Lots of running and a party!

In May, Brooks celebrated its 100-year anniversary. And they threw quite the party! It was held at the Fremont Studios, just down the street from our new office building. There was lots of food and plenty of artsy entertainment... but the best part was getting to chat it up again with Scott Jurek!

Brooks is a sponsor of the Beat the Bridge race, which raises money for Juvenile Diabetes research. The name of the race comes from the fact that you try and get across the University Bridge before they raise it (which isn't that difficult, they give you a lot of time). The race ends in Husky Stadium though, so we got to run across the football field.

Dustin ran his first ultra - just a month and a half after finishing the Boston marathon. He did the 50k (about 31 miles) and I did the 25k at Beacon Rock State Park near the Columbia River Gorge. We drove up on Saturday and camped near the race start/finish. The views on the drive up were pretty incredible.

The 25k race covered about 3600 feet of elevation - which meant I did a lot of hiking and less running in some parts. The views on the top of the mountain were spectacular - I had to stop and take some pictures.

I certainly was glad I was only doing the shorter distance as the 50k runners came all the way to the finish line and then went back out for a second loop. I definitely wouldn't have had the motivation to turn around and do it again.

Dustin came in 12th place at 5:41:45. I finished in 3:35:06 (which was no where near 12th place!).

In June, we flew to Alaska to run the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage. We flew in late Thursday night and it was still this light out after midnight:

We got a little bit of sleep (with blackout curtains) and ran the three miles to the Sheraton Hotel on Friday to pick up our bibs. It was a small race so it wasn't a big expo. Then we wandered through downtown and had lunch at Snow City Cafe. 

Saturday was race day. We took the hotel shuttle to a pickup point for the race buses to take us to the start, which was at Bartlett High School. That turned out to be quite nice since it was raining, and we were able to wait inside. 

The starting line was very casual and there weren't a lot of people - so there was no shoving to the front of the line or worrying about getting stuck behind a lot of slow people. The rain kept up for the first few miles and my shoes were wet within the first mile (I was unable to avoid a few puddles). By the halfway point, I had to shed my jacket. Getting to that point was a little challenging. I was thinking about the miles way too early for a marathon. I hadn't prepared as well for this one and I knew I was going to pay on race day. As with most long races, I considered quitting for a brief moment and yet somehow made it to mile 18. I knew I couldn't quit at that point, but the miles to follow were exhausting and slow. There were hardly any spectators to cheer on the runners, but I cherished the ones who were. I walked quite a bit in the last six miles, but finally made it to the last stretch in Delaney Park. Dustin was there waiting, cheering me on. He had finished in 3:36:53, me in 4:21:14. 

We picked up our bags, put on some dry clothes and picked up our free coffee, bagels and bananas as we discussed the race - highs and lows - and how grateful we were to be done. We stopped by the beer garden to celebrate with our fellow finishers and rest our legs for a bit. 

The summer solstice festival was going on and we mustered up the energy to walk through downtown to check it out. They had music and food and people carving wood art with chainsaws! We watched the Hero Games (a competition between firefighters, police, army, etc.) and picked up some pretty sweet moose socks for Dustin. We stayed until I couldn't stand anymore and then took a cab back to the hotel where we celebrated with pizza. 

On Sunday we had booked tickets to a Glacier Cruise on the Klondike Express. 

The boat tour leaves out of Whittier, a small town southeast of Anchorage. We paid to ride the shuttle (or Magic Bus, as they call it) down there (which was more economical than renting a car) and we got to enjoy the scenery on the 2.5 hour drive along the turn again arm. To get to Whittier, you have to go through the Whittier tunnel. At 2.5 miles long, it's the longest drive-thru tunnel in North America. It's only wide enough to accommodate one lane of traffic, so they let cars go to Whittier on the half hour and from Whittier on the hour. Up until 2000, you couldn't even drive to Whittier - you had to get there by train, boat or plane (yes, these are facts I learned on the bus).

Beluga Point

The cruise was incredible. We had seats at tables (and they served a lunch), but you could go outside on the boat at any time. The glaciers were some of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. We stopped near a couple of the big ones and we even got to see/hear them calve into the water. 

We also saw porpoises (that swam right near the boat), sea otters, harbor seals and bald eagles. It was incredible. The mountains of Alaska must be some of the most beautiful in the world.

Since we didn't have cell phone service on the boat, we were going to watch the replay of the US vs. Portugal World Cup game that had happened during our cruise. We weren't going to look at our phones at all on the way home so the outcome would still be a surprise. We got off the boat and walked up to the shuttle. We mistakingly struck up a conversation with the driver and found out that they had tied (I couldn't stop him before he mentioned it). We still watched them game when we got back though... indeed, they tied 2-2. 

On Monday we woke up early to go rent a car and drove to Seward, a little town on the water, south of Anchorage. You apparently can't rent kayaks from the shops there unless you go out with one of their guides, so we decided on a hike up to Exit Glacier instead. Don't worry... the hat only scared a few other hikers... 

On the drive back to Anchorage, we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It was a little depressing seeing the animals in there, but our one chance to see a bear in Alaska... and probably the only time we'll ever see a black bear get hit in the head with a hard boiled egg. Who knew they even liked hard boiled eggs??? Well, I'm here to tell you that they do. :) 

They are eating salmon here, not eggs

Oh... and baby moose are adorable! That is all!