After a mellow spring and early summer July has been a bit of the opposite. July 1 marked the start of the Cirque series and the beginning of my summer running racing schedule.
July 1 I raced the Snowbird Cirque Series events placing 2nd. Later that evening I got on the red eye from Salt Lake to Anchorage so that I could compete at Mount Marathon in Seward.
Mount Marathon, which is always in July 4th, was extra muddy and messy this year. Despite the rain there was an awesome crowd cheering all of us up and down the mountain. I felt really good climbing and am happy to have my fourth win at this event.
The winners trophy made it down to the bars and got the traditional free fills! The AK mountain running community is an awesome crew. Super tight group who are all supportive of each others efforts and goals. It's a cool fam to be a part of!
July 6 I got back to Steamboat and had a quick turnaround to Leadville to 'support' Jessica in racing the Silver Rush 50 miler bike race. I say 'support' cause she told me to just go for a run while raced. So I watch her start and finish and while she raced I went and ran Mt. Elbert, which is the tallest peak in CO.
After Leadville I had the week in Steamboat coaching before leaving for SLC for another Cirque Series race. This time Brighton was the race location. This course was the most technical course I've done outside of Alaska. It was fun see a new ridge and battle with a mix of familiar and new faces in Utah. I got the win and my race recap would best be described by going in and out of moments of feeling great then feeling terrible. Some races are like that and working through those rough patches is good practice.
Now I have about two weeks at home before returning to Alaska to compete at the Alyeska Cirque event. Plans for the next two weeks include some night rides, getting onto some snow to ski, and lots of swims in the river.
Picture credits!
1: @fearnowka 2: Todd List 5: @stephanie.marwil