The day after our return from Fairbanks, I was pooped.  I rested most of the day.

On the Fourth, the four of us set out for Seward.  Our mission?  We wanted to join the crowd of 40,000 other people cheering participants in the 81st annual Fourth of July Mt. Marathon Foot Race.  When we were here in 1997, the four of us, along with Mary Jane and Howard, watched the unbelievable race.  We wanted to watch it all again. 

 

 

 

 

Approximately 350 men, 350 women, and 200 children signed up.  The kids ran at 9:45.  The women at 11:00 and the men at 1:00.  The race which had started in 1908 as a bar bet that a man could run up what was then called Mt. Isabelle (total of 3.1 miles up and back) and back down in under 1 hour became an organized race in 1915 and has been run every year since. 

The kids had run and the women had started and we were waiting for the last of them to come in and the men to start.  From our lawn chairs along the street, we could see some of the trail the racer took to the top of the mountain, but some of it was hidden by trees, shrubs, and the very top was obscured by clouds.  The participants were moving dots of red, yellow and white.  Suddenly, into an large clearing we saw a bear wander out, walk across the clearing and path, and then disappear into trees on the other side.  The crowd went wild hollering for everyone to look at the bear. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a picture taken from my seat on the street.  You can see a few racers going up the side of the mountain.  The gray swath at the top right is the open area where the bear crossed.  I couldn’t get a picture of the bear.  I did, however, get a picture of Smokey during the parade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luckily, the bear on the mountain path minded his own business and no one was hurt, at least not by the bear.  However, the climb up Mt. Marathon is straight up and straight down over rocks, mud, cliffs, waterfalls, and briar bushes.  Many of the racers were muddy and bloody when they reached the finishline.  We had a great day.

Winners:  Junior Boys-Austin Gillespie (9)–Junior Girls-Allison Barnwell (16)

               Women-Cedar Bourgeois–Men-Trond Flagstad

We ate dinner at a nice Greek/Italian restaurant and then went back to Cooper’s Landing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, that isn’t any of us.  It’s just a picture of a boat passing where our motor home was parked on the Kenai River.  Notice the turquoise water.

Until later, Dolores and Richard