Mount Marathon Lead-Up

Local favorites Matt Novakovitch and Eric Stabel at Bird Ridge photo: Cole DealMount Marathon Race is one week away. I’ve prepared as methodically as I ever have. I’ve raced two events and hit target performances with PRs on both. The performance data from my Suunto Ambit 2 indicates that I’m spot on with both fitness and rest. I just finished my de-load week with only a couple of 1 hour bike rides and a short run. This was preceded by a good week of training, about 12 hours worth.

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Mount Marathon Looming

On July 4^th each year for the past nearly 100 years, Seward, Alaska has hosted the Mount Marathon trail race. Officially held for the first time in 1915, MMR started as a sort of bar wager that morphed into the yearly spectacle that it's become. The name is a bit of a head fake for outsiders. It’s not a marathon but rather climbs a shoulder of a mountain baring the name. Climbing from downtown Seward 3,022 feet and 3.5 miles to the turnaround and back to town, the race has tested mountain runners for nearly a century.

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Cutting It Close On O'Malley

The O'Malley rideline to The Ramp, Ship Pass exitThe weather here in Alaska seems to finally be coming around this summer and my exploration of the Chugach front range peaks continues in earnest. These mountains are not particularly high nor rugged but what they lack in scale they make up for some of the most pleasant ridge cruising to be found anywhere.

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Knoya-Wolverine Ridge Traverse

Looking east toward Long Lake from the Wolverine ridgelineWith the high ridges of the front range above Anchorage finally free of most of this winter's ample snow dump, I've been eye-balling the maps for some good ridge running. I found out this past weekend that although the terrain looks cruiser from town, the ridge lines can be quite technical. On top of that, the Chugach is not known for it's alpine rock quality. Shit, people say the Tetons are chossy. You have no idea!

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Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb

One of the season's big mountain running events, the Robert Spurr Memorial Bird Ridge race took place last Sunday with 280 competitors filling out the fields. This is the second biggest event of it's type in Alaska, eclipsed only by Mount Marathon Fourth of July weekend.

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