Spring racing- April 2024

 

Last week of March- Mid late April

On March 22, I flew home to Anchorage for my routine week of boob ckecks (MRI, report, follow up, etc.) . All that was normal thank the gods. However, I arrived to a District Court summons that started already the followng Monday and unlike trial court, District does not email the notices! It would keep me on the hook until April 19 because deferring to the summer was a NO- going back to Russia for a couple months at least and the option they offered was late January which I also vetored because it would be a trip right after witer break on my own dime! So I just hunkered down and did my month in April. Thankfully, my principal was really understanding and said, it's jury duty, it's beyond your control. This allowed me four weeks to get in quality training and even two back to back unplanned races the 20th and 21st of April as tune ups for the upcoming season. I have not raced this early in YEARS. I did a random February race in Homer in 2017and the Little Su 50 in 2016 and that was it since my expat days in Moscow when I had access to quality, year round, options. 2023-24 was the second snowiest winter on record in Anchorage. Here are some pix starting from the last week of March when Snowzilla was still out until late April of said training:

Preview of the Boondocks course :

Boondocks Breakaway 5K 21 April:

This was a day 2 race on as you can see, every surface imaginable! Day 2 is never very good for me and my legs are always far from 100%. Right away when I was warming up, I knew my legs were still heavy from the previous day. I ended up finishing 2nd on flat legs and got some nce coffee to boot! Anchorage Running Club puts this one on and they did a good job:)

Superhero Showdown 20 April  -YES 420! Still very rusty and not having raced since August, I managed to finish 3rd overall which surprised me. Skinny Raven puts this one on and there's always a ton of runners at their events. Not a bad start to an early season. It was +2C at the start-not hot not cold.

Race The Planes 5k 27 Aug-The "bonus" race

 

Well, this race got moved to two weeks later this year, so I would miss it by a day because I had to fly back to work the day before....or so I thought. The jet could not land in Bethel because the fog was too thick! I was grateful that we turned back to Anchorage because getting stuck in Bethel (no planes were flying to villages because of the weather) is an expensive nightmare. I got to go home another three days since the flights back to Bethel were all booked! So, exhausted from the early getting up and chasing to and from Bethel the day before, I managed a slow win! Here is the interview on TV. Many of my students and parents saw it :D You know what they say-it's not over til the fat lady sings! So, I got one more in before the official end to the summer racing season.

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2023/08/28/race-planes-5k-draws-over-100-runners/

This race also has the best bbq after!

Run Fest 49K 20 August

 I have been too busy too keep up posting :) This one goes in as one of the top highlights of the season. Official win number 8 for this event with my first one being back in 97! I have only ever missed this event that has been renamed over the years(Humpy's Marathon, Big Wildlife, and now Anchorage Run Fest) if I was either in Russia or in Tuluksak because school had already started. With the new calendar and being completely off from the beginning of May until roughly Labor Day weekend, I can now do this race again.

As for top accomplishments this year,  I would have to say the win in the 49 K, the win at Russian masters NCs, and Arctic Valley are up there. It's been a heck of a season. I had the win by nearly an hour this time, but was about a minute off my 2015 course record. I ran solo pretty much the whole way with nobody to push me. There was a guy who ran with me a little as we headed out the first 20km to Kincaid, ut he decided to pass after 8k. He was already a few minutes up at the Kincaid Hill turnaround. At  25 K I ended up passing him and continued alone the rest of the day. Leonid caught me at 30k/Westchester Lagoon on the bike after finishing 6th in the 5k. He grabbed the bike and crewed for me the rest of the way. I am not getting any younger, and do not take any of these wins for granted. It has been TWENTY SIX years since my first win! That's A LOT of history! 

heading back just after 40k

                                                        

Almost 20 years to the day-I spent the summer in Russia then came back for the win. It was one of my slowest because I arrived about 12 hours before the start because of delays from the NYC power outage. History repeated itself 20 years later but minus the last minute arrival ;)

                                                And that original article I found in my Moscow flat this summer!

                                                                And the link to this year's!

                                            https://www.adn.com/sports/2023/08/22/anchorage-runfest-draws-more-than-1000-runners-to-two-day-event/