Route 66 Challenge (July edition)

Published July 31, 2018

The measure of who we are is how we react to something that doesn’t go our way.

July 2018 update: HUGE travel month – South AFRICA, Yellowstone & ALASKA.

Marathoning played second fiddle to B-I-G adventuring, experienced prior each run. 2-night sleeps in an Elephant Lodge, learned firsthand: elephants DO snore, then Jeep-safari’d at Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve. Africa’s Big 5 all showed: lions, cheetah, rhino & hippo. Whatta LIFE adventure!

12 days later, got my GEYSER on in Yellowstone, day before running high-altitude in scenic Montana. Then ended July in WILD, BIG beautiful ALASKA! Trail ran Mount Roberts 2-hours after deplaning, kayak’d to Mendenhall Glacier following day. Travelling back to ALASKA next summer, LOVE this place! Gonna trade ice crampons for fishing gear in 2019 – the salmon are calling & I must go.

Lot less training miles logged. Summer season. Running a Novel, not a Short Story 😊

Race ReCap: 3 more marathons PLUS tagged my 5^th continent (tally now 124). Knysna Forest Marathon (South AFRICA), Big Sky Marathon (MONTANA), Juneau Marathon (ALASKA).

Marathoning Streak: 56 months

Mileage ReCap: ended July at 247 miles (104 miles behind GOAL)

: ended July at 247 miles

: Mile 247: Mt Olive, IL

: HEART tug ❤️

: 50 States x2 Summer 2019: only 14 States left to ink #rungoals

Marathon Calendar:

08/11/2018 Mt Sneffels Marathon (Ouray, Colorado)
08/26/2018 ET Full Moon 51K (Rachel, Nevada)
09/03/2018 Huffin’ Puffin Marathon (St. John’s NEWFOUNDLAND)
09/15/2018 Bismarck Marathon (Bismarck, North Dakota)
09/23/2018 Cheyenne Marathon (Cheyenne, Wyoming)
09/30/2018 Maine Marathon (Portland, Maine)
10/07/2018 Twin Cities Marathon (Minneapolis/St Paul, Minnesota)
10/14/2018 Prince Edward Island Marathon (Charlottetown PEI)
10/21/2018 Atlantic City Marathon (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
10/28/2018 Marine Corps Marathon (Arlington, Virginia)

Posted in Run Challenges | 2 Comments

Juneau Marathon

Published July 28, 2018

Mountains & glaciers and marathoning too.

Totem Pole START

Late morning start. How often have I said that? School bus pickup 7:15am from the Juneau Library. Largest building ‘downtown’ – in Juneau that’s maybe a quarter-mile long. Small town locked between water & mountain peaks. Absolutely no reason to have a car, unless you home on Douglas Island. 10% of the town’s population live on this Island, today’s marathon stop/start – Sandy Beach, a man-made shore to appease the locals during the region’s 45 days of summer.

Juneau Marathon: a true grassroots event. Two/three key people & a whole lotta volunteers make this race happen. No frills, course map drawn in orange chalk near the Start. Out-n-back trek; Douglas Bridge (Island’s traffic connection to Juneau), course’s only landmark to maneuver.

Totem pole selfie, last minute instructions, on the road 10 minutes past 8. Not the most scenic Start (considering this is ALASKA) but everything lush, GREEN & ‘Sunday morning’ quiet. Digged our Start temps – 50’s in July? FAN-FRICKIN-TASTIC! says me, guy who melts in summer heat.

13 miles UP, 13 miles down. Slight grade but always UP. Reminiscent to January’s ultra with Sis, Hilo to Volcano. Grey/cool/overcast or maybe just my 2018 love of everything UPHILL, but KILLED IT first Half. Managed 9 min/pace first 12 miles, pushed thru & ran the hill at 13. STRONG!

2nd Half, big FADE. Stopped & soaked up Mendenhall Glacier miles 14 & 15. WOW memory ❤️

Tagged along with two 50 Staters who took the early Start at 7am. Ran/walked last 9 miles with Paula Boone – one of 2 Boones (husband Steve) who co-founded our 50 State Marathon Club. GREAT heart, GREAT conversationalist. Promotes childhood running (Marathon Challenge Program) in hometown Houston with proceeds from their January 1^stTexas Marathon.

Mile 25, sunshine. 26.2, FINISH pic w/ friends 🌞 Marathon #124, my second in Alaska.

Only one last Juneau hafta/gotta/must do (before flying HOME). Alaskan King Crab. Taste bud CELEBRATION!

Event Name     Juneau Marathon/Half Marathon 2018

Event Location     Savikko Park, Sandy Beach, Douglas

Event Description The Marathon and Half Marathon are USATF-certified, out and back courses. The events are run at sea level on the lightly traveled, two-lane Douglas Highway/North Douglas Highway in Juneau, Alaska. By virtue of its certification, the marathon can be used as a time qualifier for the Boston Marathon. The moderately hilly course has been compared in difficulty to the Boston Marathon. The scenic course offers views of mountains, glaciers, forests, and the ocean. The start/finish is near the picnic shelter at Sandy Beach, in Douglas.

Event Date     2018-07-28 08:00:00

Race Distance     26.20 miles or 42.16 km

Global Overall Results

Bib       Name Gender Time Hails From

88        KR HAGA M 05:09:32 Louisville, CO

: Douglas Island grassroots event

: overcast, cool temps & GREEN

: 1st Half STRONG!

: Mile 14: Mendenhall Glacier

: “Biggest Ski Fence in Alaska”

: sunshine FINISH 🌞

: Taste bud CELEBRATION!

: Goodbye Juneau

Posted in Alaska/Hawaii, Marathons/Ultras | Leave a comment

Mendenhall Glacier

Published July 27, 2018

2 trips to Alaska, BOTH times marathoning played second fiddle.

2013: ice-climbed Matanuska Glacier (100 miles north of Anchorage). 5 years later: canoeing/crampon-hiking Mendenhall Glacier (easy 20 minutes outside Juneau). FAAANNNNTASTIC! Booked today’s Ice Adventure Tour 2 months before leaving Colorado. Probably not the best pre-race prep, but ya’ll know from my hike pics – I don’t shy away from glaciers, snow or high altitude.

Today’s itinerary: Canoe 2+ miles ‘cross glacier-fed Mendenhall Lake, roaring waterfalls/tree-surrounded by Tongass National Forest (wildlife eye-candy), then crampon-hike over blue primeval ice. Sign me up! Adventure Day!

Every year we see a wide variety of glacial features come and go. This year guests have witnessed and posted photos on everything from ice caves to the very rare site of icebergs calving into the lake. However sights like these are NOT an everyday occurrence, AND CANNOT BE GUARANTEED. Mother nature does what it wants, when it wants.

On every tour, you get the chance to canoe through a glacier lake, hike beside, and even onto the glacier ice itself. The Mendenhall Glacier is constantly flowing and the landscape is always changing. For this reason, we have expertly trained guides who assess the glacier’s movements and continually make new routes to show our guests the best of what the glacier has to offer on every tour on that given day!

Met up with Liquid Alaska Tours at the Tramway, close quarter-mile walk from my hotel digs. Quick 20 minute van ride to our launch north of Juneau. BALD EAGLES EVERYWHERE. Counted 6 on light posts surrounding Juneau’s Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. As local salmon swim upstream/return to spawn thru Gastineau Bay, birds & bears are awaiting. DINNER 😊

Do’s & don’ts speech, life jacket – and paddle. 10 long strokes, break. 10 more strokes & break. 2 ½ miles across Mendenhall Lake. Outside, active, super FUN – LOVED canoeing across a glacial lake in Alaska. That said, lot more strenuous than running 2 ½ miles (different muscles I guess). Guides were kinda task masters ‘bout the paddling. Faster we reach the glacier, more time we have to adventure. Aye aye, Captain. Got it. As luck would have it, both were native Coloradans. Alamosa & Pagosa Springs. Small world.

Shored our craft left of the HUGE retreating glacier. Group-carried the boat several feet inland; boulder-propped, secure. No soul wants to hike return & find their only transport home floating away in 40-degree (iceberg-drifting) water. Nope, not me.

Crampon fitted. Permafrost & ancient ice ahead. Glacier hike. No ice cave spelunking this season. Caves formed/existed but none strong enough to support human weight. Amazing visuals though. Absolutely nothing disappointing ‘bout this day’s journey.

Silt-littered white, primeval BLUES, killer crevasses, pools of glacial water 200ft deep. Two HUNDRED feet deep.

Tonite, I’ll be glacier dreamin’. Mendenhall ❄️😴❄️