I live in Anchorage, so I was really excited to run leg #2 of the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon Relay this summer! Packet pickup happened at the Alaska Airlines center and was a pretty big expo by Alaska standards. We were able to quickly pick up our bibs and timing chip and were told our shirts would be waiting for us at the finish line. There was a volunteer there with a giant race map that was explaining the course to people, and that's when I learned that my section was going to be 8 miles of hilly trails. Visitors were nervously asking about bear spray, but you definitely won't need it during a race with this many people (although make sure to watch out for moose!).

On race day we easily parked at the start and sent off our first runner. The course had some viewpoints marked where we could go cheer for our runner, but we decided to head straight for the exchange point to save time. Once my runner came up I strapped the timing chip onto my arm and headed off! Leg #2 was very hilly and took place on tank trails in the woods near the base as well as some single track trails near the halfway point of the marathon, although the other 3 legs were on paved surfaces. I met lots of marathon runners from all over the US and it was really fun hearing people's stories and how they ended up coming to Alaska. After about a mile I realized that my GPS and the mlle markers were different. It turned out that my leg was actually 8.8 miles, which is a lot of extra distance! At the finish I ran in strong, only to realize that my next runner was stuck in traffic and couldn't make it to the exchange point on time! After that frustrating moment, the rest of the race went smoothly. We were really excited to cheer in our last runner and get our medals and shirts, but it turned out that they ran out of shirts for the relay and we had to get half marathon shirts instead. I'm not sure how that even happens but I felt weird taking a shirt for a race I didn't actually run. After the race we got free grilled cheese sandwiches and bread from the Great Harvest Bread Co. which was perfect!

Overall the race was a great experience and I'd recommend the relay to people who live in Anchorage and know the area - just be aware that the relay distances were a bit off, logistics of picking up/dropping off runners is hard due to the amount of people in the area on race day, and you might not get a shirt at the end if you're not one of the first people. Overall it's a great way to celebrate the solstice and meet lots of runners from all over the US!