Arctic Valley June 4
June is an extremely active month. In March, I learned that indeed Arctic Valley was returning to its proper spot on the calendar in early June-YEAAAAA! I started training for it in early March incorporating hill workouts n the treadmill while in Tuluksak and then running the hilly Kincaid loop when I was in Anchorage during spring break and the beginning of breakup the last couple weeks of March. I came in for break and had scheduled dr appointments that piggy backed into the science fair that our district was bringing kids to so I t allowed me to get a little over 2 weeks in town on the hills. During this time I did the Shamrock Shuffle- that was a wake up call to get on the stick with training if I wanted to be ready by May/June. I mostly do base on the tundra during the winter with some interval sessions on snow on Saturdays I'll start up Jan-Feb just to get my legs moving, but nothing major. I was back in town at the end of April/beginning of May for a conference and got in more training on the hills including a tempo run.
Arctic Valley is one of my favorites. I love the climb and the view can be awesome on a clear day. It also motivates my ass to train through the winter HAHA! This one was HOT temps pushing to 70 by the end. About 5k into the climb, I passed all but one of the boys. I essentially ran the race alone after that. This bothered me only from a safety standpoint-BEARS! The chase pack was out of sight too far back and I was on my own. Two days before, I had come out to check course conditions only to see a momma black bear and her 3 cubbies cross at bout the 11-12 mile marker or just before the 2 mile on the climb. It was HOT! I climbed in my comfort zone and it was a bit slower than my previous climbs in cooler temps, but everyone was feeling it because nobody was catching me. After the turnaround, I just let it rip down and hoped a bear wouldn't make my day! A the 5 mile turnaround, a volunteer was shooing a bear back into the woods! When I hit that spot where I'd seen momma and her cubbies, I just clapped a few times hollered "bear bear" and carried on. Actually, I did this periodically on the descent. By this point, I had a pretty big lead on anyone behind me and it was me on my own with any bears that I'm sure saw me but I failed to see! I did secure my win in the 12.6mile -my 4th overall win and was beaten by only one guy.
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