Anchorage Mayor's Marathon

Two weeks ago I checked off my tenth state by running the Anchorage Mayor's Marathon. My in-laws live in Alaska, so it wasn't my first trip up there, but it was my first time racing! This is one of the most popular marathons in the state, and has a reputation for seeing wildlife along the course (moose and even bears!), so I was pretty excited about it. Plus, with our temperatures at home starting to creep into the low 100's, I was really looking forward to running in some cooler weather!

The race was on Saturday, so we headed up there Thursday evening, getting in around midnight on the summer solstice - where it was still very much light outside! On Friday, we headed to the race expo to pick up my bib, and then spent the day with family - including my cousin-in-law and his wife, Shella, who was also running the marathon the next day!

You just can't beat the views on the flight to Alaska!

This is what midnight in Anchorage on the summer solstice looks like.

Getting my bib at the race expo!

I was up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to leisurely get ready for the 7:30am start. We left around 6:30 but since it was pretty cool out (high 40's), I stayed in the car until 7 when I decided to get out and make my way through the bathroom line before lining up for the start. I was happy to see Skirt Sports Ambassador Jennifer, who was doing the relay, and get a quick picture with her!

As I lined up for the start I found Shella and we chatted a bit in the few minutes before the start. Right at 7:30 we were off - I was hoping for sub-4 hours, but overall, I didn't have any major goals for this race. With some ultra's coming up, I really just wanted to just use this as a long run and enjoy myself while taking TONS of pictures (mission accomplished)!

The race started at a high school northeast of Anchorage and we had about 1/2 mile on the road around the school before getting onto a bike path for the next couple of miles. The bike path ran right along the Glenn Highway and felt pretty congested since we were still early on in the race and not very spread out yet. Despite the highway traffic, the views of the surrounding Chugach Mountains were great as we made our way northeast before turning off the bike path and heading southeast around Mile 3 1/2.

Lining up at the start line.

I think this sign sums up running a race in Alaska pretty well!

Running along the bike path next to the highway.

We ran over the highway and on a paved road for a couple more miles before getting onto a dirt road from from miles 6-13ish (if my memory serves me right - I need to start typing up my race reports earlier so I can remember this stuff!). This dirt road was great though and offered some views of the mountains with a lot of trees as well.

Around 13, we went over a bridge before getting onto an actual trail for the next couple of miles. This was definitely my favorite section - it was gorgeous with lush green trees everywhere and lots of wildflowers. I made sure to keep my eyes and ears open for wildlife but never ended up seeing any!

My miles might have slowed significantly through here because I kept stopping for pictures…

We got off the trail around 16 and made our way down a paved road and then back onto another bike path for a short section before running along some roads for a few miles. This section was my least favorite because after being secluded on trails and in the trees we were back in an open, urban environment with traffic. Thankfully that section was short and we eventually made our way back onto another bike path that took us almost the rest of the way to the finish line.

One of my favorite pictures I took - the trees were so dense!

One of the more "urban" sections I didn't enjoy too much.

Finally, around Mile 25, we ran by a pretty lake (I wanted to get a picture, but being at Mile 25, I didn't want to stop), where we joined in with the Half Marathon runners before having 3 short but steep hills (had I been on fresh legs they wouldn't have seemed so bad, but being 25+ miles into a marathon made them rough). My watch had been a little off from the mile markers, so I wasn't sure how much more we had to go and as such, I didn't push the hills as much as I probably could have because when we got to the top of the last hill, the finsiher's shoot was right there - I ran across it - finishing in 3:58:27. Shella ended up finishing right behind me by only a couple of seconds!

Finishing!

Shella and I at the finish - she did really good especially for her first marathon!

RACE STATS:
Race: Anchorage Mayor's Marathon
Date: June 23, 2018
Distance: Marathon (26.2 Miles - my garmin clocked it at 26.47)
Weather: Low 50's at the start, high 50's at the end, and fairly humid
Gun Time: 3:58:40
Chip Time: 3:58:27
Average Pace: 9:06 per mile
Overall Place: 154 of 613
Gender Place: 28 of 235
Age Group Place (F30-39): 7 of 38
Splits: 9:09, 8:44, 8:32, 8:33, 8:31, 8:48, 8:52, 8:20, 8:52,8:43, 9:37, 8:24, 9:42, 10:24, 9:29, 8:43, 9:01, 8:57, 9:26, 8:55, 9:03,8:58, 9:09, 8:56, 8:58, 9:12

Overall, I really liked this marathon. It offered a nice variety of running surfaces - from paved road, to paved bike path, some minimal concrete, about 6 miles of dirt road, and 3-4 miles of actual trail. I would say the course would be slightly challenging to try and PR on due to the mixture of terrain and the fact that there were quite a few significant hills throughout, with an overall elevation gain of about 800 feet. The one thing I was surprised by was that there actually weren't that many mountain views since the majority of the race was ran through a lot of treed areas. However, if you head up here to do this race, I'm sure you'll be doing a lot of other exploring to get your mountain views in! I personally did not end up seeing any wildlife, but I heard that a couple of people did see a bear (I think I'm grateful I wasn't one of them). I think the race was well organized and well marked, my only complain was that their website information was a little lacking.

The rest of our visit was mostly spent relaxing and spending time with family, with a couple short trips to scenic areas, including seeing a moose (always a highlight). Thanks as usual to my in-laws for hosting us - it is always fun to visit such a beautiful place! If interested in hearing about any of my other trips to Alaska, check out the bottom of my Scenic Trips page.

Skirt Sports Ambassador Retreat 2018

The first weekend in June was the annual Skirt Sports Ambassador Retreat - a weekend of camaraderie, inspirational talks, yoga, hiking, and culminating in a Half Marathon, 10K or 5K race. I missed it my very first year as an ambassador and was so bummed that I've made sure to make it a priority these past couple of years (and I'm so thankful to live within driving distance!). This year marked year three of being able to attend and it was once again a blast and a reminder (not that I need one!) of what it is I love about this company and the community they have created!

I drove over on Thursday night because I knew I wanted to attempt the Boulder Skyline Traverse on Friday morning before the festivities began. That was an epic adventure of its own right which I posted about separately if interested. I ran it with a fellow ambassador, Dawn (one of the reasons I love this community - I always have friends to run with wherever I go!), and we finished mid-afternoon, giving us just enough time to head our separate ways for showering and getting dressed up (Skirt Sports style!) for the first retreat event of the weekend - the Friday evening cocktail party. As an added bonus, this year, my mom also became an ambassador, so we got to go to all of the festivities together!

The Friday Cocktail Reception is basically just a fun time to shop, meet new ambassadors and catch up with old, hear fun stories about the company from founder, Nicole DeBoom, and get a glimpse at the upcoming seasons attire coming out later in the year (via fashion show that I've had the privilege to be in the past couple years despite definitely proving that being a runway model is not my forte). It's the first event of the weekend and always goes by so fast - there are so many new and old faces I swear by the end of the night I haven't even had a chance to catch up with half of the people there! It's a lot of fun though and this year was no exception. Many thanks to our sponsors of the night for the wonderful food and drink - Ska Brewing, Jackson Wineries, Kim & Jakes Gluten Free Bakery, Illegal Pete's and Justin's Nut Butter.

Photo Credit: JoAnn Vaughn

Having fun modeling some of the Fall 2018 product!

Photo Credit: Jenn Allen

Photo Credit: Jenn Allen

Day #2 consists of a slightly more formal event with speakers, yoga, break out sessions, and a hike. Our speakers this year were Kara Burns, Mirna Valerio, and Colleen Cannon. They all had very different but all incredible stories and talks. Kara and Mirna have actually been on Nicole DeBoom's podcast "Run This World" and both have some great stories - you can check them out here. Colleen is a former professional triathlete who now puts on women's retreats which sound AMAZING). After the morning's event, we had a grab-and-go lunch from Mad Green's before venturing to Davidson Mesa in Louisville for a short hike and ending the day mid-afternoon. Many thanks to our Saturday sponsors: Alpine Start (the best instant coffee around!), The Tea Spot, Noosa Yoghurt and Mad Greens.

Photo Credit: JoAnne Vaughn

Photo Credit: JoAnne Vaughn

Sunday was race day. I did a lot of speedwork earlier in the year leading up to my BQ at Revel Mt Charleston Marathon, but hadn't been maintaining it, so I decided to see if I could "race" this Half at that same pace and see how it went. While I'm not training for speed right now, I have a lot of ultras coming up and I would like to try and keep some of my speed just because it helps keep my "easy" pace up, which is good for ultras! The half marathon course changed a bit this year from one larger loop with a big hill at Mile 9 to two smaller loops on Davidson Mesa (a crushed gravel trail) with a slightly smaller hill at the beginning of each loop (although it did not feel smaller for the second loop, that's for sure!). Loop #1 started out great and I was definitely on pace to run the entire thing at 8:00 pace as planned, but by a Loop #2 that second uphill followed by the crushed gravel trail made it a little difficult to maintain and my paced slipped a little...but I still managed to run a 1:46:28 which is pretty good for me and to my surprise, was good enough for 1st place in my age group as well!

After I finished I decided to head back out again and see if I could find my mom who was walking the Half. This is also a great race to head back out on since there were so many ambassadors to cheer on - so I spent the time cheering on and taking pictures of ambassadors as I made my way back out, eventually catching my mom and then walking it in with her and the other two ladies she was walking with.

Pleasantly surprised to win my age group!

Some of the many pictures I took!

Mother/Daughter Ambassadors!

THIS is what it's all about! Supporting everyone from the first runner to the last runner!

Photo Credit: Jenn Allen

After we made it in to the finish line, we cheered on the remaining runners still on the course before heading to brunch. The brunch is always a great way to finish off the weekend, and I enjoyed chatting with a few other ambassadors I hadn't had much chance to see thus far in the weekend!

Post-race brunch!

Normally post-brunch would have been my time to head back home, but this year I had the awesome opportunity to stay one additional day and be part of a photo shoot for the company with a couple other ambassadors! I had a such a fun time at this, although I once again am not sure I can pull off the whole "model" thing very well (it's a good thing Skirt Sports is all about using "real" people). This day was a blast though and a great opportunity to get to know (or know better) some ambassadors I hadn't had a chance to meet yet or spend much time with. We had six of us at the photo shoot coming from all different backgrounds, abilities, and sports - Emily, who just finished her first full Ironman with one leg, Mirna Valerio - author, teacher, ultrarunner, and the 2018 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year (NBD), Dyenna - ultrarunner and triathlete, Latoya - blogger, chef, and ultrarunner, and Sam - ultrarunner and running coach who just ran 80 miles of Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run. Honestly I felt a little out of my league, but thankfully everyone there was awesome and didn't make me feel that way (just my own insecurities tugging at me :)! Overall, it was a lot of fun and the point of our shoot was to show that Skirt Sports is for EVERYONE no matter what walk in life you're on! Here's a few of the awesome pictures taken by Bobbie Turner Photography.

We might've been having a little fun!

So, overall this was once again an AMAZING weekend. I know I say it all the time, but I just love being a part of this company and community. While the retreat was almost a month ago, I also find it fitting that I'm finishing this post up today because tomorrow, July 1st, marks #31DaysofSkirtSports and #31DaysofMoving! These are great challenges throughout the month of July to get yourself moving everyday and experience a little of what this community has to offer. If you're interested in joining - check out the hashtags on Instagram and join the #REALWomenMove Challenge Group on facebook - a completely free group for women looking for inspiration and motivation. It is run by Nicole DeBoom, founder of Skirt Sports, but you don't have to have any Skirt Sports to join this group - it's just about women supporting women and encouraging you to lead a healthy and active life! The #31DaysofMoving challenge is to encourage you to get at least 15 minutes of "moving" per day - open to whatever that looks like for you - running, walking, biking, yoga, strength training, swimming, ANYTHING!

I stopped off at Vail Pass on my way home for a short run to these views!