This was my first Vacation Race series race and I really enjoyed it! A group of 5 of us who are all friends from high school and college challenged each other to this race. For one of our friends it was her first half marathon!

Arrival: One of our friends lives in Fresno, so we flew into the airport there (which is the closest airport to Yosemite). Note: it is a TINY airport, but got the job done! We drove up with one car and our camping gear the day before the race and set up camp.

Expo: The expo was definitely a different vibe from your typical road race; it was set up right at camp. Just a quick line to pick up our bibs and then we stopped by the fire pit for free s'mores! S'mores easily makes it my favorite expo ever.

Racetime: If you're not an early riser, maybe look for another race because we were up at 3 a.m. to catch a bus up to the top of the mountain. It was SO. COLD. We drove up, up, up in the dark and then walked to the start line where they did have coffee and heaters waiting for us. Soon, though, we would know that it was all worth it.

The first 5 miles of the race is on a fire road, which is basically a wide trail in the forest. This part started out with some light hills, and eventually transitioned to a bit downhill. But this was the most magical and beautiful part of the race - the flowers in boom in the forest all over the trees made it feel like running through a fairytale. Once we hit the road, it was all blue skies and steep down-hill. Not easy on the quads, but you did kind of feel like you were flying.

Then the last three miles hit and we bottomed out on one side of the lake. Did you know tiny rolling hills could feel so difficult? I didn't! When you just spent almost 2 hours running downhill, even flat terrain is a slog. But the speed we picked up downhill got me a fairly good time; not my best, but far from my worst.

We ended right back at camp at Bass Lake and my 1 runner friend and I waited about an hour for our three friends to finish.

After-party: One of the big perks of Vacation Races is that you are already in a beautiful place. We had planned to meet up with some other friends and rented a boat on Bass Lake. If you go, I highly recommend this as an after-race activity!

Other Highlights: Big beautiful bling!

Recommendation: Would definitely run again!