The Midnight Mayor's Sun Experience

After we arrived in Anchorage on Thursday night, 6 of us got the bright idea to go white water rafting in the Matanuska Valley. After a great night's sleep, we woke up early Friday morning and headed north. Here we are all suited up and ready to go. We figured "Hey what could possibly be wrong with a nice relaxing boat ride down the river before race day." We hooked up with an outfitter called Nova Adventures. They were great I highly recommend them.

What a great ride it was! We rafted for couple of hours. It was amazing how dry we remaimed. Those semi-dry suits barely let a drop through. It was a good thing too because that water was super cold. All the suits, boots, and gloves were provided by Nova. While we were rafting, we say about 5 Moose. We didn't see any bears. We did see a large lion though - well, it was actually a huge rock that looked like a lion's head.

Pete, Mike, Brian, Dave, Amy, and Marathon Joe

Here we are all back safe and sound. Cleaned up and ready for dinner. The Team in Training Organization had a spagetti dinner for all of the runner's on Friday night before the race. It was overwhelming to see how many people were running this race from TNT. This picture shows just the Chicago chapter of TNT. There were over 4000 runners altogether. We are all exited because the race is less than a half day away.

And here I am crossing the finish line. I wasn't nearly as tired as I thought I would be. I was pretty sore though. I had a very sore IT band on my left leg. Ouch. You can see the course promoters did an exellent job at the finish line. There were lots of cheering fans

Race day is finally here. All those months of training and I am finally running the course. I am not sure what mile I am at here in this picture. Every inch of the race was beautiful. We started on a narrow bike path, went over a mountain, and ended up back in Anchorage.

Marathon Joe and Dave have a toast of some fine Bono Family Winery wine after the race is over. We are both happy that we made it, and proud to have been a part in this fund raising event for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America.  Go Team!