Alaska - #44

I am way behind on posting, as usual, and have done another race since this one, but there are too many good photos to share that this had to be it's own post. 

Last June I took on my 44th state with the Anchorage marathon. This is one where we definitely made a vacation out of it. One, it takes a while to get there from Florida, and two, there is so much to see. I had my husband and racecation buddy Bethany and her daughter Gilly with me. And the motivated, ambitious Gilly took this on as her first marathon. Considering the 20+ year age gap, she definitely finshed well ahead of me, but we we did cross the start line together! 

But before we even got there, we made the mistake of going hiking the day before. We all thought, ok, we'll do an easy hike. So we picked a short one. While it was short, it was steep and we instantly all regretted it. At times we were pulling ourselves up the hill. We thought about turning around, but going down a steep hill is worse than going up one, at least as far as increasing your chances of injury. So we persevered. The view was worth it, although the next day, I'm not sure I agreed once I felt the fatigue in my legs the next day. Oh well, live and learn (probably not though). 

First of many scenic vistas

See dark shape in the distance: Moose

Back to race day. Weather was perfect, dry, cool but not too cool. While a fairly scenic course, it was definitely not the most scenic part of our trip. Alaska basically looks like a post card anywhere outside of Anchorage. But not to downplay Anchorage, it's a great place. And when we where there, the sun really never was down. Thank goodness for blackout curtains. But I digress. This was definitely an emotional race for me. Two days before we left for Alaska, I had to say goodbye to my best friend of nearly 19 years, my dog Dean. He truly was the best dog a girl could ask for, and was always the best running and travel buddy. Nothing like a good run cry. Well, it can be cathartic, but not ideal during a race since it does sap both physical and mental energy. Of course, those feelings come an go, and certainly helps to see things like a moose on the course to distract you. Thankfully it was a bit off the couse as I've heard those things can be mean! 

More course views

Again, the race was a hard one for me physically and mentally for many reasons, (refer to dumb hiking idea above), but Gilly and I both finished with no need for medical attention, which is a win-win. And what an accomplishment for Gilly on her first marathon! Hopefully she's been bitten by the bug and will join for another. 

More from the course

The next day after the race we headed to Seward and stayed there for a couple of days and then headed to Homer and stayed there a couple of days. There are way too many cool photos and experiences to share along the way, so I'll highlight some of my favorites.

1. Tiny plane flight over Denali where I got to sit in the copilot seat. 

Denali

2. Countless oysters, halibut cheeks (try them if you have the chance), amazing seafood and a restaurant you have to take a boat to. This was in Halibut Cove where the community is basically on stilts in the water. 

Obligatory post-race oysters

Entering Halibut Cove

Floating restaurant

3.  All the wildlife. We took a Kenai Fjords cruise and saw so many animals: puffins, an albatross, humback whales, sea lions, bald eagles, a pod of orcas, and sea otters. While not an animal, we did see a glacier, and walked paths where you could see where the glaciers used to be. Climate change is happening, that is clear. We saw salmon jumping and swimming upstream. We saw cuddly bears (in the safety of a nature preserve/zoo), and more moose! 

Giant grizzly

Glacier

Orcas

It's rough being a sea lion

4. All the scenic views. Grabbing dinner near Seward, driving to Seward, dinner in Homer on the spit, hiking to a beach. The list goes on and on. 

On the way to Seward...and then Homer

View from our Seward dinner spot

Dinner on the spit

The beach

5. And all the fun other things: Freezing cold boat ride to eat at a floating restaurant, quaint little towns, so many hikes, seaside hot tub, and fun road tripping. Alaska is a cool place. 

In memory of my favorite travel and running buddy. Miss you everyday.

Photo credit: Todd Winters 

#43 Sharing Alabama Christmas vibes in May

I'm finally catching up on writing the post for my last marathon. Remembering the cooler temperatures is helping as I suffer through the 100+ heat index right now in SWFL. Last December, I checked off Alabama with the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville. I was pleasantly surprised by Hunstville, and enjoyed my time there a lot more than I thought I would. Some great breweries, great artists and of course...rockets! 

I started my day when I arrived by grabbing my race packet and then headed to their version of a Christkindl German market. This one was significantly smaller in scale to the one I'm used to in Chicago, and was disappointed there were no commerative boot-shaped mugs. There were a lot of artists booths set up which I spent some time browsing, and I found some holiday gifts at one booth, Davida Holiday Designs, where the owner takes old decorative tins and turns them into fun jewelry. Definitely check out her shop on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/DavidaHolidayDesigns

After the market, I headed towards downtown Huntsville, where I had bought tickets for a luminary walking tour of some historic homes. I went to Green Bus Brewing to carb load with a beer and kill some time until it got dark.
I didn't find this out until I was nearby, but the event had moved from Saturday to Friday night because some rought weather was anticipated for Saturday. In all fairness, there was a tornado watch in effect that night. However, the weather seemed fine to me so I started out to do my own walking tour. Although the luminaries weren't present, the homes were still shining their lights. 

None of them were over the top Griswold style, but they were very tastefully and beautifully decorated. 

After walking around looking at historic homes, I headed to dinner at Oshi Poke Bowl and Sushi downtown. This place definitely gets points for presentation. 

After dinner, sticking with the holiday vibe, I strolled back to my hotel via Huntsvilles' Tinsel Trail, which is a park full of hundreds of decorated trees. 

Business and individuals from the area sponsor and decorate each tree differently. Here are some of my favorites. 

Now onto race day. The forecast called for rain, and it was raining when I woke up that morning. This did not bode well. Miraculously, the rain stopped about 10 minutes before the race did. Hallelujah! The temperature was also perfect. The course had some rolling hills here and there, but overall was a pretty nice course to run. And we did run through NASA's Space and Rocket Center.  This is also where Space Camp is. Anyone remember that '80s movie? 

This race allows runners to run the front half marathon, the back half marathon or the full marathon. So if you run the full, you get a medal for finishing the front half, the back half, and the full. Maybe some people would appreciate this, but after running a full marathon, the last thing I want is a lot of heavy metal hanging on my body. But if you like a lot of bling, this race is for you! 

In typically fashion, I followed my race with post-race oysters at a place called the Corner Pour. This was a cute beer and wine bar in downtown Huntsvillt that also happened to have some live acoustic music to add to my Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, my search on Yelp shows this place is no longer open. But thanks for the friendly bar chatter while you were open Corner Pour! 

After oysters and other snacks, I went to try out another brewery, Innerspace Brewing. I had a sampler there and second dinner as well, since they also made wood-fired pizza. Who can be around the smell of pizza and not partake? I took that to go so I could eat shamelessly in private in my hotel room. :) 

I took another loop aroud the Tinsel Trail after dinner, and grabbed my final meal in Hunstville the next morning. If you're looking for a decent coffee and a good breakfast, try the Cozy Cow. Overall, Hunstville was a great host, and I was pleasantly surprised by my first visit to Alabama. Next in the queue, another A state, Alaska next month! I'll be sure to share some great pics with you all probably next December when I finally sit down to write it! 

#42: Island Time in Martha's Vineyard

I decided to start of my first race of 2023 in Massachusetts. Or of the coast of MA, on Martha's Vineyard. You might be thinking, wait, you're not going to run Boston as your MA race? While that would be amazing (and was my secret hope to save Boston for last since it's always right around my birthday, so how cool what that be to run that as I turn 50?), I've got to be honest, I'll never qualify for Boston. I'm getting slower and slower with each year, and my fastest marathon would have qualified me if I was 50 (I ran that time in my 30s). So Martha's Vineyard seemed like a good compromise. Plus, as an avid Jaws fan, I was looking forward to some kitschy shark-themed things. 

It is a bit of a pain to get there from anywhere other than the New England area, since you have to take a plane, car and a ferry. But I did have a crew of friends with me this trip, which made it more bearable. My twin sis, Krystal, frequent race-cation friend, Bethany and my boss/friend Pete. We took the ferry over the morning before the race, and this picture makes it look like it was a lot warmer than it was. Personally, coming from SWFL where it is constantly hot and humid, the temps felt amazing and bode well for race day. 

We stayed in Oaks Bluff and after hitting the expo, we hit up a local brewery, Offshore Ale Company. The AirBnB we stayed at had an empty growler that we took to fill up, which was so smart and the best deal of anything on the island. Everything was a bit pricey because it all has to come over on the ferry. Which actually doesn't explain why the seafood was also expensive, because there are tons of fishing docks there.... I digress. If you like beer and wood fired pizza, check this place out. Also a solid lobster roll.  We followed up lunch by a little shopping around the island. Also, this island is way bigger than I expected it to be. 

We didn't make plans for dinner the night before the race, which in hindsight was poor planning, but we did partake in some pre-race oysters. When in the northeast, seems silly not to, right? (We did also have some the night before in Boston.) 

The race day forecast called for rain, but starting off it was nicely overcast, cool and dry. Krystal and Bethany decided to team up for a half-marathon relay, while over-achiever Pete joined me in the full marathon. The course had a few out and back parts to it, but the first half ran through a scenic state park on the island. The organization could have been better, since we were promised energy gels, but none were left when we got to that aid station. We also heard along the way that one of the shuttle buses to the start was 20 minutes late. We heard this from a 20-something kid who was on that late bus, starting 20 mins after us, but then ran past us (humility check). 

Relay finishers

Jaws is back there somewhere

The last part of the course, it did start to rain and there was a strong wind...fortunately it was behind us. If we had been running into it, I would have probably just walked it in. We stopped for a selfie as we ran over the "Jaws bridge."  I honestly don't remember this part of the movie, but my sister looked it up to confirm. 

Medal that didn't have a shark

Coastline course

I was struggling at the end quite a bit. I had been sick with what I thought was a cold the week before, and then found out after the race, from my husband who caught this from me, that he had COVID. Which likely means, I also had COVID. So all things considered, my time wasn't too bad.  Bethany actually rented a bike to come find us on the course and even braved the rain to cheer us on for 10 seconds. Her smiling face appeared in the last few miles, and it's funny how much seeing a friendly face and hearing some words of encouragement can make a difference and get you to the finish.           

It was pretty rainy the rest of the day so we lounged around our rental house eating popcorn, left over pizza and drinking beer from our growler. Also over the course of the weekend, we watched the entire Godfather trilogy. The second one is the best, third is the worst. Discuss amongst yourselves. 

Dinner was in Edgartown (yep, where the Kennedy's stay) at a place called Detente. Great little wine and spirits shop right next to that place as well which had the best selection of any other place we checked out on the island.  

The remnants

Fish market vibes

We didn't have oysters race-day, which I know is out of the norm. We saved up for them at the Menemsha fish market, where we had a seafood extravaganza of oysters, lobster bisque, lobster roll, and clam chowder. All amazing. 

We spent the day after the race driving around the island. The weather was beautiful: sunny and cool. We visited the Aquinnah Cliffs and the Gay Head Lighthouse which have a pretty cool story of folklore attached to them. Apparently a giant named Moshup would grab whales from the ocean and slap them against the side of the cliff to kill them, and the whales' blood is what gives the cliffs their red color. Or it's the clay. 

Aquinnah Cliffs

Gay Head Lighthouse

We found another cool brewery back near Edgardtown, called Bad Martha's. This place is nestled right inside of a nursery (plants, not babies). Great to sit outside, have some great beer and an ridiculously large cheese plate. We had a few beers, a lot of cheese and played some cornhole or bags, depending on where you're from.

Overall, it was a fun weekend, and sometimes it is actually fun to have someone to suffer through a marathon with. I run so many alone, so I forget this. I'm glad this race gave me the opportunity to visit a place I probably would never go to, which really is one of the coolest things about taking on this challenge of running a marathon in every state. I'd be surprised if I return to Martha's Vineyard. It's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but so hard to get to if you don't live in that part of the country. We took every form of transportation except a train to get there and back. But if you live up there, go for it! Another state checked off, and only 8 states left and 4 years to get all 50 by 50! Too far along to stop now.