The Runaround is Going International

Life is funny sometimes. OK. Life maybe funny most times, but in certain situations it may take a little more creativity to see the humor.

A few months ago, I was called into the office of my boss’s boss. He informed me that my department was being reorganized.

Soon to be our first stop.

I have been very fortunate. I have gotten my “dream job” twice. But in this situation, my second dream job was disappearing. I was offered what he referred to as an equivalent position, but it was clearly a gigantic step back in my career. It was also clear to me that it was time to say goodbye to the University of Denver. I really wasn’t bitter. It was more like some relationships earlier in my life in which we both looked at each other, shrugged and wished each other good luck (yes, that actually happened).

Realistically, I had been contemplating the answer to a simple question for quite some time: Now that I’ve worked my dream job, what’s next?

I want to be clear. I am not asking for sympathy. Far from it. I look back at the past 15 years and know that I have had some amazing opportunities, and I have worked with a lot of extraordinary people – from athletes to coaches to the extremely talented and hard-working front office/administrative-types that never get the recognition that they deserve.

But nobody likes receiving the news that he is being forced out of his job. 

Not long after my girlfriend, Fran, received similar news.

When I’ve mentioned these facts in everyday conversation, almost everyone has given me a sad, sympathetic, hangdog look. You know the one.

But here’s the thing: I am also extremely fortunate to be with Fran because, simply put, we have very similar outlooks on life.

Shortly after the initial shock, we both looked at each other and realized that we had an amazing opportunity – one that nobody ever seems to have. We are relatively young and don’t have kids or pets, and now we don’t have jobs setting our schedules and controlling our decisions.

It’s especially strange for me. Since April 1, 1999, I have worked in sports. That means for the past 15 years I have not been able to make a single commitment without first checking at least one team’s schedule of games, practices and outside commitments. I have missed weddings, birthday parties and countless other occasions that I would have loved to attend because I had to work a baseball game. Or soccer game. Or basketball game. Or any number of other things.

I’m not knocking the teams at all. I have loved working with the players, coaches and support staffs enough that it made these sacrifices a little easier. However, they were still sacrifices.

So, for the first time since college, I don’t have to worry about games or road trips or team appearances.

Coincidence that Fran's a redhead, too?

That brings me back to one of the many reasons why I’m lucky to be with Fran.

When all of this went down, we looked at each other. And we smiled. I think we both knew at the same time that we shouldn’t wallow in depression. We both knew that we were talented and experienced in our respective fields, and we both had MBAs from top business schools (some might even claim that her school is the best in the world).

There was little debate that we had to take advantage of the situation.

That is why I’m happy to announce that the Runaround is going international. Then domestic again. And then international again.

Fran and I are going to use this opportunity to learn more about the world and more about ourselves. We are going to check things off our bucket lists, and hopefully we are going to try to help some people along the way. We know we are going to help ourselves, because there is nothing that teaches us more and gives us more wisdom than learning how other cultures live.

If you are wondering, we are starting in Peru and Ecuador (departing Denver on May 22) before we return for a month in the Eastern United States. From there, we’ll head to Europe, where I never took the seemingly requisite backpacking trip around Europe right after college.

I don’t know what the future holds for either of us when we return in September, and in many ways (and on many days when we’re not preoccupied with the absolute euphoria of thinking about our trips) it’s a terrifying prospect.

Deep down, both of us know that this is an opportunity that we cannot ignore. A few years ago, I had the great pleasure of chronicling my short time in Egypt. I loved it, and I’m looking forward to doing the same on this trip.

So please feel free to follow us through our adventures and pass the link to the Runaround (http://mikekennedy5280.blogspot.com/) to anyone you think might enjoy it.

Above all, if you’ve got suggestions on where we should go (I know that’s a loaded question) during our journey, please put them in the comment section or shoot me an email.

Remembering Will Hancock and the Oklahoma State Ten

On January 26, 2001, I exchanged text messages with my friend Will Hancock. He was the sports information director for Oklahoma State’s basketball team, which was in Boulder for a game with the Buffs.

I’d known Will for years. He was one of my brother’s closest friends at Shawnee Mission East High School in suburban Kansas City and at the University of Kansas.

My brother Dave is seven years older than me. Sometimes, he and his friends needed an extra body for pickup football, softball or basketball. Nobody really wanted the smartass, punk, little brother to join in. Most were civil, but I was pretty clearly intruding.

The one exception to that was Will. He always greeted me with a smile and made sure I was part of the game, whether it was throwing the occasional pass my or convincing his team I should play quarterback for a few downs.

As time went on, I grew closer with my brother, and his friends became more accepting to me joining them for a baseball game or poker night. To be fair, I probably also grew up a little and stopped being the unbearable, little pest that used to ruin their football games.

At one of those baseball games at Royals Stadium, around 1991 when I was still in high school, Dave pointed to the press box and said Will was working up there. He was an intern for the Kansas City Royals public relations department for the summer. Damn, I thought, how cool was that.

Without realizing it, my career path was set in motion. Sure, the seeds were sown earlier, when I grew up living behind Neil Funk, then the radio voice of the Kansas City Kings. I was kind of destined to end up in sports.

But when I heard Will was working for the Royals, I realized that people actually did spend their days working with teams. And they got paid for it (albeit, not always very much).

By 2001, I was about to enter my third season in Major League Baseball, running the website of the Colorado Rockies. I like baseball a lot, but I love college basketball. Again, I was jealous of Will.

We talked about meeting up in Boulder. I wanted to hear about the Cowboys’ season and about his three-month old daughter, Andie. But I was going to have trouble getting out of work early and his schedule was tight. We were both planning to go to Indianapolis that April for the Final Four – Will was working it, I was heading in to watch.

We agreed to meet up for dinner or at least a beer. It was set, and we left it at that.

The next morning I woke to news that a small plane carrying 10 members of the Oklahoma State travel party crashed in a field just east of Denver.

There were no survivors.

When the phone rang a few minutes later, I knew what I was going to hear. It was my dad, who told me that he wanted me to hear it from him before I saw the news.

Will was on the plane.

I would never claim that I was close with Will. He was certainly closer to both of my brothers that he was to me.

But Will made a lasting impact on me. Five years later, I accepting a job as the sports information director for men’s basketball at the University of Denver, the same position that Will held at Oklahoma State.

And yesterday, as I have done each of the last 13 years on January 27 – not to mention many other days in between – I thought a lot about Will. I can still picture that welcoming smile with bright red cheeks, and I can still hear his laugh.

There were 10 men on that flight, and I certainly do not want to discount the impact that each of the other nine had on their friends and family. But I can’t speak to that.

What I can speak to is that Will Hancock had a profound impact on me, and I’m proud to know that my nephew, Dave’s son, shares his first name. 

For those interested in learning more about Will Hancock, Nate Fleming, Daniel Lawsom, Brian Luinstra, Pat Noyes, Bill Teegins, Jared Weiberg, Kendall Durfey, Bjorn Fahlstrom and Denver Mills, I recommend the following:

• Will’s father, Bill Hancock, who ran the NCAA Tournament for many years before taking over the BCS, wrote a beautiful yet heart-wrenching book called Riding with the Blue Moth. It’s out of print, but there are used copies available on Amazon. It’s the story of Bill’s bicycle ride across America, as he learned to cope with the death of his son.
• ESPN's Outside the Lines looked back on the tragedy on the 10th anniversary of the crash in 2011.
• Doug Gottlieb, who played for the Cowboys the year before the crash, wrote a nice tribute to all the victims while working for ESPN.
• Grant Wahl, who ran cross country and track at Shawnee Mission East the year after Will finished running there, fought back emotions and penned a column just a few short days after the crash for Sports Illustrated. 
• The Oklahoman did a video last year that’s worth 19 minutes of your time.

Who Doesn't Like Running on a Sheet of Ice in 12 Degrees?

For the past 7-8 Thanksgivings, I’ve woken up and headed to Washington Park in Denver for the annual Turkey Trot. It’s a fun four-mile run that makes most of us running feel just a little better about gouging ourselves at the dinner table a few hours later.

The north end of the race course a few days after Thanksgiving.

This year, though, I was heading to the Great Alaska Shootout with the University of Denver basketball team.

It’s hard to complain too much about going on a trip to watch three basketball games, but I was a little sad that my streak would end and that I wouldn’t get to meet up with friends before and after the race.

However, I quickly discovered that I wouldn’t have to miss out on Turkey Trotting entirely.

The Skinny Turkey Trot 5K in Anchorage was literally around the corner from my hotel, so I figured I would give it a shot.

What could possibly be the downside? I found out the moment our plane touched down on the runway.

Surprisingly, snow wasn’t expected while we were there, but the wheels touched down onto several inches, and the wind was howling.

Thirty-six hours later, I stepped outside the hotel to a crisp 12 degrees. Fortunately, my Brooks pants and Mizuno jacket did their jobs, along with a hat and gloves, and all 1,500 people at the starting line seemed to be moving just a little closer together than usual, trying to steal some body heat from everyone around them.

The streets were solid ice as we started the first of two loops. One man was taking a few steps at a time before sliding a good 5-6 feet, which seemed a bit strange but I try not to critique other people’s running form.

Although the race didn't get quite this close to the
Cook Inlet, we could see the ice floating in the water
during the race. This picture was taken a few days
later when I went out for a run at dusk around 4 p.m.

Most people were wearing Yaktrax or had studs in their shoes for added traction. Why I didn’t think to bring mine along is probably worth asking, unless you know me and the number of questionable, if not moronic, moves I make on a daily basis.

The street on the backstretch was snow-packed, but I remained hesitant to push it too much, fearing the images inside my head of seeing the inside of my head after it hit the ice.

Instead I relied on a shortened stride and allowed myself to take in the surroundings. On one side, I could see out to the partially frozen over Cook Inlet, while the Chugach Mountains appeared to be towering just a few miles ahead of us as we ran back the other way. Closer in, the snow covering Delaney Park appeared like a blank sheet, as though no one wanted to disturb it by walking on it. The trees all along the route were iced over and sparkling in sun that was finally peaking over the mountains when the race started at 11 a.m.

Because I had to get to the basketball team’s practice, I didn’t have time to hang around after the race, although I can’t really say I would have stuck around in the bitter cold anyway.

I would have liked to at least thanked the race organizers from Skinny Raven Running Store.

In a place like Anchorage, I wouldn’t blame anybody for spending the entire winter indoors, but Skinny Raven at least gives people the option to head out for some exercise, and based on the number of people I saw smiling (roughly 1,500 of them), I wasn’t the only one who was happy to spend part of my Thanksgiving out there.

This was the view of downtown Anchorage from my hotel just a few hours
after the race. Every street was a sheet of ice.

Voodoo, Strip Clubs & Poligrip: The Portland Marathon

Sometimes I choose races simply because I have friends going. And, if I’m lucky, those races also happen to be in great cities.

The Portland Marathon was one of those races. My good friend Jim Lynch, who moved to Maui a few years ago (if you’re a runner, you should definitely check out his blog and forthcoming book), told a few of us that if we signed up for the Portland Marathon, then he would fly in to join us. So, while watching the NCAA title game in March, a handful of us signed up. Over time, more and more people decided to join us until we ended up with a decent size group (15-20) heading to Oregon this October.

Jim, Jay (not pictured) and I decided that
we needed to carboload at Voodoo Donuts.

I haven’t been to Portland often, but I have enjoyed each of my visits. And this trip simply solidified what I had discovered previously: Portland is a charmingly weird city.

I knew things were going to work out fine right after my arrival. I got in an airport shuttle with only one other passenger. We started talking, and she said she was from Lawrence, Kansas. Never one to hide my allegiance to my alma mater, I told her I was a KU grad. As it turned out, she was a team psychologist for KU basketball, so we spent the entire drive to downtown discussing hoops. I’ve got to admit, while I know there are Jayhawks everywhere, I didn’t expect to run into them during this trip.

I checked into the hotel on Friday afternoon before the race on Sunday morning, so Jim and Jay Coon were the only ones around.

The three of us headed to Deschutes Brewery for dinner, and while we looked over the menu the waitress stopped by to impart us with the following local wisdom.

Jay: We aren’t from here. What’s good?

Waitress: Strip clubs. There’s this one called Mary’s, and it’s right next to a Mexican restaurant, which is great in case you get hungry.

Me: I think he was asking about the menu.

Waitress: Oh that. I don’t now how many times I can get fired tonight.

Immediately, we knew we were going to like Portland (and for the record, no, it had nothing to do with strip clubs next to Mexican restaurants).

The next time she stopped by the table, we had this conversation:

Waitress: There are a lot of life lessons when you live with seven chickens.

Me, Jay and Jim: (Blank stares).  

Ah, good times.

Earlier in the day, Jim had a crown come out. We were rooming together, so it was officially the first time I shared a hotel room with someone I knew was actively wearing Poligrip. At least someone I didn’t refer to with some sort of variation on grandma or grandpa.

The problem really came that night, when the Poligrip lost its poligrip, and Jim swallowed his crown.

None of us are at all immature, so it definitely did not lead to us to suggest he use a strainer to find it later and then pop it back in his mouth.

That never came up. Not once.

Concerned, however, we sent a note to our friend Dr. Dave Longcope, a fellow runner who also happens to have been on the cover of 5280’s Top Doc magazine a few months ago. Dave is a colon and rectal surgeon, so we knew he was an expert in, ahem, certain regions of the body. We texted him to ask if Jim was at any risk during the marathon after swallowing his crown.

Dr. Longcope: He should be fine. As long as it’s not the kind of crown you wear on your head.

The hotel seemed to be looking out for us, too. If there was an emergency in which Jim needed to retrieve the crown, the Marriott had left a plunger in the bathroom with a note reading, “Sanitized for your convenience.” Some might think that needing a plunger would completely eliminate the chances of “convenience,” but that’s for another blog.

Who doesn't take their toys hiking?

I met up with my old high school friend Steve Meyer and his two sons for a trip out to Multnomah Falls, in the Columbia River Gorge just 30 miles outside of Portland. I hadn’t seen Steve in several years, and he just happened to move to Portland two weeks earlier, so the timing was just about perfect.

As if trying to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Portland is weird, two guys passed us on the short hike up to the falls. Both were guiding remote controlled cars as they walked up the path. Steve looked at me and asked, “Did I really just see that?” I suggested we just ignore it and keep walking.

That night, a group of about 11 of us headed to a small Italian joint to carb up. One of the great parts of these races is spending time with good friends while also getting to know some other people a little bit better.

I belong to a running group with about 300 people at any given time with some new one joining and others leaving. The bottom line is it’s tough to know everyone, but dinners like this and breakfasts after long training runs allow us to talk to some people we don’t actually run with.

I’ve said this before and can’t emphasize it enough. I don’t care how fast or slow someone runs. There’s just some sort of bond between people who are willing to show up at the starting line of a race.

The secret to running 96 marathons is obviously
making sure your running clothes are ironed.

On Sunday morning, Jim looked at me and said, “I only have to do this early morning crap four more times.” This was Jim’s 96^th marathon, and he is convinced that No. 100 will be his last. That could be, but I know he won’t give up running entirely, and I know that half marathons and 10Ks start at the crack of dawn (or before), too.

We walked from the hotel to the starting line in the dark. It’s a little strange every time. At these moments, you’re walking through streets that are normally bustling. But before a marathon, there are rarely cars. It’s just streams of people walking in the same direction. And that direction usually ends at long lines in front of port-a-potties.

It seems to have become my M.O., but I entered this race after struggling with calf problems. Actually, I finally went to have my calf looked at. Another benefit of a large running group is that I have befriended some amazing doctors.

My friend Dr. John Hill worked his magic with an ultrasound and declared that I had absolutely nothing wrong with my calf, even though the upper outside of it seemed to be tied in countless knots. Then he scanned down and around the Achilles until he saw something. “Have you ever had ankle problems?” he asked. I told him I broke it on a trampoline when I was 10 years old, and it did not heal correctly. Apparently, the inside of my ankle was causing all of the pain in my calf. I’m so glad I know great doctors, who can explain things like that to me. I’m even more thankful that Dr. Hill gave me some physical therapy and suggested I get some active release technique chiropractic work from Dr. Michelle Clark, who also runs with us.

I don’t really understand how my inner ankle could cause fairly severe pain in my upper outer calf. And I don’t really understand how ART treatments work, but they got me back on my feet. Of course, I wasn’t really trained for the Portland Marathon, but at least I had a clean bill of health.

Posing while standing in line for the port-a-potties
is what runners call multi-tasking.

Normally, I enjoy meeting and talking to people during marathons, but for some reason I felt like keeping to myself and letting my mind wander during Portland. There were a few miles I saw some friends and ran with them for a mile or two, but for the most part, I let the race happen.

I hadn’t really focused on a time goal, which became a problem as I past the sign for Mile 24. I realized that I was in striking distance of four hours. There’s nothing terribly significant about that particular time – it’s nowhere close to a Boston qualifier, or even my PR – but for some reason at that particular moment, I knew I had to go for it.That's what runners do. We sometimes make up arbitrary goals at the spur of the moment and decide we have to achieve those goals immediately.

The problem was I had been averaging a little over nine-minute miles for 24 miles, and I had to run the final two about a minute per mile faster than that. That may not sound like much, but when you’re that far into a race and every part of your body just wants to be finished, the pain is amplified and doubt starts screaming in your head. In other words, it’s really hard to speed up that late in a marathon.

I did it anyway, willing the contents of my stomach (mostly Gatorade and energy gels) to stay where they were. My body suffered right after the race, and I could not bear to eat or drink much as volunteers attempted to hand me the post-race food. I downed some chocolate milk (the best recovery drink out there) and staggered to find my friends in the meeting area.

With just a few hours before our flights home, we couldn’t hang out very long. But the weekend was pretty ideal, thanks to great company.

And a charmingly weird city.

What Blue Jeans, Pro Wrestling and Toilet Paper Have in Common

For years now, I’ve been careful about what I post online – on my blog, on Facebook, on Twitter.

I’ve been conservative, fearing that my mother might read something, and then I’d get a phone call explaining to me in a stern tone that her friends think I’m some sort of lout (which I probably am, but don’t tell them that). Or that my current or future employers would read anything controversial and run the other way, leaving me to wonder why I was jobless and unhireable.

Screw it.

Life’s too short to be worried about what other people think.

And with the government shut down, it seems like the right time to close down my filter, too.

So, here goes. I’m finally going to admit that there are things in life that I just don’t understand.

1.     Why is it considered embarrassing to have toilet paper stuck to your shoe? I really don’t get it. Are all of us concerned that people will find out we occasionally use a restroom? For that matter, why is toilet paper funny? Seriously, most of us become 10 year olds when the subject is brought up. In high school, I ran for student body vice president, and I held up a square of toilet paper. It brought the house down. Nobody could even hear what I was saying at that point, but people still bring it up. Granted, the toilet paper at my high school was made of wax paper. So, yeah, it is pretty funny.

2.     What’s with the stigma over jeans? I see things all the time that say something like, “Dress appropriately. No jeans, please.” I’ll admit it right now. Most of my jeans are nicer than any khakis I own. I’m not suggesting that we all replace business suits with blue jeans, but I sure as hell think a nice pair of jeans looks better than the ratty cargo pants that your coworker down the hall is wearing.

3.     Why do people write “All of a sudden,” but they say either “All the sudden” or “All of the sudden”? People have argued this with me nearly endlessly. And every time I have later caught them doing it. You know what’s really weird about it? Nobody even questions the fact that this phrase is the only place you will ever see “sudden” used as a noun.

4.     There has never been a player who was unanimously voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some sportswriters actually pride themselves on the fact that they won’t vote for players on the first ballot. That simply makes no sense. I worked in professional baseball for eight seasons. I understand people not voting for players who used steroids (although anyone in the game who claims not to have known it was going on long before the BALCO investigation is either lying or clueless – it was common subject matter in the press box long before the reports came out). But anyone who watched Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson at least a couple of times and doesn’t think they belong in the Hall should immediately have his press credentials pulled, because he knows nothing about baseball. Speaking of the Hall of Fame, it’s an absolute travesty that Buck O’Neil has never been inducted. I know he’s got a statue there and a lifetime achievement award named after him, but he’s still not a Hall of Famer. And the National Baseball Hall of Fame has zero credibility because of it.

Nobody gets out of the camel clutch,
but I have a feeling that Hulk Hogan "won" this bout.

5.     I know professional wrestling is fake. I kind of wish it wasn’t. This fact may not seem to fit in. But, frankly, I don’t understand why I wish that. I don’t even watch wrestling (but I do happily follow the Iron Sheik on Twitter, even though he's ridiculously inappropriate - and hilarious).

6.     Why did my mother used to tell me that I had to finish my dinner plate because “there are children starving in China (or Africa or wherever)”? When I was eight years old, I finally looked up at her and suggested that it might be more helpful if we mailed them the food than me eating it. It never did seem like the asparagus on my plate in Kansas was going to do those poor children any good whether I ate it or not.

7.     Why do we all feel pressure to make lists with either three or 10 entries? I think seven sounds like a much nicer number, even if there are a lot more things in life that I don’t understand.

What did I miss? While the filter is still off, let me know what you think.

2013 Salmon Runs Marathon

We knew this was a different kind of race when Jay Coon, Michelle Wolcott and I signed up and started making plans to travel to Cordova, Alaska.

Although the clouds and rain were blocking much of the view
during the race (thankfully, since it kept the heat and bugs away),
this is part of the racecourse.

It sounded beautiful. It sounded tiny. And it sounded like nothing any of us had done previously. In a word, it sounded weird. We couldn’t wait.

I had never really considered carrying a camera with me during a marathon, but this time I founded the lightest one I could find on Amazon – a decision that probably cost us 30 minutes of race time, but a decision that none of us regretted.

I knew that I didn’t really care about my time in the race, and Michelle – in her first marathon since having two kids – said she only wanted to enjoy it.

We knew Jay was on board, too, when we were walking through Anchorage on Friday morning and he said, “The marathon is on Sunday, right?”

Quickly, we broke the news that it was on Saturday. He shrugged, knowing it wasn’t really a problem.

That afternoon, we hopped on a flight from Anchorage to Cordova, and it proved to be one of the most scenic flights I’ve ever been on. The ocean was on one side of the plane, while jagged mountains and glaciers were on the other.

Jay walked into the “diner” across the street from the Mudhole Smith Airport and asked if there was a shuttle to town. The woman said we had just missed it, but she would drive us.

“Diner” is in quotes because there was a closed sign out front. We asked Becky, the woman driving us, when it was open, and she said, “October, when all the tourists leave.”

We questioned the logic, but she explained, “The only reason we open it at all is to keep the liquor license. You don’t want to take these things too seriously, you know.” We smiled and nodded because that’s what you do when someone ends a statement with, “You know.” Even if you don’t know.

The road to town, which is also the second half of the racecourse, is unbelievable. There were bald eagles soaring above the wetlands with mountains towering all around and glaciers sneaking their way through the valleys between.

Becky agreed that the area was beautiful, although her phrasing was much more poetic than I could ever be: “It’s a great setting with a shithole of a town.” Again, we smiled and nodded, only this time there was more puzzlement on our faces.

In most regards, Becky was probably right. Cordova is a town that time forgot. There is no road connecting it with any other town or highway, and not many tourists make it here.

The ones that do, however, are treated exceptionally well. The locals are welcoming and seem genuinely happy to welcome visitors to town.

That’s not to say that everyone was bending over backwards to help.

During dinner at Ambrosia – both the best and only Italian joint in town – I asked the waitress whether she would recommend the lasagna or the chicken parmesan. She stared at me, mouth gaping, for what seemed like minutes, leading me to believe that neither choice was particularly good. Finally, she said, “They’re both good. The lasagna is good.” I agreed to it quickly, making sure I added an Alaska Amber Ale in case the food needed a chaser.

A few minutes after we ordered, a young guy came in and sat down at a nearby table. Once we figured out that he was a runner in town by himself, we invited him to join us.

His name is Greg, and he traveled in from Juneau that morning. He was nice and engaging, and we fully expected him to whoop up on us in the race (he ran a 3:05 and 3:03 in his only other two marathons, both on a hilly course in Juneau, but a nagging injury would slow him down to about 3:30 and fourth place).

It didn’t take too long before I decided I liked the guy, especially when he said, “You guys seem like fun people to hang out with. Jay, you would really like this running club we have in Juneau. They call themselves the Smokin’, Old Geezers.”

I’m pretty sure he realized just how insulting that might have come across and tried to cover it up. Jay – an Ironman finisher just three weeks before – took it in stride, while Michelle and I enjoyed every second of it.

The bridge just past the starting line.

On the morning of the race, we met at the finish area – the parking lot of the Cordova Medical Center, which also bordered a park. It was drizzling rain, so we headed to a gazebo for shelter.

There was a tent set up, and a woman explained that she and her daughter had driven from Minnesota with her four other children. They dropped off the rest of the family in Anchorage and then caught a ferry to Cordova. Unfortunately, they hadn’t arranged lodging, so they slept in the park.

Of course, it was strange, but in a race like this, nothing really surprised me.

The Michelob Ultra team from St. Louis decided to make the trek to Cordova, increasing the field from about 29 to 41 and making it the biggest race the town has ever seen.

All of us gathered around as Kristin Carpenter, the race director, who gave us some final instructions, which may or may not have included what to do if we encountered moose or bears on the course.

Sheridan Glacier.

We hopped into five vans and headed 26.2 miles down the road. Clouds and fog came with the rain, creating an almost mythical haze in the early morning light. When our van stopped, we looked around and saw nothing but a few trees, and nearly everybody headed toward them for one last pit stop before the race.

In a race this small, the start time is a little flexible. We waited at the cone and balloon that marked the starting line, as one runner finished up his business and hurried over.

After the starter said, “Go” – which really was awesomely how the race started, with not so much as a megaphone, I might add – we headed over a bridge and could barely see the water below through the mist.

Michelle, Jay and I had decided that we were going to run the race together, since nobody was worried about time goals.

We started over a gravel-filled dirt road through a forest, over rivers and next to mountains that flirted through the fog.

Michelle took advantage of the first aid station.

We were told that there would be two “aid stations” in the first half of the race, which meant there was a water bottle, Powerade bottle and a few cups sitting on the side of the road. They were there, and they were very much appreciated, as we filled our cups.

About 10 miles in, we looked over and had a great view of Sheridan Glacier snaking through the mountains to our right, and the wetlands provided a peaceful backdrop as our footsteps provided the only soundtrack to that part of the race.

To Michelle’s great relief and the secret disappointment of Jay and me, we saw no wild animals along the course, aside from a few bald eagles and some insane humans who thought running 26.2 miles was somehow fun (yes, that included us).

Although the road was in good shape, the dirt and gravel beat up my legs, and I was already feeling pain by the 16-mile point, when dirt turned to asphalt for the final 10 miles.

We passed the Mudhole Smith Airport. It was just the three of us, which is how it had been for the previous 10 miles or so. This is not a marathon for those that want the crowds of the New York Marathon.

Michelle and Jay just before the halfway point.

However, I will say that the fan on the course was great. He was part of Cordova’s radio club, so he was relaying information on runners’ progress back to the starting line. I asked if maybe he should be cheering for the few runners out there. He opted instead to conduct his radio duties. We thanked him for being out there anyway.

Both Michelle and I were having back issues during the race. Hers were probably related to the two kids she had within the last three years or so. Mine were due to an obvious lack of core training and general wussiness.

I took periodic walk breaks, which are a lot more enjoyable when you’re circling Eyak Lake, easily the most scenic view I’ve ever had during a race with multiple shades of blue water beneath jagged mountains.

The final few miles were tough for both of us, but Jay helped pull us both to the end.

Me, Michelle and Jay still smiling just after our finish.

We ascended the only real hill on the course and passed the town’s graveyard on our left, and finally I spotted the medical center on the other side of a pond.

We circled back around and ran past a dozen or so large salmon cutouts until we crossed the finish line.

It was not even close to any of our fastest times, but we got some great pictures and thoroughly enjoyed the run.

Certainly, it was like none we had ever had before. And it was well worth the experience.

Notes: I can't recommend this race enough, as long as you go in expecting a small, unique experience.

We stayed at the Cordova Rose, a quirky bed and breakfast just down the road from the finish line. We stayed in the Gear Shed, which provided us each with a room/bathroom, and there was a living room that we shared. You aren't going to get a Four Seasons in Cordova, but we enjoyed our stay, and the included breakfast each morning was good.

The Prince William Sound is full of sea otters and seals, which we saw while sea kayaking the next day with Orca Adventure Lodge. Our guide Chris was young, but knowledgeable about the area. The lodge itself seemed slightly more upscale than most of the other places in town, and they offered a lot of tours and general adventure options. It's worth a look if you don't mind staying a few miles away from town.

After the marathon, go straight to Baja Taco for a fish taco and milkshake. In fact, do it even if you don't run the race. You can thank me later.

Regardless of how tired you are, make a point to head out to Sheridan Glacier a day or two after the race. The hike is only about a mile each way, and you can walk onto the glacier itself. It's beautiful, and it's an experience most of us don't get to enjoy often, if ever. 

There is a Salmon Jam concert in conjunction with the postrace dinner at the ski area just above town. The salmon was good, the Alaska brew was flowing, and the conversations with fellow runners and townspeople were enjoyable. Well, except maybe the uncomfortable moment when someone asked a local retired nurse whether people trusted the medical center in case of emergencies.

Denver's New Exercise Laws

On most Saturday mornings, like today, I get together with friends and go for a long run somewhere around Denver, followed by breakfast.

Like a lot of people, I started running when challenges in my life reached a point in which I needed an outlet. I found that outlet in running, in large part because I met so many great people.

Running is therapy. Sometimes we listen to each other’s problems. Sometimes we tell stories and jokes just to make each other laugh. Sometimes we just run and let the rhythmic footfalls blend with the nature around us.

Regardless, I always know that Saturday mornings are going to be a comfort place for me, a place where things seem right in the world.

That’s why I was so troubled when I read articles in the New York Times, Denver Post and Westword about a new ordinance in Denver, prohibiting group exercise in parks.

Seriously, I wish I was kidding.

As the New York Times pointed out – and yes, that is THE New York Times, complete with all the news that’s fit to print – Denver is one of the healthiest cities in a country that desperately needs healthier cities.

In this town, you can leave your house without seeing at least one person running and another on a bicycle.

Now we’re coming up with laws that discourage people from exercising? Are you kidding me?

Keep in mind, this is a state that legalized marijuana. We pride ourselves on being forward thinking and creating laws based more in rational thinking than convention (Couldn’t society benefit from getting tax dollars from legalized marijuana? And do we really want our tax dollars going to enforcement and incarceration for something that seems to primarily make people lazy and hungry?)

The argument that I’m seeing is that these laws are not intended for people who are meeting a few friends for a run, a workout or a game of kickball. It’s directed toward the people are profiting from these exercise groups. In other words, an entrepreneur might start a boot camp or a fitness class or a running club, and they might meet up in a public park (side note: I wonder how enforcement would differentiate between a paid group and a large group of friends who met up without money changing hands.)

Why would they meet there? Because there are 300 days of sunshine in this city, and most of us like spending time outside.

Are these entrepreneurs benefiting from the use of free space in our parks? There’s no question.

Jeff Green, a spokesman for Denver Parks and Rec, told the Times that these groups need a permit.

On the surface, maybe it makes sense.

But then I thought about it. All of us pay tax dollars, and our tax dollars go toward the parks. If we decide to pay for fitness classes that meet in a park, should we be required to pay again to use that park? You can claim that the cost is coming from the business owner, but anyone who has taken basic business classes (or thinks for more than 1.2 seconds) knows that it ultimately comes from customers.

I was discussing this with someone the other day, and he said, “Are you saying that the Denver Marathon should not need a permit to run through the park?”

My answer is that I’m not saying that at all, because there is a huge difference. A race course requires streets and paths to be shut down, meaning nobody else can use them.

A fitness group using the park means only that the park is a little more crowded than it would be otherwise.

Pizza delivery drivers make the streets more crowded, but does anyone think that the pizzerias should need an additional permit because they’re benefiting from roads paid by tax dollars?

I pay taxes. It’s not my favorite thing to do, but I know that it’s necessary and that I’m ultimately going to benefit in many ways – from maintained roads to police/firefighters protecting us from danger to schools for future generations.

One of my favorite benefits is the amazing parks and trails systems that we have in Denver.

Why does that benefit end if I’m in a group?