I Run Alaska, Or So I Thought

When I first started running I thought I would keep a blog too. I titled it, I Run Alaska, but as time went on my entries were fewer and fewer until they were nonexistent. Then with the New Year, I thought that I should revive it and made a resolution to do just that. You can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that I Run Alaska had been claimed by someone else, and that they even had a following too.  At first I was upset seeing the name I so brilliantly came up with displayed across the masthead of someone else’s webpage. The new I Run Alaska author had even created a Twitter and Instagram account using the same handle. At wits end, I sent “I Run Alaska” a message on Instagram to let him know that I was the original author and even made some kind of passive aggressive joke to insinuate my lack of enthusiasm.  

After reading some of his entries my disappointment turned into amazement and even a little envy. I Run Alaska was writing about things that I had only dreamed of. He had accomplished in three years things I was only just learning about. I Run Alaska is an ultra-marathoner and six-time marathon finisher;  having run at least two 50 mile races and one 100 mile race he has transcended from name thief to legend in my mind. With that, I decided I would embrace the opportunity to create a new name for my blog and the chance to make a new friend. 

Using social media, I messaged the author and asked if he would like to go for a run sometime; not surprisingly he said yes. A date was set and friendly notes continued until the day of our scheduled encounter. We agreed on a meeting time and place and for the first time shook hands. Brandon is a tall slender guy with a red rugged Alaskan kind of beard; he has blues eyes, a great smile, and an impressive outlook on life.  A local boy from Eagle River, he is a UAA grad. He works for a division of the state, but I can’t recall which. Married with two kids, Brandon has a son and a daughter and, again not surprisingly, seems to love everything about being a husband and father. 

I asked him what inspired his running and how he got started – like most of us, he wanted to get healthy, lose weight, and accomplish something bigger than himself. He met the challenge head on, lost more than 90 pounds and ran a sub five marathon his first year. He’s a pretty likeable guy and very easy to talk to, so it should come to no surprise that he made friends in the running community very quickly.  It wasn’t  too long before someone turned him onto the idea that running 100 miles was a good one. The Resurrection 100 was his first 100 mile race and if you have some time, I would encourage you to read more about it on Brandon’s blog; it’s a great story.

Our chance encounter turned out to be a pretty good one and after running 9.5 miles together in 20- something temperatures I would defiantly say I made a new friend.  The name I Run Alaska I am now happy to concede to a very deserving runner. I am glad to have met Brandon and look forward to reading more about his many races, and perhaps to join him on a few myself.