The inaugural Shenandoah half marathon took place this past weekend in Luray, Virginia. Despite it being an inaugural race, it is hosted by Vacation Races and they're experienced in putting on races in national parks.

While the Shenandoah half marathon doesn't actually take place IN the national park, its a point to point challenging road course that includes many farms, hills, a variety of animals, and ends by Lake Arrowhead.

There was rain in the forecast for the weekend, which wasn't ideal, especially for those who chose to camp at the Vacation Races Campground (near the finish line). A friend and I opted for the Budget Inn instead (note to readers: camping might have been more preferable).

The expo was small but fun. The shirts are green and honestly, I don't love the color but that's more of a personal preference. At the expo they had a tutorial on how to turn t-shirt into a bag and other activities. We made s'mores and found our names on the inaugural Shenandoah design.

We also took some time to ask a few questions to announcer/race coordinator, Kaelee. She'd run the course in the morning so she was able to give us some pointers and let us know what to look forward to the next day.

The race began at 7am and was a point to point race and almost entirely on road, save the first and last 10th of a mile. You could park at either the start or finish and they had school buses to shuttle runners from one point to the other. We decided we’d rather shuttle before the race than after; we parked at the finish and shuttled to the start.

At the start, there was coffee and hot chocolate. They also offered bananas and things like Vaseline and thoughtful touches that runners might find useful. It was a rainy day and there were a few pockets of storms that rolled through - the worst one about a half hour before we were to begin the race. Thankfully there was a pavilion and other places to stay dry and we came prepared with ponchos.

The rain tapered off just in time for the National Anthem. We self seeded in corrals that were broken into paces/estimated finish times and soon were on our way.

Virginia was lovely, with lots of local flair that we northerns aren’t accustom to seeing on a daily basis. We saw llamas (or were they alpaca?), plenty of cows, and were graced with the presence of a kitten in the middle of the road (right outside its house - no worries!). Our goal for this race was to enjoy it and we did. There were many hills, but we expected them and we took advantage of the downhills.

The aid stations were perfectly placed. Vacation Races is a cup free race, so they offer hydropouches or you can bring your own hydration system. I opted to get a pack (I’ve been considering it for awhile and this was the perfect reason) and ended up not needing to fill the bladder of it at all – it was the perfect amount for the half distance. They had Honey Stingers available at every aid station, as well as cut up bananas and orange slices at the later stations.

At the mile 3 aid station they even had a bin where runners could drop clothes that they’d then drive to the finish line of the race! I didn’t need to take advantage of that but they really seemed to think of everything.

The course was quiet, although it was on an open road so cars were allowed to drive along the course. In the early morning, there was not much traffic. We all looked out for each other, calling “CAR!” when there was a car either behind or coming toward us.

Mile 10 onward felt like a continuous uphill. I know that there was some downhill too but I don’t really remember much of that. It just felt like we were constantly climbing. Having looked at the elevation map ahead of time, we knew that it was coming but, whew, my hamstrings and glutes acted like they weren’t made aware of the situation!

We veered into Lake Arrowhead Park for the last stretch of the race. The support here was incredible with lots of finishers cheering us. Volunteers pointed us in the right direction since it was along grass and gravel. We turned for the last 10th of a mile and crossed the finish line with huge smiles on our faces! There was an announcer (Kaelee) standing at the finish, welcoming everyone by name.

Immediately after crossing the finish line, we were able to get our medals and our snack boxes that were filled with lots of delicious treats.

From start to finish, this getaway was an awesome!

More words and pictures can be found here: http://www.scootadoot.org/2017/09/05/race-recap-vacation-races-inaugural-shenandoah-half-2017/