Star Valley Half Marathon 2015

Hey guys!

This last weekend I headed to my families ranch (my favorite place on earth!) to run the Star Valley Half Marathon.

This was my third time running the race and it is a fun race for me to do with my family! A few of my cousins join in on the fun! This year it was only two of us… but hey, tradition is tradition. Everyone came out to cheer us on though!

This race is a fundraiser/memorial for a family that the dad was killed by a drunk driver. Jeremy kunz, was a avid runner and at every mile marker there is a picture of him with his wife or kids or he is running/hiking etc. I made sure to hit each sign. I kind of get emotional about it, even though I did not even know him. My heart goes out to the family. His dad is the race director, and his wife always runs the race and his son ran it for the first time this year!

The race starts at 7am! We stay pretty close to the starting line, so instead of taking the bus up to the start line, we had my cousins husband drop us off at the top. We arrived approximately 6:50 am. Just enough time to take a pic and pee. You know.. all the pre race must do’s.

It was 42 degrees at the starting line.

I didn’t take any pics of the course this year but it is a great course. It is BEAUTIFUL! The first mile is downhill. I had to stop and tie my shoe 3 TIMES.. (I should add that to the list of pre race must do’s..) Ha! Double knot your shoes!

So the second mile has a small hill and then after that it is pretty flat for the rest of the race. The first 7.58 miles is on gravel, then you  hit asphalt till the finish line. They don’t close the roads for the race so your family can drive up the course to cheer you on at certain spots if you want.

I ate a Ezekiel Muffin with almond butter and lots of honey right when I woke up, a stinger waffle right before the gun and sipped on a EFS vanilla shot through the race. I only had about half of it. I felt great the whole race.

The aid stations are all great. All the volunteers are holding water cups and they had their own CHO drink, fruit, candy and I even saw otter pops!! Some volunteers even were misting runners with a water bottle!

The weather was great. NO rain this year! I was happy to be back on the course after a year off. (I was 7 months pregnant last year.)

I ran this race as a training run, keeping my heart rate at 60% of my max heart rate and ended up sticking with the 1:55 pacer the whole race. I have never ran with a pacer, and this was the first year they had them and I loved it! Towards the end my kids were waiting for me at the park that is close to the finish line. I waited for them to go down the slide “one more time,” tie their shoes and we were off to round the corner to the finish.  I love to have them finish with me, their faces light up and they just love it. I held Baylees hand and Tanner pushed it himself to the end!

 

I finished the race in 1:55 and placed 4th in my age group.

This is a great race to travel too. There is so much to do in Wyoming and the views are all incredible.

Until next year!