When Dave was researching things to do along our trip he found that Missoula's Marathon weekend would be taking place while we were in town. Sure I'll run it! It was scheduled to be my first half marathon until I got nervous and registered for one in California to test myself on my home turf.
I have to say Missoula knows how to host a marathon! They make an entire weekend of the event with a beer run on Friday night, 5K on Saturday, and the half and full on Sunday. 5000 participants were registered in one event or another, or multiple.
Coming into town on Saturday with an hour time difference was a little challenge, I didn't get to bed until probably 11 and had to be up at 4:30 to get ready for a 6 start time. Hey, it all worked out and the run was amazing. I got up did my morning run routine and we woke the boys up to pee, loaded them in the truck to drop me off. It was still dark and they were very confused on what we were doing. "Where are we going Mommy, it's dark outside?" They were wide awake in no time and excited to be out in the dark.
Everything about the race was awesome. Great course, very organized, great community cheer support. The start of the half was in a different place than the full and the full met the half course. At the start they had TONS of bathrooms, which is much needed prior to running. I usually feel like I have to pee at least 3 times prior to the start, but at this race the lines were so long that was no way and option which was probably really good! At the gun a huge display of fireworks were set off, of course after someone sang the National Anthem. It was quite crowded at the start, but by mile 3 it thinned out as everyone got into their grove. By this time I was surrounded by people that ran the same general pace as me. During the run the community was amazing to support in their own way, one guy moved his grand piano to a concrete patio in his yard and played for us, others cheered, and many set up their sprinklers or hoses to mist runners as they ran by! The aide stations were frequent and awesome, the one around mile 11 even had oranges and gummy bears for added fuel.
The finish line was as amazing as the rest of the race, I spotted Dave, the boys, and my Grandparents who drove over from Anaconda to watch me finish. Dave was thrilled that when they were only announcing names and hometowns of every 10th runner, mine was called out and he got it on video. My time was a 2:08:03, about 4 minutes slower than my last one, but hey whatever! The finishing metals are really cool too! They had drinks and food for the runners, which is pretty standard, but they also had a photo booth set up for runners to get a free printed picture taken, bag pick ups more organized than anyone could ask for. I am seriously hoping to run in this even again in the future, it was so awesome.
I had paid for a 20 minute massage for after the race and WOW was that equally as amazing. My calves were full of toxins and knots and she painfully rubbed them out so that I wouldn't be sore for days to come.
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