July 2010 | Runner Girl's Blog Spot

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Missoula Marathon Race Report

Wow...am I behind. It has been nearly two weeks since the Missoula marathon and I am just now getting to the race report.

I had a fabulous weekend in Missoula. My hosts, Barbara, Jason, Gabe and Elsie were just awesome! They made everything so nice and relaxing and I felt pampered. Thanks again you guys for a great weekend! Can't wait for next year!

The expo was held outside at Caras Park in downtown Missoula. It was small, but sufficient and they gave us a technical shirt and a reusable Missoula Marathon bag. I love when you get more than just a plastic grocery bag...I also liked that they had several water coolers set up around the expo. The Farmer's market was going on at the same time and there was a lot of excitement and tons of people all around. Missoula knows how to host a race!

The busses were organized and we didn't have to wait very long to get to the start line in Frenchtown. On the bus I sat by Talitha. This was her first marathon and she did awesome! You can check out her blog here. It was fun to talk to her and feel of her excitement. Sam Felsenfeld was also there, he paced the 3:50 group. If you haven't heard about his "Operation Jack" check out his website here.

Once we got off the bus, I headed to the port a potties and waited..the lines were long and there could have been a few more..But I got to the start line with about 8 minutes to spare. The gun went off and we were on our way. What a beautiful course! We ran along the Clark Fork River and they aren't kidding when they call Montana "Big Sky Country." It was a flat course as well, which for me, was perfect since I am still having issue with my knee.. no, not my ITB any more.. something else is going on..I will talk about that another time. There was one hill at mile 13.5 and I had to walk up and down, I was feeling some weird twinges. But other than that, there were no major issues.

I loved this race..EVERYONE was friendly. I made several new "friends.."

and the Missoulians..is that how you say it? were fantastic. Many of them had their sprinklers on the road so we could run through them, which was a godsend because it was hot. There were a lot of spectators at different points along the course. It was great to have people cheering... just for me..(: Thanks again you guys!

I really enjoyed everything about this marathon. It was their 4th year doing it. The Run Wild Missoula running group has about 1000 members..no wonder it was well organized and the little things were well thought out! Post race food was great. You know it is good when they have cold watermelon at the finish line! They had yummy pasta salad, watermelon/pineapple/strawberry frozen fruit popsicles, bread, and other things. And Barbara had a burrito supreme waiting for me!

I finished with a smile on my face and I will definitely run this race again!