A Marathon Runs Through It.

(The 2017 race was held July 9)

 

The Missoula 1/2 Marathon is my big race for this year and most years.  This year marked my 7th half marathon.  I love running in my home town, course is flat and beautiful and Run Wild Missoula does a great job with the entire weekend. 

 

Race prep starts early, like October when I sign up for the race because it is only $75 if you sign up early.  The website is easy to find and use: http://www.missoulamarathon.org/  Then I am locked in and it forces me to start training and increasing mileage, even in the winter when running on the treadmill or in cleats is a must. 

 

Fast forward to July.  Marathon weekend starts on Friday with activities, speakers and the beer run.  I skipped these because I had to work.  Saturday is the 5k, the kids' marathon and the race expo.  I normally volunteer at the expo but this year was unable to because of personal commitments so my weekend started with the kids' race.  Kids are encouraged to log 25 miles starting in the spring and then show up and run the last 1.2 miles on Saturday.  



She's ready to race!

Sydnee had her miles in and was ready to run.  It was pretty warm by 10am but we were even more excited when we found out this year the kids got superhero capes instead of t-shirts!

I ran with Sydnee and after her race we hit the expo and picked up our race packets.  The expo (and kid's finish line) is right next to the farmer's market so we grabbed some coffee and breakfast and headed to the best playground in Missoula. 

She finished in just over 20 minutes. 
Another medal for her hook!

 

Dragon's Hollow Playground

The Missoula Carousel



She was so hungry she was eating the veggies out of the bag on the ride home.

It was unseasonably hot on Saturday so we headed home about 1pm to relax and hydrate.  Sydnee got to spend the night at Nana's because only runners are crazy enough to get up at 3:30am on a Sunday.



The next morning was warm, we knew it would be.  This year was going to be the warmest on record by 10* so they were allowing people to switch to lower distances or even defer to next year.  The prediction was 80* by 8am, that's hot for Montana. 



I ran into Dawn, she is a skirt from Alaska
that was supposed to run the full
but switched to the half because
of the heat.  I love making new friends. 

There is no parking at the start of either the half or the full so they bus you from the University of Montana parking lots to the start.  The half starts just south of Missoula and the full starts west of Missoula in Frenchtown (map).  The races intersect and combine at about mile 3 for the half.  Both races start at 6am.  We like to be early so we always board the bus by 4:30 for the 15 minute ride to the start of the half.  The start has plenty of port-a-potties, UPS handles gear drop like pros (because they are), and there is a grassy area to sit and stretch. 


Photo from Run Wild Missoula's
Missoula 1/2 Marathon page

 The first three - four miles follow the river.  It is always beautiful as the sun is just rising at 6am and there are lots of people still grouped together.  The first aid station isn't until mile 3ish so everyone is just out running and having fun.  They actually start the walkers after the runners and ask you to line up by time with the pacers so there isn't a ton of weaving happening which I love. 

I was doing great at this point.  I was keeping a nice 11:45 pace and felt good.  Well, my shirt wouldn't stay down so I was messing with that but everything else was fine.  :)



 



 This shirt got tucked into my skirt when I finally gave up on it at mile 5. That solved that problem! I was really glad I chose to wear my Happy Girl Skirt with the longer shorts because any glide I was wearing would have washed off or sweated off by now.  It also had nice pockets so I was able to carry my small water bottle with extra Hammer drink in one and my sports beans and electrolyte tabs in the other.  I had opted to leave my phone behind this year because I was worried it would get wet.  That was an excellent call on my part. 

 

Mile 7-8 is when it fell apart.  My back was really starting to hurt and I wasn't sure if I had to pee.  I walked for a little while and that kinda helped.  I took a couple more sports beans and another electrolyte tablet and started looking for a port-a-potty. Luckily there are several at every aid station and I was coming up on one.  I entered, took care of business, and realized my internal body temperature was HOT.  I am prone to heat sickness so I knew I had to cool down before I could run again.  Luckily for me this was also the first aid station with sponges.  One of the great recommendations I had received was to take the sponge and use it to cool your pressure points. 

 

I grab some PowerAde, a glass of water and a sponge.  I drank the PowerAde, poured the water down my back and wrung the sponge out over my chest.  I stuck the sponge in the back band of my visor for safe keeping.  There was a sprinkler ahead.  Many Missoulians put their lawn sprinklers on in the street so runners like me can cool off.  I took full advantage of this next one by walking through it and rewetting my sponge. 

 

I was feeling better but my hopes for a 2:30 finish were gone.  That was a 16+ minute mile and I was still warm.  I was now about 70-75* out. 

 

Mile 9-10

Here I am about mile 9-10ish.  I was feeling better and averaging 12:30 miles so I was pretty happy.  Plus there was a lady handing out ice and that helped, ALOT!   

Mile 13, I can see the finish.



Time to sprint it in!




I finished the race in 2:48 minutes so 13 minutes longer than I had hoped for and :40 seconds slower than last year. 



Jacob and I at the finish.  I wish I had fixed my visor but I was tired. 

All-in-all, it was a great race.  Run Wild Missoula makes sure everyone is well supported, the locals along the route provide additional support, the route is well marked, and pictures are free.  I really liked this year's medals, although Sydnee reminded me I still don't have as many as her.