Alaska Day Five: Race Day

Frances and I both woke up before the alarm, around 7:00.  I reluctantly looked outside as a high chance of rain was forecasted.  It was drizzly but not raining heavily.  We got dressed in our running clothes and headed to the starting line, about a half mile walk from our hotel.  By the time we got there, it was 53 degrees and not raining.  There wasn't much to do so we went to Starbucks to stay warm and wait for the races to start.

The marathon- ers started off at 9:00 a.m. so I wished Frances luck and waited my turn.  Next were the half marathon- ers at 9:20 a.m.  I waited as long as possible to check my bag so I could hang on to my jacket.  We in the 5K were the last to go at 9:40 a.m.  The race went a few blocks on city streets, then down a hill and out along the coastal trail.  It was a little narrow as the trail wasn't very wide and there was two-way traffic with the lead runners coming back towards us after the switchback. 

As I got to the hill back up to the streets, it started raining lightly.  I managed to finish just under my goal of 36 minutes, so I was happy with that.  I collected my medal and started off to find the 16 mile mark of the marathon where I was to meet Frances.  It ended up being about two miles to get there, and I was there about 20 minutes ahead of when I expected her.  I had to walk along a trail with the half marathon runners because I wasn't sure how to go any other way.

Frances came along at 11:35, about 5 minutes ahead of schedule.  She said she was doing well but was having trouble finding someone to pace with.  After she was off again, I headed back to downtown to wait for her to finish.  It started raining so I went back to Starbucks again.  I was expecting Frances around 1:30, but around 1:05 the rain had mostly stopped so I went over to watch the finish line.  Luckily I did because within 5 minutes she came crusing in, about 15 minutes ahead of her last run!

We had someone take a picture of us with our medals to send home for the letter, and then we started off back to the hotel to shower.  A unique feature of the hotel bathroom is the light switch - which is a timer knob you have to turn to get the light to come on.  Of course there are no numbers on the knob so you have no idea how long you have it set for.  Frances and I both had the experience of not setting it long enough and having the lights go out on us in the shower.

We probably should have stayed put longer, but we were hard core and after a brief rest, headed out to browse the Sunday Market.  We hit up a few gift shops but I quickly realized I was too tired to shop.  We had dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse and then went to see the AurorA movie at the Alaska Performing Arts Center, a show with images of the Northern Lights.  It was just us and another couple in the theater.

After the movie, we finally headed back to the hotel for good.  I checked my fitbit and found I had my highest number of steps ever - almost 31,000.  It was tricky to get all my steps in because my fitbit was still on central time and I had to get them in by 9:00 p.m. before it reset.