Not too much to say about the Humpyıs Marathon. No expo, just packet pickup at Humpyıs Great Alaskan Alehouse. The packet included a very nice long sleeve shirt, a timing chip and some discount coupons to some local businesses. The outdoor pasta dinner, also at Humpyıs, ran from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM and included spaghetti, lasagna, bread, soft drinks and water. Although there was not a lot of variety the pasta was good. And even though the pasta dinner was included with the registration, for those who wanted more of a selection or wanted to eat a little later in the day, there was a new small Italian restaurant in Anchorage, the only Italian restaurant in Anchorage.
With several hotels, motels and hostels near the start/finish line at Humpyıs the 238 marathon starters had a short walk in the cool (60 degree) Alaska morning. Staying on eastern daylight time for a couple of days leading up to marathon morning allowed me to get plenty of sleep and wake up early enough to eat breakfast and take a leisurely walk to the start line for the 8:00 AM start. The first mile of the Marathon (accompanying half marathon and 5K) is predominately down hill with a 60-foot decline from about the half-mile to the one-mile mark. The next 17 miles are out and back on the Coastal Trail. The trail is actually a bike trail that runs along the coast for about one-mile and then runs through the woods. At 18 miles the course does a second out and back loop (7-miles) running through several parks including Earthquake Park. The last mile repeats the first mile, so obviously it is primarily uphill. The 25th mile is not the best time to have to run up an almost one-mile hill. Both loops are fairly flat, few turns, few spectators, predominately through woods and no cars. The course was not the Alaskan scenic course I was expecting. Matter of fact, I carried my new small digital camera with me during the marathon and never stopped to take a picture.
With the cool temperature and predominately shaded course I was feeling good and hoped to run a sub 3:40:00 as planned. I stayed on a sub 3:40 pace for almost 18 miles but eventually lost it. Splits were 7:43, 8:13, 8:13, 8:15, 8:49, 8:31, 8:15, 8:13, 8:09, 8:42, 8:23, 8:26, 9:15 (1:49:55 Half Marathon, projected 3:39:50), 8:21, 8:29, 8:39, 8:50, 8:50, 9:31, 9:09, 9:54, 9:27, 9:33, 9:36, 10:17, 11:06, 2:01. Finishing time 3:52:56 with a half marathon split of 2:03:02 (positive split of 10:06). I was a little disappointed in my time but on a positive note I did win my age group and placed 51st out of 238.
If you are planning to run a marathon in Alaska and you are looking for a small marathon with few frills, few spectators, not very scenic, easy course and well coordinated, then I would recommend Humpyıs. Else, you may want to consider Mayorıs Mid Night Sun Marathon. Whether you run a marathon in Alaska or not, I would highly recommend spending a week or two visiting Alaska. We (Toni, my wife) and I spent three days in Anchorage getting acquainted with Alaska, drove to Fairbanks, stayed a couple of days and went to our first salmon bake and then verified my Aunt Ray (my grandfathers sister on my mothers side) was married to the first mayor of Fairbanks). We then took the train to Denali, toured Denali National Park and went white water rafting on the Nanana River. We then took the train to Talkeetna, a small town that inspired the TV show Northern Exposure. We went horseback riding in Talkeetna and had our picture taken with Mt. McKinley (Mt. Denali) in the background, too bad it was overcast and Mt. McKinley could not be seen. We then took a bus to Whittier and cruised aboard the Coral Princess for seven days. The first two days took us to College Forge and Glacier Bay where we saw several glaciers, ice bergs, sea otters, whales, sea lions and even a couple of brown bears. Day 3 we put into port in Skagway and canoed around icebergs and got within 100 yards (a safe distance) of a glacier. In Juneau, day 4, we took a helicopter ride and flew over 4 glaciers which included landing on Norris Glacier where we spent 20 minutes walking on the glacier. I planned to run on the glacier but our pilot/tour guide informed us prior to exiting the helicopter that we were not allowed to run or walk backwards on the glaciers. Although I thought my wife put the pilot up to saying no runningı, it did make sense. Once we got out of the helicopter and started to walk on the glaciers. I could see there were many holes and crevices on the surface that if you didnıt see them you could fall into them and really get hurt or worse. Next day we were in Ketchikan where we took a Zodiac raft to a rain forest and then hiked a 1 1/2 mile trail. Two days later we were in Vancouver where I ran about a 10-mile loop too and around Stanley Park. Stanley Park is the equivalent of New York Cityıs Central Park. I found a very nice small park in Richmond, British Columbia on our second day in the Vancouver area. It would take too long to describe my runs through these two parks or my runs through Fairbanks (ran a portion of the Equinox Marathon course), Denali, Talkeetna, Skagway, Juneau or Ketchikan. If you do plan a trip to Alaska let me know and I can give you some suggestions for runs.
57 marathons completed in 46 states and Washington DC. Next marathon is the Clarence Demar Marathon in Keene, New Hampshire on September 23 with Linda Thompson.
Rest if you must, just donıt quit,
Marty.