Race Report...Alaska Womens Run

Today was the Alaska Womens Run/Walk. I did it with my Mom, Sisters and Sister-in-Law. The weather man initially reported that it was going to be sunny and 70 degrees...instead it was rainy and about 55. Have you ever noticed that weather forcaster's are the only people that can be completely wrong but still have a job? My sister Patience, claims we can't really call it a "run" because we just walked...although I did convince my little sister Brittany to run part of it with me. I was going a little stir crazy just walking, as my Mom and sister-in-law Christen can attest, but I had been up since 2:30 fighting a migraine and wanted to complete it with my family, mostly because I asked them to do it with me and didn't feel good about just ditching them along the way. I ended up completing our 5 miles within the goal time that we had set at before we started...I think Brittany missed it by 1 minute, and Mom and Christen were back by about 10, which isn't bad considering it was a pretty high goal and my Mom is only 4' 10". Mom kept doing a little jog every 50 yards or so to catch back up with us because her legs were so much shorter than ours...way to stick with us Mom!! Patience walked with a team (you can read all about it here...) so we didn't see her, but she said that she enjoyed it and would do it again. I told Brittany that next year she had to improve her time...which meant she got to run the whole way...I was met with a "we'll see" reply...I'll keep working on her!

Overall, there were 4500 women that participated in the event raising more than $100,000 for Breast cancer research. The winner of the event came in at 29 minutes and some odd seconds. Last year, the winner was an Olympic athlete, so I didn't feel so bad about my pace. We saw all kinds of women dressed up in interesting attire. One particular group wore pink shirts with pink corsets over the top filled with LARGE balloons for the chest area...I think they were called "Save the Ta-Ta's....I can almost guarantee they landed themselves on the local news station.

Every year they have a team contest to decorate the outhouses that are used for the runners at the start and finish line. My husband Nick was gracious enough to take picture of them for me. ( He got more than a few odd looks.) I thought this was the best one. I'm not sure who won, but it did make using the port-a-potty's a little more enjoyable.

The kids stayed busy playing on the football field and in the grass, and even managed to eat several snow cones...I know, 55 and snow cones? I did have one without flavoring when I was finished. Patience on the other hand opted to wait until she could find Hot Chocolate, I can't say I blame her, although I thought a snow cone hit the spot...

It was a good day today....next year, now that my Mom and Sisters have done it, and have already stated they will do it again, I won't feel obligated to walk with them and will be able to run without feeling guilty! I have to say though, I was mostly glad that I got to participate in a race with such a good cause, even though I was VERY FAR from getting a PR...seriously, with this race...we'll see you next year!