Tag: Montana

Yellowstone Half Marathon – West Yellowstone, MT (2015)

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Since the race started at 8:00, I got to sleep in for a bit and headed out of the hotel around 7:15. It was really easy to get to the start, though there was a bit of a traffic backup to get into the parking lot. It didn’t take terribly long to get into the grass lot and then I headed to the start line to put my ticket in for the giveaways before the race. It was warmer for the Yellowstone start than the Grand Teton start, which was good because there wasn’t a tent to hide under this time.

The race seemed to be bigger than the Grand Teton race, but it could have just been the fact that we had to back into the finish line corral since the start and finish were only a few hundred yards apart. The race was listed as a trail run, so I actually went out and bought new trail shoes for this race. I needed to get some anyway since I’ve got the Ragnar Angel Fire race at the end of August, but since I only found out this was a trail race about two weeks before I left (not sure how I missed that communication!), I didn’t have much time to break in the shoes. I ended up getting them in time to do a short (1.5 mile) trail run around Charlotte before I left and I went up an extra half size from what was initially recommended just to make sure I would have enough room in the toe box.

The run started out on the road near the airport in West Yellowstone and after about a mile, we moved onto an actual trail. This section of the course was definitely too small for how many people were running. It didn’t help that there had been rain throughout the previous week, so there were some really big puddles and mud that everyone ran around. While I was glad to finally get on the trail, it was disappointing to see everyone destroying the plants and surrounding trail.

Eventually, it did start to space out a bit, especially during the brutal uphill starting at mile 5.

During this section, all I could think of is “the ants go marching two by two” – needless to say, there was a lot of walking during this part of the race!

The good news is that since there was such a big uphill, eventually we got to come back down that hill and I was able to pick up some time in mile 8. Unfortunately, the hills along with the uneven terrain killed my legs. The most scenic part of the race came in the last 5 miles or so when we ended up wandering around a road above the river.

Instead of doing an official run / walk for this race, I just ran when I could and then walked when I had to (especially during that major hill). This seems to work pretty well for me in races that have a lot of hills, tough terrain or when I’m not trying to go for a specific finish time.
  • Mile 1 – 10:29
  • Mile 2 – 10:54
  • Mile 3 – 11:21
  • Mile 4 – 10:33
  • Mile 5 – 10:51
  • Mile 6 – 13:35
  • Mile 7 – 11:57
  • Mile 8 – 10:48
  • Mile 9 – 12:04
  • Mile 10 – 11:50
  • Mile 11 – 11:51
  • Mile 12 – 11:43
  • Last 1.1 – 10:56

Official time: 2:29:45

Apparently this worked well for me, because I finished this race 5 minutes faster than the Grand Teton half. I think the fact that I had been at elevation for over a week made a major impact, but I was still working with tired legs (from June 7-13 I did 83 miles, mostly hiking), so it was surprising to be able to finish this race faster.

The view from the finish line parking lot was still as good in the daylight, as it was the night before!

The race also provided free finish line photos again for this race.

After the views in the Grand Teton race, Yellowstone was a little bit of a letdown. I think I got a little spoiled with all the awesome mountain views in the tetons which made it easy to forget I was running along traffic and a dusty dirt road for most of that race. Other than the river near the end of the race, we were mostly on an overgrown road (it looked like an old road that 4-wheel drive vehicles occasionally drove over – big ruts for tires and then overgrown grass in the middle). 

I loved the combo of these two races – it gave me an excuse to get out west and check out  some awesome places that I probably wouldn’t have gotten to (at least not this year). Plus, although I didn’t initially sign up for the Grizzly Double (for half marathons in back-to-back weekends), I was able to add-on the extra shirt and medal.

Westward adventures – Wandering into Yellowstone

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Originally I was planning to be backcountry hiking until Friday, so I wasn’t going to head to West Yellowstone until late Friday afternoon, but since my plans chanced, I went ahead and booked a car from National at 10:00 and figured I would get a head start on the day.*

On my way back from Trapper Lake, I passed two rangers who made made small talk with me, wished me a good hike and then came across a third ranger just behind the first two who stopped me and asked to see my backcountry permit. Less than a quarter mile from the trailhead, so I wasn’t expecting that, but I took off my pack and pulled out the permit which he looked at for a few minutes and then told me, “You really should keep that somewhere more accessible so you don’t have to take off your pack.” True, but I should also have been told that rangers would randomly stop me while I’m hiking and ask to see my permit instead of being told to put the permit on my tent and that rangers may stop by to see them. 

Since I got out of my campsite by 8:00, the morning views on Leigh Lake were even better than the first time!


I ended up getting on the road around 11:30 and headed back through the Tetons to get to Yellowstone. The speed limit as I got closer to Yellowstone dropped to 45 mph and stayed there or below the whole time. I was planning to stop at a visitor’s center and get more information on camping options and recommendations for what to see… and somehow I ended up at Old Faithful before seeing any signs for a visitor’s center, so I decided that even though it was mid-day, I’d check it out. Big mistake! First, it was a Friday, just after lunch and about a third of the parking lots were closed for repair, so it looked like the airport – people inching along hoping they’ll see someone pulling out of a spot and then circling around and around until they can finally get a spot. I did one loop and then immediately headed back out to the main road and decided just to go to the next visitor’s center and ask for more information there. No sign of another visitor’s center, so I just headed into Montana and out the west entrance into West Yellowstone. 
 

I did a quick stop at the race expo and then headed to my hotel for a shower. When I checked into the Super 8, I was the only car in the parking lot and the only other people around were from the KOA next door heating up their food! After a great nap, I grabbed my stuff and headed back into town for dinner before my volunteer shift at the Yellowstone 5k. When I was at the hotel, I asked where I should head for dinner and the woman at the front desk recommended the Wild West Pizzeria & Saloon downtown. Much to my surprise (and delight), it ended up being a Steelers bar!

My friends back home definitely got a kick out of the fact that I was in two random western states and managed to find Steelers fans.

I had volunteered for the Yellowstone 5k earlier in the week because they were still asking for volunteers and were offering 50% off a future race for anyone who helped them out. Since I didn’t have any plans for Friday night (other than sleeping in a real bed), it was an easy choice for me. My role was to help out at the t-shirt exchange at the end of the 5k. The cool part was that we were stationed right at the finish line and got to see everyone come across the line. It was also a perfect evening – sunset over the mountains and lots of cheering for all of the finishers!




After the 5k, I headed back to the hotel and re-arranged all my gear again since I would be living out of the car again for another 3 days after the race.

Up next the Yellowstone Half Marathon race report!

*Notes about National and my adventures trying to leave Jackson Hole
I won’t bore you with all the details, but basically, you’re not allowed to park a personal vehicle on premise, so they told me to go park across the street at a grocery store. When I drove down there, of course there’s a sign that says “no overnight parking” and after talking with the store manager, she confirmed I would be towed if I left my car there overnight and her only suggestion for parking was on the street near the post office. I ended up calling the visitors center and asked them what I could do and they directed me to a parking garage downtown. The good news is that it was free parking for 48 hours, which was an awesome find, but then I had to walk over a mile back to the rental agency to get my new car. This entire process added an extra 1.5 hours into my getting out of Jackson and certainly didn’t put me in a good mood to start my journey.