Back to Kodiak after Tour of Anchorage

Boy am I glad to be back in Kodiak! After a weekend in Los Anchorage the drive to work and sunrise over the harbor seemed positively idyllic. Anchorage might have the distant mountains hovering over town but everything in the foreground is ugly. It is not a pretty town.

But it is a good place to go cross country skiing and visit with family. On Sunday I raced in the Tour of Anchorage, a 50K skate ski marathon. We started at dawn at Service High, raced up to the top of the Hillside Ski area and then on to near downtown on a greenbelt that wound by APU, and Russian Jack park. We linked up with the Tony Knowles trail at Westchester Lagoon and then raced on out to finish at Kincaid Park. I loved the airplanes flying directly over my head as I neared Kincaid and the finish.

I did not have great race but I did meet my goals. I finished in 2:39 and came in 47th (2cnd for my age group)- I had wanted to break either 2:40 or finish in the top 40. My biggest disappointment was over-tightening my brand new ski boots. By about halfway through the race I realized that I could not feel my feet. This made it hard to be graceful. I also had slow skiis at the start and lost the pack. So I skiied the rest of the race alone. I think if I had stayed with the pack and had happy feet I could have easily finished 5 - 10 minutes faster. But hey I felt good, finished well, and had a good time.

It was great fun meeting up with family at the finish line. It's becoming a tradition. Zoya's brother in law Todd came in 2cnd for his age group in the 25K classic race with a faster time than he had last year, and Zoya's stepfather raced in his first Tour of Anchorage - also in the 25K classic race. My cousins Will and Beth, joined Cathy, Kellen and Bonnie to meet us at the finish line. Then we went off to the Moose's Tooth and had beer and pizza. Nothing like a good beer after a long ski race! Patrick