MOUNTAIN PULSE: Just a quick morn'in run

March 19, 2013

Just a quick morn'in run

What better way for us to kick off Miles's 50th Birthday then to head into Anchorage at 8ish in the morning for a 5K run?! The Skinny Raven Shamrock Shuffle- in temps low enough to leave you with a frosty boogery mustache if you're not careful, Ladies!
We dropped our car off at West High school and opted to jog to the Bear Tooth Theater Pub instead of hopping on the shuttle. It's only 3 blocks and a nice warm up for the race. The start and finish of the race was outside the Bear Tooth. Inside, it was toasty and packed with happy runners bedecked in all stuff green and Irish-y, dropping off their gear, maybe picking up last minute bibs, and hitting the potties one last time. They herded everyone outside for the start of the race and once we were squeezed in amongst our trotting brethren, I was surprised at how much body warmth emanated from everyone despite the 12 degrees. It wasn't long before there was a sudden shift and a wave of people moving forward-we're still not sure if there was ever a starting gun or a "Go!"-but off we all went. The race was fast but tough, especially the long hill toward the end but Miles and I both did much better than we were expecting! I came in at 25:39 beating my previous time during a practice run by 4.5 minutes. Miles came in about a minute and a half behind me. I fuckin' LOVE running and racing with him! This has been such a great journey so far for us!
We collected our Shamrock Shuffle pint glasses, went inside to imbibe in our well earned free beer-liquid 2nd breakfast-and headed over the sister restaurant, The Moose's Tooth, to fetch the keg for Miles Birthday party later that day.
One race and one beer down before 10:05 am! Pretty good!