R and J in the USA

September 21, 2024

It was a 45-degree Saturday morning in Anchorage as we arrived at our Alaska 5K, still gray in the mid-dawn of the late high latitude sunrise.

The race was a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. It was also an awareness raiser for heart disease and stroke, with various tents set up promoting heart health, heart and stroke awareness, and healthy heart habits. With music playing, tent activity buzzing, and enthusiastic people smiling, the event had the atmosphere of a street festival. Like the Boxer Brief 5K we ran in Virginia, which raised money and awareness for colorectal cancer, this was a gathering of hope and positivity despite being centered around a medical threat that has taken so many lives.

The course was a hub and spoke with three spokes extending from the central point. Runners did an out and back along each spoke before finishing where they started midway along the lower spoke. The gently curving city streets near the Providence Alaska Medical Center and the University of Alaska Anchorage were mostly flat, with some upslopes and downslopes, but no real hills to speak of.

The event included three separate 5Ks – a timed run, an untimed run, and a walk, each with a separate start. This was the first of our 5Ks that separated out the runners and the walkers. It made for a smoother early race than is typical, as there were no walkers in the path of runners.

With a race-time temperature in the mid-40s, this was the coldest of our 5Ks so far. This is not surprising, given that we were in Alaska (at 61 degrees north latitude) in late September after a summer of mid-latitude races. 45 degrees is cold, but not frigid. It required only light layers and ended up being a nice temperature to run in once we got going.

Ryan finished 33^rd of 170 overall and 23^rd of 79 males, while Julie finished 84^th of 170 overall and of 40^th of 91 females. Full race results here. The important result, however, was the money and awareness raised to address heart disease and stroke. Companies, teams, and individuals combined to raise over $260,000 for the cause. Fundraising results here.

Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds

We arrived at Alaska’s race and it was a scene. There were lots of people, various booths of different community organizations, and a radio announcer. This was the first race we have ever seen to bring in a fitness instructor to lead interested participants in a joint warmup class. Julie partook in the festivities while Ryan was off doing his own warmup. 

Both of us entered the race with our main focus being to enjoy the scenery and the beautiful crisp, cool air of the Alaskan fall. For Ryan, this meant turning in a solid average pace without overdoing it. Julie intended not just to run at a comfortable clip, but to try and jog the whole thing and stay north of 10-minute miles. She knew she was tired after a few weeks of not getting the kind of sleep she previously was getting on the regular, and thought the most important objective was to give her body some recovery running and to continue to learn to fight the urge to push, especially when it has no earthly purpose.

She enjoyed success in a nice easy first mile, clocking in at a 10:34. Perfect. Then, uh-oh. As she enjoyed the easy jog, she naturally started to run a little faster. The second mile came in at a 9:28. Now Julie’s pattern-recognizing brain and her blind ambition fused into a fairly pointless goal. She decided after mile 2, “Gee, it would be neat to not only have negative splits, but to split them by a full minute each mile.” So, for mile three, she completely abandoned her primary goal of a recovery run, which was definitely needed, and ran an 8:30. Then, for no real reason, she dropped into her kick and delivered a 6:30 pace for the last 0.12 miles. She had been able to hold back the mindless urge towards ambition for 2 miles. That’s something. Either way, the most important part of the race – enjoying the scene, the scenery, and the sweet Alaskan air – that was a total success.

Ryan did a great job of running at a decent clip without pushing himself. He felt great to breath that cool, crisp air. He delivered a steady average of 7:42s, delivering a pretty steady set of negative splits with an 8:03, a 7:38 and a 7:35, also with a nice kick in the end for an average 6:10 pace over the final 0.12 miles. He ran just the race he wanted to run. And, because of the layout of the course, was over the moon to be able to see Julie two times during the race. And because Julie wasn’t focused on laying down any solid race times, she was happy to take each of those opportunities to take pictures of her man in all his speedy glory.

No age group medals were given in this race, and we had a lot of Alaska to experience, including a 10-mile hike later that afternoon, so we left as soon as possible to find a big Alaskan brunch, reindeer sausage and all.

That’s Ryan 13 – Julie 8. Unless Julie has some miraculous transformation or Ryan has some unfortunate one (poo, poo, poo, as Julie’s Jewish mother would say to have the opposite effect of the “knock on wood” saying), it will probably remain Julie 8 for a long while, while Ryan’s tally notches up one per state. But we shall see. Miracles do happen (and we are only interested in the good ones, of course).