And we are off. First flight to Minneapolis for a four hour layover. Air travel is always: Hurry Up and Wait . .
No joke, I think I flew over Brookdale Park, where I did my last track workout before the race. A 1.5 mile warm up, 4X200-meter strides with 200-meter jog, then ran 5-minutes with a 2.5-minute jog, 4-minutes with a 2-minute jog, 3-minutes, with a 1.5-minute jog, then 1-minute with a 1-minute jog, Finished with a 1 mile cool down. I felt really good. I felt strong! With every step of my right foot in the name of God the Father, every left foot, God the Son, and with every turnover, I feel led by the Holy Spirit, who is in me and surrounds me.
When we landed in Minneapolis, we decided to get something to eat and went to the Delta Sky Club. When we boarded, I was in row 8, but the middle. I asked the man next to me if he would switch with Ron who was in the same seat as him, but across the aisle. He told me that he was fine where he was. Ugh! I was a little upset, but he seemed socially off so that was that. Gonna smile anyway!
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| Maybe he will make it into "the book" one day! |
The gentleman on my left felt bad. He tried to make me laugh and said, "Aaaah being together is over-rated!"
After a long flight, we made it to Alaska and got our rental car.
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| We Made It! |
Remember the Microsoft Outage? Yup! Hopefully all will be okay going home. When we made it to the hotel, we were able to check in, but we were not given any room keys. Since everything was down, we had to be walked to our hotel room and be let in. We were so tired, we just went to bed!
The next day, we woke up early. We drove to the Sun City Cafe. Ron and I shared a cinnamon role and I had a delicious cappucino. We loved it there and went back again.
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| Scrambled eggs, bacon and whole wheat too! |
When we left the cafe, we drove to REI. It was super stocked - like no other REI store I had ever been to. That's Alaska! The store had this adorabl Antique Coleman on the shelves!
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| An old Banged Up Metal Coleman! |
As we came out, we saw a Thunderbird F-18 flying overhead. Welcome to Alaska! There are lots of military and military families here!
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| Anchorage, Alaska |
Next stop: Hiking. We hiked up Flattop Mountain. Saw a Magpie! Super cool! I love birds!
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| Magpies are all over Anchorage |
Flattop Mountain is the most hiked mountain in all of Alaska. It is a day hike. Perfect for pre-race.
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| Blueberry Loop Trail |
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| In the clouds! |
Grabbed some lunch/early dinner at Sun City Brewing.
And picked up my Packet for The Skinny Raven Half Marathon.
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| So Excited!!! |
I awoke at 3am not feeling good at all. I was very sick. Bad cramps, not good. I think I might have run too many 12 mile runs for this half. My stomach starts to fall apart when I run too many miles. I was not doing good. It seems my Crohn's was flaring. Ugh.
When we got up the next day, I felt dehydrated and starving - of course, there was nothing in me! This morning, we went to Jackie's Place. It seems everyone there was older - a much older crowd than the Sun City Cafe. Loved this pic on their website:
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| Jackie's Place |
The guy at the front desk (yes the keys were all straightened out) said that he saw a moose walking down the road when he came into work. Ron and I did not see any moose while we were in Alaska. Anyway, breakfast was great - but more tummy issues. today, we decided to take a ride and not do any hiking.
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| Seaward Highway Views |
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| Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel |
Drove Through This Tunnel to get to the harbor area.
Prince William Sound is known for lots of glaciers. It is also known for the Exon Valdez Oil Spill in 1989! The spill affected hundreds of seabirds, sea otters, river otters, harbor seals, bald eagles, orcas, salmon and herring. It took until 2014 to see some species make a full recovery!
We stopped at Whiitier Oceanfront Cafe for lunch. Great views, but they lost our order and it took forever to get our food. We did see some seals in the slips. It was also pretty windy and cool out. After lunch we walked around, but it started to drizzle. So, we headed back to Anchorage.
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| Whittier Harbor |
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| Lots of Cruise Ships |
They say the puffins land on the back of the cruise ships. I was hoping to see them - but, ugh, no puffins.
On the way back, we were in standstill traffic on the Seward Highway. I read that someone died in a bad accident. Praying for all the people involved and the family of the person who tragically died.
Race morning: Took 2 Prescription Immodium. I was sick from when I woke up. I looked pale. I am exhausted from going to the bathroom. Reading Psalm 23.
Went to the hotel restaurant. Had water, coffee, and my homemade banana bread. Ugh. Cramping. Met a man from LA, this was state 26 for him. Met a husband and wife from Michigan. They were on vacation. Told Ron to give me the room key. I was not well. Rolled out. I used the bathroom 7 times in the. Every time I drank something, I felt cramping. Ugh!
Race start: Saw a man with Bib #333. I kept praying. Ran 1/4 mile to warm up. Did 1/4 mile in strides. There was energetic music - but, I was disappointed because they did not play the Star Spangled Banner.
About 1/2 mile in, sea ducks flew over the runners' heads. They were quacking and quacking. It was pretty amazing! Ran a bit further and got onto the trail, which we were on for 3 miles. We ran toward the airport. That's when we had to run up, and down a big hill, turn around and do it again. Ugh, I was getting cramping on my left side. I knew I was dehydrated, so I was stopping at every water stop. I was mostly doing sub 9-minute miles. After the turn around and coming down the last hill, I started to feel not so good. I saw Ron. He rented a bike, and was following the runners on the trail. A plane took off right behind him, I was like, "Oh Wow!". I pushed to mile 10, but things just seemed to fall apart after that. The cramping got worse, more repeating Psalm 23: He restores my soul, and leads me in the path of righteousness for His name sake. Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Repeat...You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over! We started back on the path. Last 2 miles to go. Ron was on the path. Someone was on an electric bike, they whiskey throttled and nearly took Ron out. I screamed, "Dear Lord Jesus, Help Us."
Ron kept telling me that I looked strong. I knew he was lying. He handed me a water bottle. My stomach hurt so much, I couldn't even sip the water. I gently dropped the bottle on the side of the path for Ron to pick it up. Just then, I heard a woman, who was riding a bike alongside of a guy, yell out, "hey you, you dropped your water bottle." I was so mad. I knew I dropped the bottle. Ron said drop it to the side when you are done. I knew he would pick it up. I wasn't littering. I felt judged. I yelled back, "I know, my husband is behind me. He's going to pick it up...but thanks for not judging me." You know if she were so concerned with the environment, why didn't she offer to pick it up? Nope, of course, not. Pray some more, Beth, "God help me to finish this race!"
I knew there was a big finish to this race. You run about or what feels like 1/4 mile straight uphill. It is absolutely horrible. The hill is so steep that the race gets people to volunteer to run and cheer you on as you go up this steep incline. It was pure torture! Then, just before you finish, you have to go up another hill, then straight to the finish. I heard the announcer say, "Watch the ramp at the finish." You can see in the video, I was stumbling and then almost fell, and threw my hands up, as I crossed the finish line.
I was so dehydrated that I was confused. A woman handed me a medal and I asked her, "Did I finish?" Then she said, "You know what, I am going to place this medal over you." She took the medal from my hands and placed it over my head. I tried so hard to get under 2 hours. I trained so hard, I felt so strong. You never can predict race day. I walked towards a tree. My legs were shaking. I leaned against the tree and just sobbed. 2 hours and 57 seconds. Fourth, again!
Ron came over to me, and said/lied, "You did great." I was still crying. Then both calves at the same time got charlie horses and I thought I was going to throw up. "Ron," I yelled, "Please rub my calves, they're cramping." I have to say, that was a first. I never had that happen to me before! Ron guided me to an area where there were foam rollers and yoga mats. I asked for 2 therapy balls. I sat like in a number 4 position with right leg bent in front of me. I placed one ball under my calf and the other ball on top of my calf, and massaged my calf. Switched legs, and crushed my other calf between the two therapy balls. After that, I just wanted to go back to the hotel, shower and relax, but there was a beautiful garden and free beer, so Ron was taking it all in. I felt so nauseous and I felt bad that I was not enjoying all the race had to offer.
Finally, we went back to the hotel. The shower felt great. We actually booked an early dinner at 4pm at Sullivan Steakhouse. I had my absolute favorite: Beef Wellington! It was perfect. Another Race Experience and Race Dining in the books.
The next day, it was drizzling, but we took an early morning hike by Thunderbrook Falls. We saw 3 small black bear cubs. We wondered where Momma bear was and warned some other hikers. It was a beautiful little hike. And, of course, we saw more magpies! Since my tummy still wasn't 100%, we took it slow and decided to take a ride to Seward. The Alaskan Mountains look so different in the rain. They were blasting the road and we learned a new term, "Pilot Car" This is the car that leads a bunch of cars through one lane on the highway, Then, after that bunch of cars go through, they shut down the lane. The Pilot Car turns around, and leads a bunch of cars going in the opposite direction. We headed back to our hotel, packed up and left for home the next day.
Alaska is in the books!
