This is the ninth in a series of posts going back several years to catch up on the races I’ve run since I was last actively maintaining my blog. I will continue with each of the series of marathons I’ve run until I catch up to date…
Three stops, 8 hours in the air, 10 hours waiting in airports in Philly, Seattle, and Sitka, but I finally arrived in Juneau, Alaska for state #46 and a half marathon for good measure on Friday.
I had a rest day after a marathon travel day, and with the Mendenhall Glacier so close, I took about two hours to sightsee. Well worth it!
I ran the 3rd and 4th day of the Mainly Marathons Series but I am labeling them Day 1 and Day 2 for this blog post. Both races were held at the Twin Lakes Park just north of Juneau — a very pretty location with great scenery on an asphalt path along the lakes.
August 5, 2021, Day 1, Marathon
I ran the marathon distance first. The scenery was spectacular but the morning started rainy with the surrounding mountains shrouded in clouds. However, the weather cleared after a couple hours and it turned into a really lovely day for a marathon.
I got a lot of appreciation for my special back-of-shirt message today: “If you can read this, the bear gets you first.” We didn’t see any bears.
August 6, 2021, Day 2, Half Marathon
I finished up my Alaska Series with a half marathon. There was a good bit more precipitation after a dry start so doing a half allowed me to finish before I got very wet!
I spent another 18 hours in flight or in airports to get home — far more time doing this than running in Alaska! Forty-six states done — just two more series to go to complete my 50 states!
Starting Late 