Najeeby Quinn joined Matt Shryock and his roommates for dinner Monday night, but the real feast came Tuesday.
Quinn and Shryock devoured the competition in the Turnagain Arm Trail Run, with Quinn topping the women's field to claim her seventh victory and Shryock shattering the course record in his race debut.
"It hurt like it might be a record," Shryock said after becoming the first person in race history to break the 50-minute barrier in the eight-mile trail run.
Racing in sunshine and 60-degree temperatures, Shryock made the trip from the Potter trailhead to the Rainbow trailhead in 49 minutes, 42 seconds.
That slashed more than two minutes off the Potter to Rainbow record set in 2003 by Eric Strabel, who skipped Tuesday's race to nurse an injury.
The race switches directions each year, and the Potter to Rainbow route typically produces slower times than the Rainbow to Potter route. Strabel still owns the northbound Rainbow-to-Potter – 50:12, set last year.
Shryock, 28, said spectators near the halfway point told him he was on pace to beat Strabel's, but that didn't exactly buoy his confidence as he negotiated a technical course with lots of rolling terrain.
"I know Eric's a good descender, and I'm not, and I thought, 'I still gotta descend this.'
"I sounded like a vacuum. My breathing was terrible."
But his time was sublime. Shryock finished nearly two minutes ahead of his nearest competition – roommate Chad Trammell (51:07). Three-time winner Matias Saari was third in 53:42. Shryock's other roommate, Adam Jensen, finished sixth.
Shryock, a nurse who finished second in last month's Alaska Heart Run 5-kilometer road race, moved to Anchorage recently from Montana. Trammell and Jensen are both dentists who are also recent arrivals. The three are college buddies who all come with strong running resumes.
The night before the race, they shared dinner with Quinn, who coaches Shyrock at Elite Sports Performance. Quinn, 35, was the race veteran of the group, but she made a bit of a rookie mistake going into the race. She thought she knew what the women's record was. She didn't.
Quinn celebrated when she crossed the finish line in 1:03:22, thinking she had beaten the south-bound women's record she set in 2011. But she had the wrong time in her head. The time she needed to beat was 1:03:01.
"Dammit, I should've looked that up," she said. "I thought I had it."
In winning for the seventh time since the race began in 1999, Quinn grabbed command in the second half of the race. Lia Slemons set the pace to the halfway point at McHugh Creek before getting passed by Quinn and settling for second place in 1:04:23. Colleen Bolling was third in 1:06.52.
"They were flying to McHugh," Quinn said. "I thought, 'Oh my god, they think it's a road race.' ''
Slemons is a 1998 Chugiak High graduate who is back in Anchorage after 12 years in Seattle. She said she's done parts of the Turnagain Arm Trail, but Tuesday marked the first time she did the whole thing all at once.
"I was grateful for a couple of people handing out water," she said.
Blue skies and temperatures in the 60s made for a dry trail but warm run. "It's amazing how hot 60 can be," said Shryock, who came to Alaska from Missoula, Montana.
Saari said the beginning of the course was slightly altered from previous years, with the switchbacks on the first ascent being replaced by a straight shot up. But he didn't think the change made a significant difference when it came to Shyrock's effort.
"It's a legit record," Saari said.
So far, Shyrock isn't entered in Mount Marathon, although he hopes to earn an automatic berth in Seward's famous mountain race by winning one of three Grand Prix mountain races that come before Mount Marathon.
His Tuesday win gives him reason for hope, because the Turnagain Arm Trail Run is the first race of the mountain running season and often foretells results at bigger races like Mount Marathon.
In that regard, Quinn was pleased, record or no record.
"It's the first race of the season, so I'll take it," she said.
Turnagain Arm Trail Run
8 miles (Potter to Rainbow)
1) Matthew Shryock 49:42; 2) Chad Trammell 51:07; 3) Matias Saari 53:42; 4) Lars Flora 54:03; 5) Allan Spangler 56:11; 6) Adam Jensen 56:49; 7) Jake Moe 58:54; 8) Steve Lee 58:57; 9) Alan Stoll 59:30; 10) Ben Ward 59:34; 11) Garth Schulz 1:00:04; 12) Andrew Stavich 1:00:11; 13) Cody Priest 1:00:28; 14) Isaac Bertsch 1:00:38; 15) Brad Benter 1:01:15; 16) Justin Libby 1:01:49; 17) David Stamp 1:02:57; 18) Craig Taylor 1:03:09; 19) Tully LaBelle-Hamer 1:03:18; 20) Najeeby Quinn 1:03:22 (first female finisher); 21) Tom Bronga 1:03:48; 22) Jim McDonough 1:04:20; 23) Lia Slemons 1:04:23; 24) brian haviland 1:06:01; 25) Dorian Gross 1:06:15; 26) Robert Whitney 1:06:27; 27) Colleen Bolling 1:06:52; 28) Patrick Stinson 1:07:04; 29) Mike Heatwole 1:07:16; 30) Marine Dusser 1:07:57; 31) Brandon Rinner 1:08:20; 32) Christopher Clark 1:08:22; 33) Dylan Robertson 1:08:26; 34) Cory Smith 1:08:28; 35) David Funatake 1:08:36; 36) Jeff Roberts 1:08:46; 37) Travis Peltier 1:09:03; 38) Eric Rodgers 1:09:10; 39) Rune Christopherson 1:09:21; 40) Frank Witmer 1:09:43; 41) William Pearson 1:09:51; 42) Mandy Vincent-Lang 1:09:53; 43) Darren Hull 1:10:26; 44) Paul LaFrance 1:10:28; 45) Jake Todd 1:10:45; 46) brian pautzke 1:11:25; 47) Jess Walsh 1:11:35; 48) Kevin Knotek 1:11:36; 49) Fred Hveding 1:11:55; 50) Evan Patterson 1:12:06; 51) Michael Bourdukofsky 1:12:15; 52) karl bruening 1:12:49; 53) Michael Quimby 1:12:52; 54) Kyle Wilson 1:13:14; 55) Paul Ferucci 1:13:15; 56) Denali Foldager 1:13:54; 57) Amber McDonough 1:14:18; 58) David Popiel 1:14:49; 59) scott gage 1:14:51; 60) Rich Stromberg 1:14:53; 61) Matt Waliszek 1:14:59; 62) John Wirum 1:15:00; 63) Ellyn Brown 1:15:41; 64) Katie Libby 1:16:13; 65) Ari Gardner 1:16:17; 66) Kimberly Riggs 1:16:25; 67) Joel Brandt 1:16:39; 68) Cameron Reitmeier 1:17:06; 69) Nathan Stamm 1:17:08; 70) Ashley Van Hemert 1:17:25; 71) Wendy Sailors 1:17:42; 72) Rebecca Patterson 1:18:16; 73) Elizabeth Hooper 1:18:17; 74) Mariah Graham 1:18:42; 75) James Southam 1:18:59; 76) Leslie Rawson 1:19:03; 77) Daniel Crumpacker 1:19:06; 78) Alec Kay 1:20:01; 79) John Clark 1:20:18; 80) Amanda Hegna 1:20:26; 81) Brenton Savikko 1:20:28; 82) Neil McMahon 1:20:42; 83) Daniel Willman 1:21:20; 84) Jeffrey Baldridge 1:21:27; 85) Michelle Dickson 1:21:30; 86) Jennifer Baker 1:22:15; 87) Meghan Dooley 1:22:40; 88) sarah Duffy 1:22:4689) Karen Bronga 1:24:01; 90) Katie Conway-Stamm 1:24:13; 91) Megan Olson 1:25:1092) Melia Talbot 1:26:28; 93) Sean Murphy 1:26:39; 94) Kevin Sullivan 1:27:19; 95) lauran ballesteros 1:28:00; 96) Randy Green 1:28:11; 97) Lena Palmer 1:28:33; 98) Charlotte Edmondson 1:29:07; 99) Mark Fondren 1:29:58; 100) julie robinson 1:29:59; 101) Eric Zoesch 1:30:08; 102) Kasey Keogh 1:30:15; 103) Kristen Maves 1:30:37; 104) Gregory Latreille 1:31:09; 105) Rachelle Alger 1:31:18; 106) Misty Pekar 1:31:26; 107) Monica Baldridge 1:31:43; 108) Michael Braniff 1:32:08; 109) Aaron Christie 1:32:30; 110) Mark swenson 1:33:29; 111) Emily Veenstra 1:33:35; 112) Amber Johnson 1:35:04; 113) Dali Tremarco 1:35:54; 114) Samantha Bassler 1:36:06; 115) Pamela Hatzis 1:36:08; 116) Hannah Griego 1:36:13; 117) Anne Johnson 1:36:16; 118) Matt Tunseth 1:42:36; 119) Carolyn Seramur 1:43:29; 120) Megan Williams 1:52:30; 121) Brian Flynn 1:52:35; 122) Erin Witmer 1:54:35; 123) Natalie Bickers 2:01:52.
Four-mile race
(McHugh to Rainbow)
1) Kelemen Legate 36:48; 2) Bodhi Gross 37:10; 3) Bryan Hardy 37:25; 4) Ryan Comer 42:38; 5) Jason Geck 43:0; 6) Jean Miller 43:29 (first female finisher); 7) Jennifer Davis 44:12; 8) Cameron Dean 45:39; 9) Teresa Comer 46:04; 10) leah legate 46:44; 11) Sadie Benter 47:42; 12) Tatum Witter 47:57; 13) Zoe Witter 48:06; 14) Dyann Hardy 49:16; 15) Caitlin Skvorc 50:24; 16) Camden Benter 51:25; 17) Blaise Rinner 51:48; 18) Ainsley Rinner 51:57; 19) Lauren Divine 51:59; 20) Liane Nagata 53:16; 21) Evan R Steinhauser 54:55; 22) Miranda Montejo 55:00; 23) Cynthia Oistad 55:18; 24) Kaleen Haines 55:29; 25) Jen Witter 55:34; 26) Angelica Spitzer 58:03; 27) Catherine Bodry 58:57; 28) Amara Liggett 59:06; 29) mona bremont 1:00:44; 30) Gary Harris III 1:01:51; 31) Yvonne Henrickson 1:03:13; 32) Karen Carney 1:03:26; 33) Megan McKay 1:03:45; 34) Kaiya Carlson 1:05:48; 35) Bart Quimby 1:08:13; 36) Vera Hershey 1:12:11; 37) Marcus Knight 1:21:07; 38) Matthew Kenney 1:24:46.