Mount Marathon

So you may ask what is Mount Marathon and why am I doing it?  It's a pretty big deal up here in Alaska.  I couldn't be more excited to push myself and do this!

Looking down on Seward from the top

According to folklore, the tradition of the Mount Marathon Race began when two sourdoughs argued about the possibility of climbing and descending the mountain in less than an hour. “Impossible” one said. To settle the argument, and the resulting wager, a race was held, with the loser to furnish drinks for the crowd. At the same time, enterprising merchants put up a suit of clothes and other attractions for the winner and proposed the race take place on a holiday – why not the 4th of July? The optimistic sourdough lost his bet. The winning racer took one hour and two minutes.
Official records disclose that the Mount Marathon Race® actually began as an organized run in 1915 and has since become a regular part of the Independence Day celebration in Seward. Over the years, this home town historic event has drawn increased participation and resulted in new milestones. 54 women finished the first-ever women’s race in 1985, juniors began logging their age-group records in 1994, and 2005 heralded the beginning of the “staggered start” for the adult races. The popular Mini Marathon race starts them out young – toddling just a few feet to victory!
Race day is always July 4.

Straight up

 So....how did I get myself into this situation?  I was scrolling through facebook a while back and I saw a post by Advanced Physical Therapy that said they had 2 spots in the race.  So you just had to like and comment or something easy like that for a chance to win.  At first I scrolled right past it.  Then I said "why not".  Several weeks later I get a message that I got a spot.  CRAZY!  This race is extremely difficult to get into.  You have to qualify by being under a certain time in the race the year before or win a lottery system.

I always thought it would be cool to do this race one day, but I hadn't even thought of signing up.  I even forgot that I had done the facebook thing.  Once I found out I was in though I got really excited for some reason.  Why does it excite me to go out and exert myself like this?  Because I can!  Things like this make me thankful that I can do this type of stuff, or at least attempt it.  When I see someone who doesn't have the ability that I have I feel guilty when I take an elevator, drive instead of riding my bike, etc.  I try to keep that in mind when I'm feeling particularly lazy.

Well, that's the story.  I officially begin training May 1.  I'm excited.  Time to start climbing.

Looking forward to anyone who'll be in Seward for the 4th watching or participating.  Let me know who's coming!

Update...obviously I'm always late on getting my posts out when i want to so now it's mid may and I've already started training.  I've been out a few times with Cindy the great! Pictures below of course.  Todd has gone with me once on an off day for him and of course the dogs are always game for a good workout.  I'm enjoying pushing myself in a new way.  

Thankfulness 2016

Once again it's been way too long.  As you can tell by the title I'm feeling very thankful lately so I thought I'd touch on a few of the reasons why.  There are too many reasons to touch on everything so I'll just hit a few of the highlights.
1.  My husband and home life
2.  Family
3.  Work
4.  Friends

Starting in January Todd started his new job with Alaska Airlines.  This meant 3 months of him being away from home in Seattle.  It was stressful for him even though he handled it so well.  Lots of new information, being away from home, etc.  I truly missed his presence at home.  So glad to have him home now and starting a normal schedule with his new job.  I'm so proud of him.  He's such a hard worker and man of integrity.  I'm happy for him that he is getting to do his dream job.  I wish for him a long and rewarding career.

I took this picture with a little bit of resistance, but like the first day of school I needed a picture of him in his uniform on the way to a flight.

Todd heading out for a flight to Deadhorse

I also have to give a big shout out to my baby sister.  For those of you that don't know she's my only one.  She's 8 years younger so for a big part of our life we were both like only children.  We grew up at different times in our family life.  We weren't very close due to being so far apart and having different interests, and probably due to me being a teenager when she was young, in a difficult marriage and just in a different place.  I just have to say it's been really nice getting to know her as an adult.  She's an awesome person and amazingly talented.  We still have different interest as she's a big city girl and I still prefer the country life, but we've found more common ground in recent years and it's great.  She's super talented and I couldn't be more proud of the person she is.  She's also my official race support crew!  Love her!

Me and Amy at Lakewood church in Houston where she lives and goes to church

At work I've been on night shift on the weekends for over a year now.  Recently I had to work another shift.  I can't say that it was horrible.  I have some amazing colleagues for sure!  However, I did miss my regular shift.  I finally feel like I am getting to know some of the other people in the hospital that work when I do.  I feel like I belong somewhere.  It's nice to be with my work family.



It's nice to see a very old friend find happiness.  On April 9, 2016 my oldest friend from childhood Aimee got married.  She's an amazing person and a most awesome friend.  My only wish is that she lived closer.  To show what a close friend she is my sister is actually named after her.  One awesome Amy named after the other.  The other guy in the picture is Mark.  He was also a childhood friend and it was so nice to see him after 20+ years.  Great to be back in touch.

Mark, Aimee, and Me