 am with the 3 hour time change – I ended up well rested and ready to race.


• Morning pre-marathon routine all went like clockwork with some extra fueling and even a little 1/2 mile jog a few hours before the race just to be sure the legs were working after all the nights sitting on an airplane. I show up at the race ~6:45 with the most excellent weather forecast – overcast, low 50s, some drizzling rain, no wind whatsoever – what dream conditions – the drizzling ended up lasting about the first 1/2 of the race and felt absolutely wonderfully cooling and refreshing – the overcast stayed till the end and I think temps rose from ~50 to ~55 by the end – no way I could ask for better conditions.


• First thing we see showing up to the startline is a Moose running thru the parking lot – I thought it looked big but my friend informed me it was likely a baby.


• During my morning I read thru the packet material and find the winner from last year is running again this year (apparently an Olympic Qualifier - sub2:19er - who won with a 2:30 - there's a clue to the courses speed) – I also find mention that there is a marathon relay running with the marathon so I figured there would be people darting off at the beginning that I did not need to count in my placement. At the startline I try to figure out how to identify the relay vs full marathoners and apparently there is a small word on the bib that I never saw so it was just a unknown who in front of me I didn’t need to count in figuring out my place.


• Race Plan – Run the first 7 miles (paved) at full marathon effort tracked by heartrate, Ratchet the effort back slightly for better footing focus for the next 9 miles of trail running – push the last 10 a bit harder than I would typically expect I could since figuring I had 9 miles of reduced effort on the trails.

Anchorage Daily News : 15 minutes before the race

The Race - 1289 Finishers:

1 6:13 147 Targeted this mile 6-6:15 – wanted a relaxed starting mile and got it – ended the mile with 7 in front of me (one Girl I recognize as last years winner at 3:01 from a photo in the packet).
2 6:07 163 Slight incline – Girl gets cautioned by someone to not go too fast and slows down and I pass her – 6 in front of me – I’m wondering how many are relay runners – I know last years winner was up there but I was kinda hoping all the others were relayers and I was in second.
3 6:17 163 Steeper incline - I’m trying to hold my HR target and with the rolling hills I would trade places a couple times with a couple guys together in front of me (slowed more then them on the uphills and faster on the downhills).
4 6:20 163 Continue the incline.
5 6:14 162 A little more climb but the two in front of me split up and I pass one of them on a downhill.
6 6:07 163 Guy I pas is sticking on my tail and we are closing on the other guy.
7 6:34 163 Incline – guy behind me is dropping back and the guy in front hands off to another runner (relay) who darts off farther ahead – from this point in the race all the way until the finish I don’t pass anyone and no one passes me. I know there are 5 runners in front of me but I have no idea what my place is except at least one is relay so I’m at least in 5th but I’m hoping I’m in 2nd.

From mile 8 thru ~15 I am running on what is called the “Tank Trail” – picture a 2 lane dirt road with gravel rocks (1”+ diameter) that are very uncomfortable, challenging and risky to run on. The 8 miles is generally spent targeting places where the road has warn down so there are no rocks or the rocks are pushed into the dirt enough to make a flat running surface – in most places this is very narrow strips of the total road that randomly move from middle to right to left – in effect you end up weaving from right to left to center of this wide 2 lane road for 8 miles trying to stay off the rocks as much as possible – very inefficient – but it definitely made me grateful to have my trainers on – this would have killed my feet in racers.

8 6:05 160 As planned I backed off the effort a bit on the Trail – faster because it’s a decline – weaving around on the tank trail.
9 5:59 160 more decline – more weaving
10 6:15 160 ditto but flat
11 6:30 160 uphill
12 6:16 159
13 6:21 159 Estimate the half at 1:22 although there was no official split.
14 6:56 160 big uphill
15 6:22 158 This mile is run on a narrow path full of potholes and puddles from the rain and slippery spots – extra care required.
16 5:53 157 Finally some road – steep downhill towards the end.
17 5:37 159 Hill continues down for whole mile – hey haw.
18 5:58 160 more roads – flattening out.
19 5:59 160 I run by a bank on this mile that shows me the time – 9:40 – I allow myself to try to figure out how fast I’ve been running and somehow convince myself I’m on pace for a 2:38. I had been watching no pace up to now and this was the first clue I had to how fast I was going – kinda empowered me a bit.
20 6:05 161 I was running stronger per heartrate than I expected I’d be able to and kept hitting the high alarm from here to the end (target was 158) – felt ok so I went with it.
21 6:14 161 Lots of weaving thru the Anchorage university – some on trails – I made a couple wrong turns – quickly corrected by those around me. Someone shouts out to me that 2nd and 3rd are just ahead (guess I’m not in 2nd).
22 6:12 161 MOOSE steps right out in front of me about 20 yards away – path is the width of a bike path and she is blocking the left side – I had only a split second to decide and with my momentum going forward I elected to cut to the right side of the path and run by the moose – she was eyeing me pretty close but didn’t charge me. I was so tired I really had not energy to change my pace and somehow I think if it had run me down I might have been kinda grateful I could stop running. In hindsight I don't think I had a better option - had I stopped abruptly instead of just flowing buy I think that would have been more threatening.
23 6:12 161 I am counting down the miles one by one – just strong for one more milemarker.
24 6:03 160 I lost count on the milemarkers and wasn’t sure if I was going to see 23 or 24 – Glorious Day to see 24.
25 6:21 162 The hardest mile mentally – seemed so long.
26 6:36 166 I CURSE that last 100’ climb they choose to punish us with at the END of the race. I’m motivated to go for it by a runner ahead I can pass – I take him down and then see another one ahead – I am charging up this steep hill with ½ mile to go and my legs are screaming at me in pain – I get another runner and see another ahead – then I figure out that we had merged with the ½ marathoners – these would be 1:40 ½ marathoners I am passing – I thought I was getting some of those 5 in front of me.
26.2 5:37 pace 169 (174 max) – Race it in to the finish and see for the first time how fast I’m running – I am just slightly disappointed to see 2:43:xx ticking away – but at the same time I know I’ve put everything I had into this race and that was all it was and I feel great.

Before the race I thought I was 6 mpm capable for the marathon and this race was about 3-4 minutes slow. After the race I'm thinking this was a little harder than that - maybe 5-6 minutes slow and nearly 6 mpm equivalent effort on that course – but between the hills and gravel trail and curvy sections thru the university. Or maybe that's just what I want to believe - guess I need to go prove my speed on a flat course somewhere :-).

But regardless – this was one of the best races I’ve ever run – Perfect Weather, Scenic, Wildlife Encounter, Feeling I put my all out there, Plan the run – run the plan – it just has the most perfect feeling having finished it.

Results –

2:43:56, 1:22:33/1:21:23 splits by my watch, 4th place overall - they actually gave me a fifth place award plaque in the awards ceremony but the online results show 4th so I suspect they accidentally counted a relayer and corrected it after.
1st place 40-44 age group (ok – yes 45 year old was in front of me but that’s not in my age group).
1st place for a non-Alaskan - I thought there was an award called the Visitors Cup – I found descriptions saying “A special award known as the Visitor's Cup is presented to the best performance by an out-of-state female and male.”

My one complaint on this race (minor) is the website is silent on what are the awards given – I even emailed them before the race asking what they were and got no response. I was surprised to find they gave an award plaque to the top 5 and they gave me one (albeit the wrong one) – somehow I figured it was only top 3 – I wish they were a bit more transparent on what are the awards – I’m forced to go look at prior years and find things like the “Visitors Cup” only to find they don’t do that any more.

Pet peeving done – great race – all around fun time – I count it as my best marathon race to date – perhaps not on the clock but factoring in difficulty definitely my best race – now time to catch fish.
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Fishing Report

The view from our little cabin of a sunset around midnight:

The big Halibut catch - Dad caught them both but my brother Andy and Howard take the credit in the picture - a few other smaller ones on the boat that they actually caught.


Dad pulling in a big King:

Doug pulls in a Pike.

Here's my King Fish.

Spencer pulls in a King - Mine is Bigger

Ok - really I was holding Spencer's fish - I didn't catch a King - but I caught the biggest Lingcod just didn't get a picture (too big ~4.5 feet range so couldn't keep - keepers are 32-42").

Summary - ~500 lbs of fish meat about 1/2 halibut, ~200 lbs of Salmon (Sockeye and King) and a little lingcod and rock fish - and some fun pike fishing (catch and release) - figuring about 1/2 lb per generous serving that's about 1000 meals between the 6 of us - that's a bunch - and I don't really like fish all that much - I only took home about 10 meals - but others took home the rest. Not a bad weeks work.

Followed the fishing trip in Yakutat with a climb up Flattop Mountain in Anchorage with Dan - a good workout (I never get to wear my cool Boston Jacket/Hat in Houston):

Thanks for Reading - John.