3 hours 49 minutes 53 seconds
The day was perfectly overcast and the course followed a great route through Anchorage -- part bike trail, part hiking trail, part urban enviornment, part mountain environment. As I passed within a stone's throw from my house, I thought, "wow, I do live in a cool place."
Now I'm qualified for the Crow Pass race. A 24-mile mountain race I've had my sights set on for a while. One of the "qualifiers" for the Crow Pass race is to have run a marathon in four hours or less -- bodaboom, bodabang! That will be next summer. In the meantime, I turn my attention to the Matanuska Peak Challenge -- a 14-mile ascent and descent of two mountains that covers 9,000 feet of elevation gain and loss. Yousers! Just finishing that one will be an accomplishment.