June 72025
Days to Race361
June 72025
Days to Race361
Join the festivities with family and friends before and after the race! Yoga warm-up, free Kaladi coffee, free snow-cones at Murray Orthodontics tent, photo booth at Imaging Associates tent, The Alaska Club’s obstacle course, refreshments post-race including Great Harvest Bread Company, Zumba workout, and the awards ceremony honoring elite runners and breast cancer survivor competitors.
Special door prizes will be given to lucky Run participants! Enter the drawing to win a free trip for two to anywhere Alaska Airlines flies or a 90-Day Gold Family Membership from The Alaska Club! Your bib has a tear away section with your bib number on it. Write in your name and drop it in the entry box near the sound stage. MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN. Drawing following the Awards Ceremony.
All participants will be staged based on the race category for which they have registered. Staging will begin at 8:00 a.m. for all events.
It is each participant’s responsibility to be in the start area 30 minutes prior to event start time. Participant bib colors will match start times as shown on the map. Look for the colored flags in your start area.
An elite corral is reserved for runners who completed a previous Alaska Run for Women in 35:35 or better (pace 7:07/mile). Runners with elite status will enter the starting area following the 1-mile participants and be escorted to the starting line after the 1-mile race is underway. Runners who have not participated in the AKRFW may email run@akrfw.org with documented race results to petition for access to the elite corral.
A big thank you to all the wonderful volunteer entertainers who add fun out on the course and on the UAA Campus at Cuddy Quad.
If you are interested in providing entertainment on the course, email run@akrfw.org
PRERACE
ON THE COURSE
ON THE CUDDY QUAD
Kimberly Olmsted
We happily welcome Kim Olmsted as a 2025 honorary starter. Many of you may know that Kim is an artist who, over the years, has contributed eight AKRFW annual designs (shown below), but she has also been one of our competitive age group runners. This year marks her 23rd event. In 1993 she ran the inaugural AKRFW finishing 19th overall. In the14 events when she could run, she placed in the top five of her age group nine times. Since her final knee surgery in 2016, Kim has walked or participated in our event virtually. Except for last year when Kim wanted to race one more time to savor the experience while understanding it was her last. She trained for 11 weeks and had a wonderful experience. These days she enjoys watching her daughter Kaelan (a top 10 finisher) and friends run on race day. Kim continues to contribute by walking the racecourse two to three times a week all spring, summer, and fall clearing trash. Why? She lives on the course (approximately mile 3.25) and takes East Side Pride to heart!
In 1996 Kim discovered a lump in her breast which fortunately was just an enlarged lymph node, and since that time she has filled the tag she wears on her back on race day with the names of nearly 20 friends who have battled breast cancer including her sister-in-law, Peg, and her niece, Katrina. She knows breast cancer can strike anyone, regardless of fitness or background and continues to self-check monthly and schedule mammograms yearly.
A woman of many talents, Kim has taught high school English, worked in various behind the scenes capacities in theater and opera, served as a legal assistant, coached high school and independent swimming, illustrated books, and designed for web and print. She retired from professional work in 2018.
Never one to sit still, her current passions are reading 1-2 books a week, walking or hiking, playing the piano every day, K-Dramas, and attempting to learn the Korean language as well as gardening, baking, cooking, carpentry, knitting, and occasional painting.
After three decades of master swimming and four decades of running resulting in three shoulder surgeries and three knee surgeries, Kim is keenly aware of body limitations. “We can’t change the genes we inherit,” she says. “Mine were not conducive to long-term aerobic activity. I have accepted that and find I thoroughly enjoy walking. Appreciate and celebrate whatever your body can manage at whatever point in your life.” Her advice on race day is the same advice she gives all her family members when they head out to exercise or compete, “Have fun!”