Skinny Raven Half Marathon
Anchorage, Alaska
Sunday, August 15, 2010

When I race walked the Skinny Raven Half Marathon on Sunday, August 15, 2010 in Anchorage, Alaska, the temperature remained about 56 degrees with a light breeze and heavy fog for most of the race. The first two miles and the last half mile were on the streets of the tourist section of downtown Anchorage. The rest of the course was mainly an out and back journey on a paved bike path along Cook Inlet and Chester Creek that used tunnels to cross roads. The course was mainly a slight uphill on the way out and a slight downhill on the way back with the elevation only varying 100 feet. Water/Gatorade stations were located from 1.5 to 2 miles apart and were manned by plenty of enthusiastic volunteers. A high school volunteer was located at every turn along the bike path to insure that the participants stayed on course. There were a few spectators along the way. Police controlled the intersections in the downtown. The pasta dinner before the race featured Jeff Galloway of Runners World as a speaker and was included in the entry fee. My friend, Bart Yasso, of Runners World was also there and announced each of the finishers as they crossed the line. I spent a week in Alaska enjoying the sights. It rained the first five days most of the time; however, it did not rain during the race even though it was foggy. It has been a very rainy summer in Anchorage, 31 straight days with some measurable rain. The rainy streak ended the last two days of my trip with partly cloudy skies on the first of these two days and almost cloudless extremely clear skies on the last day. In fact I could see Mount McKinley from Anchorage, even though it was over 100 miles away. I enjoyed myself and took many pictures.