Month: August 2017

The Great Alaskan Running Cruise: Last Day at Sea

You can read about my day in Ketchikan HERE.

The next day was a Rise and Shine Run/Walk with Coach Jenny (we skipped it) followed by a Flexibility Session and Ask Coach Jenny Q&A.

The rest of the day we just relaxed on the boat.  More gorgeous views!  We also packed. Somewhere around 2:30 pm we made it into Canada.  

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That evening after dinner was a GARC Award Ceremony & Farewell Reception.  There were various drinks on hand but we chose champagne.

It a celebration of everyone’s accomplishments!

Then more walking around the boat.  Sad that our cruise was almost over and saying goodbye to our home for the week.

Cute painting but I didn’t want to find out the cost.

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Love these daily reminders on the elevator.  It was easy to forget what day it was.

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Very important card.  We needed this not only to open our room door but to get off the ship and to get back in.  It was like a credit card that anytime you wanted to buy something, you used that card for your purchase.

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The Great Alaskan Running Cruise: Ketchikan

You can read about my day in Icy Strait Point HERE.

Our last race of the running cruise!  We had the option of either the 5K or 10K.  Meghann and I chose the 5K.

Thank goodness it only rained on our last race day.

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Another hot breakfast and pep talk from Jenny.

Amazing views before the race!  Happy it had stopped raining.

Final instructions before heading out.

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Time to run!  The 10k runners went first followed by the 5k runners.

Done!  Isn’t that a beautiful medal?  

At the finish line there was beer and a “salmon bake” with salmon wraps.  I had the beer but no wrap.  This race wasn’t timed so there was no “official” winner.  However, the two winners were those that drew an ace card from a deck of cards.  I did not win.

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We didn’t stay too long because we wanted to be on the first bus heading back to the ship to shower and get ready, eat, and be reading for our excursion (Historic Ketchikan Trolley).

Meghann and I could never understood this.  I mean I understand the whole custom regulations part, but why coffee?
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Anyway, time to explore Ketchikan.  It started to rain toward the end of our tour.

We saw Nathan Jackson working on a totem pole.

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And we saw a few more totem poles at the Saxman Native Village Totem Pole Park.

That evening after dinner I enjoyed a glass of champagne.

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New shorts and shoes, a deer, and a 10k!

I’ve been adding posts about my Alaska trip to my running cruise page.  You can find the posts HERE on the bottom of the page.  

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I didn’t do much running last week.  19.46 miles to be exact.  

Five miles on Monday wearing new Oiselle shorts.  My favorite shorts and I have about 15 pairs.

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On Wednesday I did a speed workout (1M Warm Up; 12×1 min @95% effort w/1 min jog rest; and 1M Cool Down).  It was easier than expected and I was actually smiling throughout the run.

A friend of mine posted on Instagram her mileage for July and mentioned that her race was in 5 weeks.  She is doing the 50k while I do the marathon.  THAT COMPLETELY FREAKED ME OUT!  I don’t feel ready.  I don’t remember feeling like this last year and my training was MORE intense.  

Saturday’s 4 mile run went well.  I saw my former coach and I mentioned how I had been feeling (not motivated, no longer want to do marathon, and how I don’t want to run anymore).  I told her that I had 16 miles on Sunday and was going to see how I did/felt before making a decision on whether or not to run the marathon.  Well, Sunday came and I managed to run 6 miles.  There is no way I would feel ready in 4 weeks.  I was feeling so many emotions but the two that topped the list were FAILURE and EMBARRASSMENT.  I also felt like a fool and a loser.  Here I am going on and on about training for a marathon and hoping to eventually get a BQ, etc, etc., and I am already quitting.  Who does that?

violin

No marathon for me next month.  I still want to run the Boston Marathon but for now will focus on strength training and swimming.  I still plan to run but just for fun.  I signed up to run the Run Mag Mile (10k for me) on September 9 and the Chicago Half Marathon and 5k (5k for me) on September 24. 

I saw this deer on Sunday morning and it made me smile.

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I got these new Brooks Launch 3.

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And two pairs of the Launch 4.  I know, I have a problem, and need an intervention. Help!

Brooks Launch 4
 
Sign up today to run the Run Mag Mile with me on September 9.  Use  code “BibRaveMM17” for a BONUS water bottle!  Check out the hoodie and the 10k medal. I’ve never done this race and am looking forward to it!

Linking up with MarciaPatti, and Erika for Tuesdays on the Run.

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The Great Alaskan Running Cruise: Icy Strait Point

You can read about my day in Skagway HERE.

The next day we were in Icy Strait Point.  The main event of the day was to kayak.  I’ve never done that.  I remember when I signed up, there was only one spot available and I took it as a sign that that spot was for ME.  🙂

I was TERRIFIED.  The thing I was most scared of what of the kayak tipping over.  I did ask how deep the water was and the guide told me about 600 feet.  Yikes!

I am happy to say that I am glad I did this excursion.  The kayak did not tip over.  🙂  We had an OK time.  Don’t think I’ll do it again but never say never, right?

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The water was calm.  That helped me feel at ease.  The whole excursion was 2 hours.  We would paddle to an area, listen to the guide tell a story of the area, and then move on to another spot.  However, Meghann and I were doing something wrong because we could not paddle fast enough (I know it isn’t hard to do but we just couldn’t do it right).  No matter what we did, we could never catch up to the group. By the end we just decided not to rush anymore.

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Back on the ship for lunch and we saw some whales!  Another highlight of the day!

Dinner was lobster tail.

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We had designated seating areas in the dining room.  I enjoyed this because every night we sat at a different table to meet and chat with other group members.  And also because the food was delicious!

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The Great Alaskan Running Cruise: Skagway

You can read about my day in Juneau HERE.

Warning: There are lots of photos in this post.

The day of the Gold Rush Amazing Race!  To be honest with you, I didn’t want to do this at all.  Well, I am glad I did because it was a blast!

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We had another hot breakfast and were briefed about the race.  We were given a map and a list of landmarks to find.  To prove that we found each landmark, we had to take a selfie with it in the photo.  Each one was worth 1, 2, 3, or 5 points.  We had an hour to do this and the team with the most points would win.

Somehow we ended up with 13 points.  We took our time and our goal was to only find the ones that were worth 1 point.  The ones worth more were further away and we didn’t want to run that far.  🙂

Landmarks to find.  

  • Eagles Hall
  • Moore House
  • Skagway Museum
  • Red Onion Saloon
  • Airport
  • Gault House
  • Mascot Saloon
  • Gold Rush Cemetery
  • Seven Pastures Park

Ready, set, go…..

The airport was our last stop.  Then we went back to the ship, showered, changed, and went back to town to explore it again.  This time walking instead of running.

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Not too many people live in Skagway (estimates put the 2015 population at 1,057 people). We enjoyed walking around but eventually we got tired and hungry.

That evening we celebrated National Tequila Day by enjoying a flight of tequila and then we were in the mood for a chocolate martini while listening to the piano man.