The race is done!

So, many of you know that my Mt. Marathon Race was on Saturday, the 4th.  I signed up for the lottery in March, and since finding out i was in the race in April I have had a pit in my stomach every time I even thought of it!  I have never been so nervous for something, ever!  Makes you wonder why I even wanted to do it, but I have always wanted to run this race and thought I would just force myself to do it, despite all my fears about it.  I had many, many second thoughts throughout the 10 weeks of training- it was so hard!  I really, really didn't feel like I would be able to do it and live to tell about it!  If  you remember, I even adjusted my original goal time from 1hr 45 min to 2 hrs.  I went down to Seward twice to practice on the Mountain itself, which made me feel a little better about it, but the pit in the stomach was still there.  The last week prior to the race, anytime anyone asked me about it I would feel almost sick!  And the day before the race I was really, really sick to my stomach about it!  Especially after attending the mandatory safety meeting and watching the video they show of people pretty much tumbling down the mountain, broken and bloody.  Yikes.  So I told Rich I really wanted to finish somewhere in the 1hr 40's- as long as there was a 4 before the last number, I'd be happy, even if it was 1:49.  My other goal was just not to get hurt!  So the morning of the big day came and we watched the Jr races take off and come back into town.  This made me feel a little better, even if the Jrs only go halfway up, I knew if these little kids could do it so could I.  So finally the Women's race started with the first heat.  They divide the women into to starts, the faster in the first and slower in the second.  Because it was my first year I was automatically in the second.  So we started about 5 minutes after the first heat left.  I felt instantly better being behind a group of 5 60+ ladies that called themselves the mt. turtles and had a sweet cheer and some pretty funky turtle tattoos on their ankles!  Then the gun shot and we were off!  I forced myself to let go of all my nerves and just enjoy the race, and I sure did!  It was so much fun!  I learned so much about the strategy of this race, and things I will definitely do different next year- and yes, I will be doing it again next year!  Despite the training being so, so hard, I am totally hooked on that race.  The scariest part was the heat, it was really hot and just felt hotter for the first half of the mt. while your still in the trees.  It was like a sauna and ladies were dropping off the trail like flies.  Lots of people got heat exhaustion.  I didn't wear my camel back with water and was cursing myself the entire time for not brining it.  The only water available is at the top of the mt.  Thank goodness some friends from Palmer were unexpectedly halfway up the mountain watching.  They gave me water and I was able to get a swig and dump some on me and that totally helped me cool down.  I won't bore you with all the rest of the nitty gritty- you can call if you are really interested- but I made it up to the top and then started the fast and dangerous downhill!  This is where people get hurt.  I had about 100 near falls, but never fell and finished with just a few small cuts on my hands from the scree.  I ended up finishing in 1 hr 30 min 31 seconds and was so, so happy with my time!  I was 87th out of the 330 women who started the race, I think only 289 ended up finishing in the 3 hr time limit.  Here are some picts of the race.  I put them up here backwards, sorry.  The top pict is me finishing.  You have to run what feels like a long .7 miles at the end of the race.  Your legs are like jello after the mountain and I had my shoes just filled with rocks, but I was so happy I did it.

Above picture is coming down the last half of the mountain.  The scree ends in a gulley with tons of rocks and a waterfall.  This section gets a little crazy, the wet rocks get really slick.

Towards the top of Mt. Marathon.  So Steep and loose rock make it tricky.

I love this pict, it shows how crazy this climb is.  There are so many times you are literally pulling yourself up the mountain, my upper body was so sore after the race!

Well, that's pretty much my update!  Anyone want any more info about the race, there are some good articles here:

http://www.adn.com/mount-marathon/

The mens and womens race were both super exciting finishes, with heat stroke really 

making things dramatic! All in all, great race, Seward is a super place to spend the 4th 

and I am already excited for next year. Richard is going to try to get into the men's race 

next year, so I hope we can make it a family affair!