And the Race is On! (Mayor's Marathon Part 2)

They're off!

I was pretty excited about this race because not only was there not an early start for the slow runners, but the regular start time wasn’t until nine! We could ‘sleep in’. Except our group always is the first to the start line. So we were delivered to the starting area an hour and a half before race start.

I could have taken a nap! Which is usually a good thing for a narcoleptic. However, I had been feeling pretty good. I had read that natural sunlight helps narcoleptics stay alert and feeling good. Since there is basically 24 hours of sunlight this time of year in Alaska, I wondered if my narcolepsy would do better up there. It did! I didn’t have to take any meds since the second day of our trip. Yeah!!

So we had time to take some pre-race pictures with my team mate Lori (aka Crab Girl). 

Our other teammate was already on the full course. Her name is Barbara. She’s around my age and doing full marathons. Yep. She’s a bad ass.

Me, Bad Ass Barbara, Lori, Crab Girl

So I’m waiting for the starting gun and I notice there are no timing mats. What’s the deal? I have to start way in the back because of my pace. So it’ll take me a couple minutes to get across the start line after the gun goes off. If there aren’t timing mats to detect when my timing chip crosses the mat, my finishing time will be in “gun time”. I hate gun time.

So we took off…without timing mats.

Waving 'bye' to Kris. I'd see him later on the course.

The route was fun. First through neighborhoods where I met an Alaskan runner. I asked her how they trained through the winter. She told me that they just go out and run in boots. Holy cow! Are you kidding me? I wouldn’t run in weather less than 45 degrees. She trains in sub-zero weather. Damn.

Out of the neighborhood, we turned onto Northern Lights Blvd and headed to Earthquake Park. At the park a nice lady was holding this sign just for me! 

Heading out of the park I caught sight of this beautifully bright blue top. It belonged to a buxom blonde. I noticed she was doing run/walk intervals like I do. So I made her my ‘pacer’.  I made three goals for the race: 1) catch up to her 2) pass her 3) stay ahead of her. 

The race was on.