State #45: Alaska
Skinny Raven Half Marathon: Anchorage RunFest
Anchorage, Alaska
August 18, 2019
Time: 2:12:06
Pace: 10:05
Overall: 278/631
Female: 139/385
Female/Male: 50/182
F45-49: 16/39
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This is the last milestone, State #45 and this was my 50th half marathon. Out of all 45 states run and explored thus far, this was the most expensive and longest stay in a state.
Getting There
I found a discounted round trip ticket: $453.53 but I had two stops.
Tuesday August 13th- my route going
BOS- EWR- SAN- ANC – Since I started at 8am in the morning and got to Anchorage at 8:30pm Tuesday night. My body told me it was East Coast midnight time.
Tuesday August 20th- my route going back
ANC-DEN-IAD-BOS – of course going back was extremely tiresome and wore me out. I got to Boston at 10:30am Wednesday.
The hotel, Aviator Hotel was on the Anchorage RunFest Website as the main hotel. I was conflicted because the hotel received bad reviews. I looked into the chain hotels (Marriott, Sheraton) but they were expensive or sold out. Since I was traveling by myself I didn’t want to be far out. I wanted to stay downtown. The hotel staff and location were great. The hotel is old and needs a major renovation. The hotel is nothing, nothing like the pictures. I had to change rooms four times.
Hotel Cost: For 7 nights. $ 1,462.70
Rental Car: I decided to have a rental car for a couple of days not the whole time. I also found out that many of the excursion trips will come and pick you up from downtown but it is an added $100-$150 addition price to the excursion.
I rented a car from Tuesday – Saturday= $620.57
Hotel, Flight, and Rental Car Price= $2,536.80. With food, excursions, gas, race registration and extra hotel stay in Chena, I spent around $3,000
I am guessing Hawaii will be similar in cost.
Pre-race adventures
My friend decided to join me at the last minute. She wasn’t coming until Thursday night. I was given the instructions to not explore Anchorage without her. Lol. That made my decision to rent a car and drive within the state.
Wednesday: I drove 6 hours to Delta Junction. This is the ending point of the Alaskan Highway which goes through Canada and Alaska. I went to it because I learned that African- American troops helped built a bridge that connected the highway. This was way of respecting these men and learning about African-American History in Alaska.
On the route I passed a pipeline and just took in the beauty and vastness of this state.
Stop two: North Pole, Alaska. Really it is Christmas day 24/265. I had a dinner there and explore. North Pole is close to Fairbanks.
Stop three: I stayed at Chena Hot Springs overnight. This place was amazing. I didn’t know there were hot springs in Alaska. I was told that they are popular in winter for the northern lights. They had these cool log cabins. I was able to get a discounted hotel rate $113.00 normally it would be double the price.
Thursday: Fairbanks: I took some time to explore Fairbanks and visit the University of Alaska at Fairbanks ( I’m a college junkie). Then it was 2 hours to Denali National Park
I could Denali all day. Sadly, it was misty and foggy .I only saw the bottom part of the mountain. 30% of people who visit actually get to see the whole mountain, I was not part of the 30%.
On the drive back I went to the Anchorage airport to pick up my friend who signed up to run the 5k and to join me.
Friday: Had an excursion to see the Glaciers. We went on the Phillips Glaciers Tour. www.26Glaciers.com. It was a 5 hour tour of Prince Williams Sound and they served lunch. We drove an hour to Whittier to get on the boat. The views were beyond amazing
When we came back we explored downtown Anchorage.
Saturday: Running EXPO
First breakfast at Snow City Cafe. It’s a local place and also a popular tourist spot. The breakfast is TO DIE FOR.
We picked up our bib numbers. I thought the running expo had a cute idea of raffle. You had to go around to every table and get a check mark at each table. Once all the vendors boxes were checked you can submit it to the raffle. This was a great way to talk to the local people.
After, we went to the Anchorage Farmers Market. Lots of local foods, clothing, jewelry, and other products.
Since this was the last day with the car we went to Girdwood for the Blueberry festival and then the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
SUNDAY -RACE DAY
The race started late to me- 8:45am for the half marathon. I ran into Kimberly Brown in the hotel lobby. So excited to meet another Black Girls Rock 50 states member. I also ran into a couple of BGR sole sistas and more 50 states rock ladies.
RACE
The marathon, half, 5k, and 49k runners all ran on the same course trail. It was a paved trail on the Coastal and Chester Creek Trail of Anchorage. We ran along the Westchester Lagoon and dealt with 51 mph winds that came from the lagoon. This was a straight out and back race along the the trail.
Main Issue: The trail was not regulated for the running festival. There were individual people and families, biking, walking, had strollers, and running on the trail when we were still running on it. At a point the half, marathoners, and 49k were all running at the same time on the race route, it was a bit confusing.
We did have the perfect running weather. I didn’t even sweat my normal amount because of the coolness and being on the trail.
Post Race
- They had bacon. Crispy good bacon. Then there was bread with butter and cheese sandwiches.
- Then we found the Mermaid Champagne and Oyster Bar after the race. That is how our Sunday ended
Monday: Touring downtown anchorage, visiting the the anchorage museum, and the railroad station. We didn’t stay out long because of the fires, you could smell the smoke and the air as the smoke cover the city
Tuesday: was a chill day and some light shopping and checking out the local mural art before leaving for the airport.
I can truly say, this is a state I would love to comeback and visit again. This is a state like no other. I was really surprised by the african-americans that live there. I know military and pipeline but there are other reason why they are there. FYI 15,000 african-americans live in Anchorage. Also the uniqueness of the people and culture. I learned that a native Alaskan and an Alaskan native are totally different.
It’s going to take me a while to pay off my credit card but this was an experience that was so worth it.