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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!



Thank you to Little Caesars for making it possible! You guys are awesome!

I will be running the Deseret News Marathon on Saturday. It is Pioneer Day in Utah. It's gonna be a hot one!

Keep Running!

19 comments:

Aron said...

love the big SMILE on your face in all the pics :) looks like you had a blast! congrats on another marathon finish!

Unknown said...

Great report, I love the scenery there, it must have been beautiful! Great smile at the finish and I love the idea of having fruit pops at the end, yum!

Anton said...

Great work on another successful run. Sorry to hear about your knee though although great to see you finishing with a smile :-)

akjenniekt said...

Good job!! I really enjoyed reading your recap and seeing the pics :)!

ShutUpandRun said...

Yay for you! That would be a great race to do someday!

Felice Devine said...

Nice! Great pics.

I've heard really good things about that marathon.

Leah B. said...

Looks like you had a ton of fun at the marathon! Congrats :)
I just found your blog and it is super cute! Keep up the hard work!

TiredMamaRunning said...

Checked out your blog after searching other Missoula race reports (I finished mine just a few days ago so you weren't the only lollygagger!). I agree...great hospitality in Missoula! Congratulations on a great finish and enjoying the race.

TiredMamaRunning said...

And one more note..I see you ran one of our two local marathons, the Grand Valley Marathon...since you're in the region, think about the Rim Rock Marathon in the future-it is a beautiful course.

Middle Name Marie said...

Good job on the race!

Pining for Pinterest said...

Great pictures!!! Loved the smile in all of them :) Have a great week!

X-Country2 said...

Way to finish with a smile!

Generation X (Slomohusky) said...

Hi Stacey! Sorry for some reason your Blog doesn't pop up on my Dashboard blogs I follow list, yet it pops up on the blogs i follow on my actual blog - odd. So, I am getting this one late.

Anyway, great report and thanks for sharing. I almost did this marathon this year. Maybe next year? Take care of that knee.

RunKathyRun said...

Congrats on your finish in Missoula; I ran it as well and loved it.

AZ said...

I was so going to do Missoula but the running slump trumped that. Sounds like I should have though. Glad you were able to.

Unknown said...

Great marathon update there...I love seeing the pictures...seem happy running there...nice run!!!

zbsports

Anonymous said...

I love the pictures, the course looks beautiful!! Congrats on your marathon, you looked happy and fast at the end!!

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

I was eyeing this race, but it didn't work out for me this year. Running by the river and the popsicles would be a nice treat. Great race recap!

kizzy said...

Wow..Congrats for finishing the run!
Keep running.
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