Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Good Morning,

It is a very unusual winter morning in Anchorage, Alaska.  It is the end of November and we have no snow.  Seriously?  While I know the weather in the East right now is very serious and scary for them, those of us who are used to that weather are very envious.  We dont live in Anchorage because we hate the winter.  It is amazing actually not only how much Alaskans love snow, but how well we are set up to handle it.  It can snow several feet overnight and life just continues like normal, school is on time, races are not canceled, its just another day.  Its really fun to live somewhere that is so proficient in snow management, it helps us wish for more snow because we know the consequences wont be so bad.  Of course there are still accidents and things happen, but not on the widespread level that we are seeing on the East Coast.

Mts and an Eagle

Anyways while I do not always LOVE running in the snow I do love skiing and now that I have a pretty new fat tire snow bike sitting in my house I am really ready to bike in the snow.  I was talking to my husband the other day about training and how antsy he is feeling about not training for a race and I told him I feel just the opposite.  I think I put too much pressure on myself during the racing season, or actually I feel pressure to put pressure on myself, if that makes any sense.  During the season I feel bad about running just because I like running, I feel like I should always be racing, silly I know.  Now that its off season I am loving running because I want to run, not because I have to.  The last couple weeks I have run a few miles each Saturday morning with a friend and it has been a blast.  We don't care about pace, we just run and talk the entire time.  I start my weekend feeling good both mentally and physically, its wonderful!

Moose cuddling for warmth

Ahh nature!

While I enjoy the off season, snow or not, I am thinking forward to next summer and throwing around ideas of how I would like my next season to go.  This past year the theme was quantity over quality, next year I would like to reverse that a bit, but am not sure if I am focusing more on triathlons?  I have a hard time saying no to races so which of my favorites will I keep and which will I pass on. 

Does anyone else have this dilemma?

Morning on Mize Loop

Frightening 4K Race Report

Good Morning,

I am a bit behind on my blogging lately but I do have a race to report.  On the 25th of October I participated in a local Halloween themed 4k.  I was hesitant to do the race as I had signed up for it while working in a village with sketchy internet.  As soon as I signed up and paid my $30 I found out that none of my friends were going to run it after all.

Up until the day before I was still wavering on actually participating.  I don't mind doing races alone but this was more of a Halloween party than a race so I felt kinda funny.  Finally my husband told me the shirts were really neat and while he had to be in a training that day, he encouraged me to go for it.

The race started later than normal at 11am but I went down to the registration and picked up  my shirt.  Which was neat, but when you sign up for a size I expect to receive that size.  Especially for $30 which is a bit high for a 4k.  I grabbed my shirt and headed back to the car to drop it off, at the car I seriously thought about driving off and forgetting the whole thing. 

Instead I told myself to buck up and get back out there.  The race was backed up to our local trick or treat in the street so it was lots of kids and lots of very elaborate costumes.  I wore a shirt I made for my first half marathon which happened to be our Fall Zombie Half so it was Halloweeny themed. 

We started the race and I resigned myself to just enjoy a good run.  Every 1k of the race was marked with people giving out candy which I intended to grab some, but by 2k I realized I was hitting some good paces so I decided to push through the candy drops and finish with a nice average 10:30 miles. 

I did doubt my thought to race this race when part way through I ran through a fog machine enclosed area.  Not awesome on the lungs.  But overall I felt really good about my run and people seemed to have a lot of fun. Also even though I didn't get the shirt I wanted, it does fit ok :)

However, not to be a downer, but there were several things I didn't like about this race and I think it really comes back to for profit racing.  We have a local running shop up here which most people love, and Ill admit I flip flop a bit.  Skinny Raven does provide great opportunities for racing in our community but they seem to have dominated the race timing and now racing opportunities with mostly for profit races that are not cheap!   Yes it is fun to have a really nicely prepared race with all the goodies, but I really like more low key local races that support a good cause.  Paying $30 for the early registration for a Turkey Trot that doesn't even benefit a food bank is kinda a bummer!  I don't mind paying more when it goes to a charity, but when your the only running game in town, I already pay you enough for my running shoes and other gear!  The other issue I have with these races is that they don't have kid rates.  I think its important to encourage families to exercise and play together, but a Turkey Trot for a family of four would cost you $120!  We don't even have kids yet but my husband and I decided to save our $60 and go for a run ourselves on Thanksgiving.

Am I complaining too much about a wonderful sport, probably?  I guess I am just a small community race fan at heart!