Twilight Twelve K in the Greatland!

Well, it wasn't a stellar performance but it did a great deal for strengthening my resolve to get back into marathon shape. Running the Skinny Raven Sports Twilight 12K last Friday was lots of fun, primarily because my buddy Mark ran (I mean jogged/walked) it with me...thank God he did because I may have taken short cuts along the way! The race was sponsored by the city's premier running store, Skinny Raven. Jerry Ross, the state's top distance runner and Olympic hopeful, was the organizer. Prior to the start of the 12K, a 1-mile running event was held pitting against each other the top high school and college 1600 and 3200 meter runners. Predictably, Trevor Dunbar won in 4:10ish...I featured a blog entry about him a few months ago.

Back to the 12K. Joining Mark and I in the race were my friends Judy Blake and Jim Gamble. Jim has run marathons here and abroad. Judy is an amazing runner who occasionally places in her 55-age group. Judy regularly trains with a group and likes to run trails and half marathons.

The very sunny 12K route began downtown and worked its way to the Government Hill area where there were nice views of downtown and old neighborhoods. I didn't have any trouble running up to this point. From Government Hill the route went back through downtown and on to the Coastal Trail. It was at this point that I felt like I needed to walk more often...boo. It was also now becoming cloudy, cool, and breezy. Mark kept my spirits up with great conversation. The Coastal Trail is Anchorage's running route jewel...beautiful views of Cook Inlet and the mountains beyond. I think the thought of eating

all the furnished pizza I wanted at the finish line keep me motivated from this point on. Approaching the 6 mile route marker, I reminded Mark that I hadn't run more than 6 miles up to this point...I ceremonially stepped past the sign and kept going. By now it was easy to see that Mark and I were probably some of the very last runners left on the route...the other 500+ runners were by now eating all my pizza! As we ran along Westchester Lagoon, up Bootleggers Cove, and approached the finish line on the Delaney Park Strip I couldn't help but wonder why the hell I entered the race. I was not running well, I was tired, cold and hungry as hell. Luckily I had Mark with me to remind me that running with friends is always fun and given my situation, I should be proud that I was out there doing it. How strange it was to enter the finishers shoot and hear Jerry Ross call out Mark and my bib numbers and names while hundreds of runners gathered around the finish line cheered us on...I was embarrassed for my time.

I wanted to go somewhere and hide, but instead I shot over to the pizza boxes only to see that there weren't any pizzas left!!!! However, my wife Marian saved the day. For God knows how long, she saved one slice of pizza for me. Despite it being as cold as my hands and being as stiff as a board, I devoured it...along with one other piece that someone found while picking up the pizza boxes to throw away.

Mark is a special friend and I really appreciate him running the race with me when he could have run it probably at a 8 minute per mile pace, or faster. Mark is training very hard to run the Mayor's Marathon on June 20 and hopefully qualify for Boston. He has come to within a minute of doing so on a number of occasions. I wish him luck on his upcoming marathon and I hope there is enough pizza at the end of the race for him...run fast Mark!

Close encounters of the MOOSE kind!!

What probably lasted only a minute or so, seemed like hours on Friday when Hannah and I had a harrowing encounter with a cow moose (defending her calf) while finishing our 11 mile bicycle ride on Anchorage's Coastal Trail. Here's Hannah's account of the adventure, which she emailed to some of her friends...I'll add my observations afterwards.

Hi ! It's Hannah! How's your summer?

On Friday (the day after school ended ) My dad and I were biking in Kincaid and all of a sudden a mother moose jumped out of the woods and attacked me! She knocked me off my bike and I was knocked on the ground. I was yelling and crying. The bike landed on me sort of. She then started trampling me and kicking my bike. My dad came next to me and chucked his bike at the moose to get her off of me. She ran away finally. my dad helped me up. I wasn't hurt too bad. My leg was cut and bleeding. She kicked my head (good thing I was wearing a bike helmet) so I had a goose egg there. My bike had a huge dent in the metal from her kicking it. the thing that holds the wheels on was broken. We had to walk a mile to the car. We later got a new bike helmet. I'm doing pretty good right now just really sore. I'm lucky I'm alive!

Hannah

From my perspective, it truly is amazing that Hannah did not get seriously injured. A few years ago a University of Alaska Anchorage student was trampled to death by a moose when he attempted to walk between a cow and calf to enter a campus building. This type of incident happens to others, not to me and my family...wrong! I've lived in Anchorage since 1982 and this incident with Hannah is the first of its kind for us.

With only a mile left in our bike ride and approaching the huge hill leading to the Kincaid Chalet where our car was parked, Hannah decided to build up some steam to help get up the hill. Just as she passed me on my left, a cow moose appeared out of nowhere from my right and charged after Hannah. Why it didn't charge after me instead, I'll never know. I yelled to Hannah to look out and just as she stopped to look back at me, the moose hit her, knocked her off her bike, and she and the bike fell off the trail into a low lying area. The moose was over her in an instant and began to trample her, primarily with her front legs. Luckily Hannah was pinned under the bike so it took the blows (for the most part) instead of Hannah. Upon seeing the moose charge after Hannah, I followed the moose as fast as I could peddle. In one sweeping movement I jumped off my bike, picked it up, and using it as a shield, I attacked the moose who by now was standing over Hannah and her bike. Yelling and screaming, I stood over Hannah while attempting to push the moose off Hannah with my bike. It appeared to work because I was able to turn the moose around and get it off Hannah. I yelled to Hannah to get up, which she did after crawling out from under the bike...she hugged my waist hanging on for dear life. What was weird is that when the moose stopped trying to kick us, it just stood there staring at me though the frame of the bike...eye to eye. The moose blinked first and it lumbered back onto the trail, all the while keeping her eye on us. Once on the paved trail, with its ears still laid back, it ran back into the vegetation towards where Hannah said her calf was last seen.

Needless to say, Hannah was terrified but not in shock. She did sustain some bruises on her legs and has a few bumps on her head from where glancing blows landed on her bike helmet. Her bike took all the major damage...so much so that it was not able to be ridden. We walked the final mile back to the car with me pushing both bikes and trying to console Hannah. The walk actually did us some good because we were able to process the event together and we warned others about the "mad moose" that was on the trail. On the way home, we stopped at McD's and used junk food to help us feel better. We also stopped and bought a new bike helmet for Hannah.

It's now two days since the incident and Hannah is doing fine, although she is still sheepish about walking around outside fearing another moose will attack her...understandable. I think the huge BBQ we had yesterday also kept her mind off things. It truly is amazing how fast potentially deadly events can occur. One accurately placed kick from that moose and Hannah could have been history, just like that unfortunate University student. Thank God everything worked out, including me being healthy enough to ward off the moose...my heart was truly tested in many ways. I suspect Hannah's brush with death will affect her in ways still unknown...it sure as hell affected me.

The Crayton-Lilley family adventures continue.

Graduation!

No, it's not high school graduation! It's my graduation from the Providence Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. Thursday, May 14, I finished my 36th (12 weeks) session at the facility and I tell you, it was worth every dime (actually thousands of dollars) Blue Cross/Blue Shield had to pay. I can't begin to tell you how important it was to me to reach my rehabilitation goals which were to gain my weight back, improve my stamina to participate in the Alaska Heart Run, build up some upper body muscle mass, finish the program having run a 10K distance, and overall being "subsistence fit." I accomplished all but the 10K distance...my longest run was 5 miles and not 6.2 miles.

The commitment and patience the staff (Hal, Jennifer, Christine, Marie and others) exhibited was top notch. It was amazing how they were always in a good mood and eager to answer questions. Don't get me wrong, they were tough when they had to be, especially if someone was goofing off too much or distracting others. Every Wednesday there would be a 30 minute presentation before our session covering a wide variety of fitness topics to help make our life more healthy. NOTE: I always seemed to arrive late for the presentations ... must be the semi-retired person coming out in me. A special thank you goes to Hal who provided me encouragement when I was in the ICU and PCU, coached me during my first short walks in the hospital hallways, and supervised my full recovery during the 12 week rehab session. Thanks again!

I lost track of how many folks I met over the 12 weeks. All types of professions were represented: policeman, writer/editor book publisher, nun, retired Air Force officer, real estate agent, tile craftsman, oil field workers, city vehicle maintenance supervisors, and city, state and federal workers. It was most interesting to hear the stories told by the many Anchorage sourdoughs who went through the program. Stories about the Great Alaska Earthquake in 1964, political scandals, hunting expeditions all around the state, fishing adventures, personal tragedies, and stories about how Anchorage use to be before all the development.

This week marks the first week since the January 13 operation that I truly feel like I am on my own, and I welcome it. Now I am totally responsible for keeping up my weight training and cardio work outs and having to schedule sessions around family activities and my part time work at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. My plan for 3-to-4 days a week is to head to my local hole-in-the-wall gym (Polaris Gym) and weight train for an hour. I'll be able to run 4-to-6 miles at noon each day I work at the Corps, which is 3 days a week. I hope to run a long route once a week on the weekend. I don't work on Monday or Friday so I'll use those days for lots of things, like playing golf, maybe some tennis, doing chores, and planning family adventures.

If all goes well, I should be in good shape to seriously start planning my 2010 European Trampathon by summer's end. I'll continue to use this blog site to "tempt" others to join me on my European adventure...hopefully some of you will allow yourself to be tempted!

Sleeping less in Seattle!

Ok, Seattle is not Europe but I was determined to get out of Anchorage and pretend that I was actually living a (semi)retired life. Circumstances were such that I was itching to visit my 24-year-old son Michael who lives in Seattle and a movie of mutual interest was about to premier. Being Trekkers, both Michael and I were pretty excited about the release of a new Star Trek movie. I raised Michael on Star Trek movies and TV episodes (not to mention all the Star Wars stuff too) so it was a no-brainer that we should use the movie’s premier to join forces and experience the new adventures of the new USS Enterprise and its reinvented crew. NOTE: No movie review provided; however, seeing it twice will help you understand more about what happened and why.






My trip lasted 3 nights/4 days and it was certainly was a “sleep less” adventure. Long days lasted to 1, 2 and 3 am! The action-packed trip included a midnight showing of Star Trek at the Seattle Center’s IMAX theater, a second viewing at the Downtown Cinemax Theater, touring Pike Market, bicycle riding, tennis, long walks in the University of Washington Botanical Gardens, watching a movie or two and playing video games on Michael’s entertainment center, playing chess games, mini-golf, hiking in Discovery Park, playing pool, and eating, eating, eating. Throw in a beer or two or three as well. Bluebird weather occurred each day…for me it was almost too hot!

It was a real special treat to have great conversations with my son and to meet and spend time with Michael’s girlfriend Jamie, who is attending Bastyr University and studying to get a BS in Herbal Science. Michael, who is a design engineer with Pathway Medical Technologies, learned earlier in the week that he would be laid-off in July…that put a damper, somewhat over things but Michael is looking forward to the challenge of regrouping and charting a new course for his future. I also had a chance to meet his other housemates who are also attending college…one (Chris) is pre-med, Tommy is in a math doctorate program, and Travis will be attending the Seattle Film Institute this fall. Michael is hoping that they'll all be able to remain roommates when the lease runs out in August and they have to move from their wonderful location.

My Florida buddies Bill and Yianni (John Bob) are planning to run the inaugural Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon in June. I had hoped to scope out the entire course but much of it overlaps with what is the Seattle Marathon course, which I ran in 2003. I think they'll find the course pretty easy, as it avoids most of the large hills east of downtown Seattle and the stretch along Lake Washington will be very refreshing (that is if there isn't a north wind blowing). Sorry Yianni, I couldn't find a good hiding place for the bottle of ouzo...too many homeless folks camped out along the route! Maybe you guys can hoist a brew with Michael while you are back there.

I put together a slide show of my Seattle trip and it is posted in the right column of my blog. Seattle and its surroundings are very photogenic, so it was hard to limit the number of photos I wanted to take. Enjoy the shots and certainly come to the west coast and spend spring time in Seattle. My guess is that you'll sleep less in Seattle like I did.


Live long and prosper!