Bob the runner

Wow, can't believe I was in Alaska!  Wow, it was a fabulous day.  The weather was perfect, the race went fantastic and my sweetie and I both ran and finished the race. The Last Frontier.  Land of lots of snow and cold, long days, open spaces, tall mountains, moose, bears and bald eagles.  Of all the things I anticipated about Anchorage it was none of them. Hotel We stayed at the Voyager Inn.  Awesome Hotel.  Helpful staff.  They saved us money by telling us about free parking on Sunday.  Great breakfast. Expo Held in convention center close to our hotel.  Race packet with bib and long sleeve technical shirt.  Fun environment.  Met Jeff Galloway, bought his book.  Anxious to try the run-walk-run method. Meeting Jeff Galloway was a thrill for me! Saturday Kids fun run and 1 mile race.  Separate race for Men, Women, and Military. Sunday 3 different races:  49K(8am), Marathon(9am), and Half Marathon(930am).  Shared the same course. Close walk from our hotel so

USA Triathlon National Championships for Age Group athletes is a big deal.  It only happens once a year and the top 18 in each age group qualify for team USA and get to compete at the world Triathlon championships.  On Saturday is the Olympic distance (just under 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run) race and on Sunday is the Sprint (just under 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.2 mile run) race.  To compete in the Olympic distance you have to win your age group in a local triathlon or finish in the top 10%.  In other words you must earn an invite.  The Sprint distance race is open to anyone. So to attend the Olympic race you must be very good or very lucky.  In my case it was a combination of having a good day and being lucky.  I won my AG at the Littlefoot Triathlon by less than a minute on a cool rainy day last September.  Everything went right for me that day which is how I earned my invite to the National Championships. This is actually my 3rd year in a row to quali