STATE #17 - Anchorage, Alaska
Big Wild Life Runs
Finishers: 1,012
Flashback:
Back in January when
my year long stint in New York abruptly came to a close, I was in San Francisco
with Cooper helping him move into his new apartment in Oakland. I had been
there a few days basically just taking up space and doing a mediocre job of supervising
his move in while actually just watching TV and using my recent wisdom teeth
extraction as a reason to be lazy. Knowing I needed to run Alaska eventually, I
decided to look into it and found a race that I thought would be fun
eventually. Eventually? Why not this summer? So on a whim using Delta and
Sheraton points, I booked a trip to Alaska! Cooper later decided it would be a
trip he wouldn't want to miss so he booked a flight as well!
A little more to
this saga -- after Race #16 in Seattle, I was down in Fort Lauterdale for work
and I decided to go on a run to the beach. Halfway through my run, my foot
cramped up and I felt like it was swollen or I had broken something. I limped
the rest of the way to the beach, took of my shoes and just sat there freaking
out. Do I have a stress fracture? Did I tear something? Nothing is more
unsettling than having a potential injury to a part of your body you are
relying on to accomplish a goal. After a lot of freaking out and an appointment
with the foot doctor, I was diagnosed with Planters Fasciitis which sounds
disgusting but is really just and inflammation of the muscle? That runs from
your Achilles down to your toes. I was given a boot that would help stretch it
out and some exercises as well, but I was told I had to stay off it for a while
meaning no running. I had booked half #17 to be mid July in Chicago, IL but due
to the foot saga had to drop out of the race. As much as I wanted to rush
things, say I was better, and get back out on the road, I had to rest or I
would only make things worse. If you want to see a very sad Ashley, tell me I
can't workout for 6-8 weeks. It was bad. A lot of time on the couch and a lot
of pity parties for myself. BUT through rest and stretching and boot wearing, I
slowly got better and was cleared for the race! Actually….the doctor told me to
take it easy which in Ashley terms meant I was ready to race again.
August 16, 2013
So I had booked a
direct flight on point from Atlanta to Anchorage that would put me in town mid
afternoon on Friday the 16th. But for some reason, I last minute decided I
would rather take an earlier flight that connected through Minneapolis but got
me to Alaska around noon. I guess I thought breaking the flight into a few
pieces would be more manageable on my body. Sure enough, my flight out of
Atlanta got delayed. We landed in Minneapolis very close to my departure time
for my next flight and myself and another man who was en route to Alaska for a
fishing trip, took off running through the airport to try and get to our
connecting flight. Despite our best efforts, we ended up missing the flight to
Alaska and having to wait for the next flight. The only reasonable thing I
could think of to do in my fit of furry was get Ben & Jerry's -- because
icecream makes everything better. After a very long delay, we finally left MSP
to continue my journey to Alaska.
We landed in Alaska
mid evening and I decided to just head to the hotel. Cooper's flight wasn't
getting in until later so I figured I would grab a cab and just hang out until
he arrived. We were staying at the Sheraton on points and our room had a pretty
nice view. It was about happy hour time so I head up to the lounge area and
grabbed some snacks while I waited. Cooper got in sort of late and I think both
of us were in disbelief that we were actually in Alaska! We had an early train
to catch for a tour I had booked so we got a quick bite to eat and caught some
z's.
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| ALASKA! |
Saturday, August 17,
2013
Because it was a
quick trip in Alaska, I wanted to make sure we made the most of it. For that
reason, I booked us on a train tour / boat ride out of Anchorage, AK down to
Seward, Alaska. We grabbed a cab that took us to the train station where we
waited until our train came along. Trains always make me feel like I am back in
the olden days for some reason. We got down to Seward by train that took us
along the coast, past a few glaciers and through some gorgeous terrain. It was
a bit rainy and overcast but we still got some good pictures along the way but
may have missed some wildlife opportunities.
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| Dove - says it so right |
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| Super long train! |
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| Sleepy bear sighting |
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| Glacier? |
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| The river runs through |
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| More train |
Once we got down to
Seward, we boarded a boat, the MIV Star of the Northwest, that took us out and
around the national park on an educational tour. We saw a lot of wildlife
during this trip. Again, it was rainy and fairly cold but the boat also had an
indoor area equip with a prime rib buffet, I kid you not, that we enjoyed
intermittently during our cruise whenever we needed to come inside for a warm
up break.
Along the coast, we
saw lots of sea otters, puffins, and seals. I guess the rest of the animals
were hiding from the rain as well. On our way back into the harbor, the sun
came out just enough for us to get some blue sky photos of the mountains. We
hung around Seward for a little bit taking touristy photos before hoping back
on our train to take us home to Anchorage.
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| Oh Port, you so pretty! |
By the time we got
to Anchorage we had missed packet pickup but in true Ashley fashion, I had
confirmed with the race director in advance that we could pick them up in the
morning. We were also both exhausted and figured we would just eat in the hotel
restaurant to avoid having to venture out into the world. It had been a long 24
hours of planes, trains, boats and automobiles so we did our best to get some
rest before the big race!
Sunday, August 18,
2013
That darn tootin
rain still had not stopped. I think the most annoying part is that it was never
straight up raining. As Erin, my Bahamian roommate would say, it was
"sprying" -- she will correct
me with this spelling as soon as she reads this. The sprying kept up so even
though it was August, I opted for long sleeves because I am a baby.
We left the hotel
and walked the few blocks to where the race would start and the packet pick up
took place. After grabbing our new swag, we found a nice place to hang out by a
wall under an awning to keep ourselves dry. We sat around until it was time to
line up and then head to the start where it started raining even more. We
joined our fellow racers under a couple tents that had been set up and I tried
to shuffle to the middle where I could absorb everyone else's body heat. I'm
very similar to a puppy in some ways.
Once it got closer
to race time, we went out to brave the elements and waited for the gun to go
off. This race was fairly different than most of the races I had run recently.
We spent very little time in downtown or on main streets and the majority of the
race was on a bike path that either ran along the coast or mostly through the
woods.
I didn't want to
push it since this was my first race back so I did my best to just play it
cool. It was an out and back course so we got to enjoy seeing the fast people
come back our directions towards the middle of the race. It continued to rain a
little and I know I was going slow but Cooper was nice enough to tag along
beside me. Honestly, the race was kind of boring and I was getting unmotivated
but just tried to do my best to keep thinking "I'm in ALASKA!"
Around Mile 8, the
support teams were giving out M&M's and I can only imagine how much my
excitement meter peeked after I was handed a little cup of tasty chocolatey
treats. Those kept me going for a good while and also the fact that
backtracking out steps on the way back into down town helped me be able to
countdown the miles.
Near Mile 10 or 11
Cooper started to run behind me for a bit and I was getting really annoyed. He
said my pace was too awkward so he either had to slow down his pace or speed up
and be in front of me. I was just at the end of my patience level and ready to
be done so I told him to go ahead since all I wanted to do was finish the race.
He went ahead a little but not enough to ever be out of sight. I started
feeling a weird sense of vertigo at one point where I felt like my brain and my
legs were not on the same page and I continued to run just hoping I would make
it to the finish and something outlandish wouldn't happen to take me out of the
race. The last thing I wanted to do was have to plan another trip up to Alaska
especially after how far we had come.
Tired from the race,
we spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the lobby of the Sheraton
watching TV and napping while we waited for our flights home. It was an
incredibly fast trip but I'm happy we made the most of it and I will most
definitely be planning another trip back soon!
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