Alaska Run for Women 2015 – Race Recap

What a beautiful day for a race–clear skies, sunny, warm, and so much energy from 6000+ women running and walking to fight breast cancer at the Alaska Run for Women.

Per my coach, I was instructed that I was supposed to do this race as a training run since I will end up racing three weekends in a row and my performance at next week’s Mayor’s Half-marathon is more important.

I still ran hard and was happy with how the “race” went.

I stayed right on target and ran an average pace of 6:28 for the 5 mile course. (My target tempo goal was 6:30 pace.) I was happy to finish 7th overall with a time of 32:18.

I really liked the course and was glad to not have a big hill at the end (which so many of the races in town have!). A good portion of the course is on the Chester Creek Trail (which is also very common with many of the other races I do), but it was fun running through downtown Anchorage.

I call my outfit the ‘clash of pinks.’

I’ve never mentioned it on my blog before, but my mother-in-law was diagnosed with breast cancer last summer. She is cancer free today, which is a blessing, so I ran in her honor on Saturday.

After the race, I had a 5 mile cool-down to do, which was fine because we had to wait around until the awards ceremony anyhow.

Cullen and Craig played and napped while I ran. Classic that he only has one sock on.

Then we hung out on the infield while waiting for the awards. Look at those teeth. The other four broke through this weekend as well.

Love my happy boy.

7th place for the women–I’ll take it! (The first and second place women–on the right–got cut off.)

(The third place finisher also had a baby. I thought her baby was just a few months older than Cullen, but she was actually 1.5 years. I forget how big Cullen is!)

This week I’ve got 75 miles on the plan with a half-marathon on Saturday. Let’s get after it!