Anchorage Daily News

Lauren Spinelli traveled to Seward for the Fourth of July in 2005, in part to check out the annual race up and down Mount Marathon but mostly to have a good time all the time.

She came away intrigued enough to announce her intention to make her race debut on the 3,022-foot monument to pain the following summer.

"I thought, 'I can do this, I can totally do this,' " Spinelli recalled. " 'That looks like fun. I'm gonna sign up next year.' "

Turns out it wasn't just the alcohol talking.

Spinelli earned a spot in the 2006 race through the entry lottery. Then, with no specific mountain training and nary a trip on Mount Marathon under her belt -- she plays soccer weekly and is a triathlete -- Spinelli finished 60th in a very respectable 1 hour, 17 minutes, 8 seconds. Pretty sweet stuff for someone who confessed she didn't have a clue what she was doing.

And last year, in her third Mount Marathon -- and still just her third trip on the mountain -- Spinelli finished 27th in 1:10:20.

That performance put Spinelli, 30, of Anchorage, on the cusp of excellence.

With the average men's winning time in the last decade roughly in the 45-minute range and the average women's winner clocking in the 55-minute range, any athlete who finishes within 15 minutes of those standards can fairly be considered a recreational beast.

Not that it had really dawned on Spinelli until last summer how nicely she was racheting up her Mount Marathon performances. Of course, it didn't hurt that a triathlete friend advised her she might want to buy a pair of actual trail running shoes and consider her technique on the mountain.

"When I came down (to the finish in '08), I thought, 'Where is everybody?' " Spinelli recalled with a laugh. "That's when I realized I did pretty good.''

Saturday, when Mount Marathon celebrates its 82nd running and thousands of fans flock to the town on the shores of Resurrection Bay, the former collegiate midfielder has actually set a goal for herself -- sort of.

"I told my friend, 'I think my goal is to be in the top 20,' " said Spinelli, a construction coordinator for Spinell Homes, the family business. "I don't have high hopes. I don't set my sights too high.''

Like Spinelli, Kelsey Coolidge is another woman closing in on the 1:10 barrier.

Coolidge, 21 and a nordic skier at UAA, clocked 1:14:14 in her 2006 debut in the senior women's race, and dropped that to 1:12:45 in 2007, which earned her 37th place.

She needed a medical waiver for a back injury last summer to maintain her spot in the race, and will compete Saturday.

"Right now, I just want to improve,'' Coolidge said. "My goal for this race is to just pass anyone in front of me.''

Coolidge grew up in Anchorage going to Seward most summers to watch her father, Thomas, run Mount Marathon. Thomas Coolidge has run 15 consecutive races and 18 of 19 since debuting in 1990. Last year, at 57, he clocked 1:05:57 to finish 89th, so Kelsey has a role model -- another of those is her UAA ski coach, Trond Flagstad, who last year won in the third-fastest time in race history (44:03) -- and some motivation.

"I always have that thought, 'Let me do a little better and try to beat my dad, but I don't know if that'll ever happen,' '' Kelsey said.

On the men's side, Solomon Snyder, 25, of Seward, has edged tantalizingly close to the one-hour barrier. Last year, he clocked 1:01:07, and that came after two other brushes with a sub 60-minute finish -- he ran 1:00:42 in 2007 and 1:00:37 in 2006.

Meanwhile, Shani Rinner's pursuit of the 1:10 barrier will have to wait a year.

Rinner, 35, of Anchorage, last year finished 31st among women in 1:11:43, more than six minutes faster than her 2004 debut. She had intended to race in 2003 after getting picked in the lottery, but took a medical waiver after giving birth to daughter Ainsley, the first of her and husband Brandon's three children.

"My husband and I had just started hiking for fun, and we'd watched the race and thought, 'That's something,' " Rinner said. "I thought those people were pretty cool for doing that, and I thought it would be an accomplishment.''

Shani Rinner needed another medical waiver this year after giving birth May 16 to daughter Eden. She'll watch Brandon, who last year finished 35th among men in 56:10, and be eager for next year's race.

"I'm torn,'' Shani said. "I'm sure when I watch Brandon I'll miss racing it. I play to run Mount Marathon in 2010, for sure.''

Find Doyle Woody's blog online at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

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