I came all the way from Dallas to run the Missoula Half Marathon this past weekend and let me tell you, it is the BEST half marathon I've ever run so far (and probably ever will run) and I've run over 30 of them so far in 19 different states. There's a reason why every state and sometimes other countries are represented at this race! Check out the many reasons why I loved the Missoula Half Marathon below.

THE COURSE:
The half marathon race course is overall a downhill course and it starts downhill, so you really build momentum right out of the starting gate. The course winds through beautiful forests, along side glacial blue waters, and past wild-flower filled pastures filled with galloping horses, complete with a beautiful mountain backdrop. The race runs on Blue Mountain Road, which is appropriately named given the surroundings. I have truly never run a more beautiful race in my life. The trail eventually spits you out into the Missoula city center, but even then it is still pretty scenic. The was very little uphill and when there was, it wasn't for very long or very steep. The majority of the race is relatively flat, aside from the downhills right at the start of the race. So be prepared for a faster race. There was also a surprising amount of local crowd support, which made the race even more fun to run.

AID STATIONS:
There were plenty of aid stations spaced out every few miles with water and Gatorade. There were also 2 aid stations for the half with CLIF SHOTS available (one towards the beginning and the other around mile 10 or 11). It was well laid out with tons of volunteers, liquids, trash cans and port-a-potties.

RACE START/FINISH:
Shoutout to the TONS of port-a-potties at the race start (not a terrible wait). The bag check was a breeze thanks to several massive UPS trucks that were set up according to last name.
The finish line festivities were great, with tons of water, gatorade, and muscle milk for recovery. A short walk from the finish line were the finishers food tent that served bananas, orange wedges, watermelon slices, bagels, pasta salad, and quinoa-bean salad. Plus several small food trucks were set up around the finisher's area so you could buy coffee and acai bowls (which we definitely did!). Additionally, you could line up to get your finisher's photo in front of the Missoula Marathon backdrop for free.

PARKING/TRANSPORTATION:
Race day parking was decent. The race director instructs you to park at the Adams Center, where you will catch a shuttle to the marathon or half marathon start (they start in different locations). There was a lot of parking at the Adams Center, but if you waited too long it would be filled up. But there was tons of nearby free street parking, which we took advantage of to avoid the parking ruckus. The buses to the start line were quick and the lines for marathon and half marathon were well marked. It was a pretty efficient system and we didn't wait more than 10 minutes to get on our bus.

EXPO:
The race expo was fairly small, but this isn't exactly a massive race. The packet and shirt pickup was easy. And there were a few vendors set up with Missoula gear for sale (not much was on sale, but that's pretty typical). We walked through everything in about 20 minutes, even with time spent perusing the gear selection.

RACE SWAG:
The race shirt was awesome! It featured the Missoula Marathon emblem. The half marathon shirts were a unique forest green and the marathon shirts were a pretty glacial blue. They came in men's and women's sizes. The race bib was unique in that it was the shape of Montana, which I thought was a special touch. And the finisher's medals were nice big medals featuring the missoula marathon emblem as well. I'm a big fan of the elk symbol!

OVERALL REVIEW:
I cannot say enough good thing about the Missoula Half Marathon! It was truly a unique and beautiful course and I couldn't have asked for a better race! I would do it again in a heartbeat!