In April 2015, Vacation Races offered a free entry for liking and commenting on a Facebook post. Imagine my surprise when I was the one selected!

My husband and I decided to drive the 3 hours from Vegas the morning of the race. It turned out okay, but I wouldn't really recommend it. This race finishes in Springdale, UT - a very small town just outside the entrance of Zion National Park. The town fills up quickly for race weekend, so I definitely recommend booking a hotel or campsite early.

The night before the race, it was rainy and stormy. The rains were heavier than they had anticipated, so the planned field for parking was a muddy, sloppy mess. Instead of ruining the field with 100s of car driving, and possibly getting stuck, they moved the parking area to a church in a neighboring town. They lined up shuttles from the church to the start line.

They did not recommend parking near the finish line - as there was no parking area dedicated to runners and runners were not allowed to park inside the national park. Despite these warnings, my husband dropped me off at the start and took a chance trying to find parking near the finish. He was successful (sort of!).

Since we had driven up that same morning, I still had to pick up my bib and race shirt. Pickup was a breeze. There was a well organized tent right at the start line.

After picking up my bib, I dropped off my race shirt with my husband, kissed him goodbye, and trudged off to the port-a-potty. There was a huge line of them, and I was able to get right in without any waiting. Yay! There was still a good 45 minutes until the start, so I headed to the warming tent to stay warm and throw my number in to the raffles. Outside the tent, there was coffee and hot cocoa and bananas. There might have been other snacks, too, but I didn't stop at any of the tables; I just went right inside. It was very toasty in there, but it was a big enough area that it didn't feel super cramped. The announcer doing the raffles was great - lots of energy and really seemed like it was enjoying himself.

At about 6:15, I got a text message and a Facebook notification that the race was being delayed about 15 minutes. This was not the first message I had gotten that morning, so I'll definitely say that Vacation Races is awesome with communication. With the last minute changes to the start line parking, that communication was much appreciated.

Around 6:30, the announcer ushered us all out of the tent to head to the start line. The organizers split the runners into 6 waves. I must have indicated a finish time when registering, though I registered so long before the event that I don't remember for sure. There was a little emblem on the bib; the color of which was indicative of the wave you were assigned to. The back of the bib explained this, but once pinned on that wasn't very helpful. I would have liked the bib to have said Wave 3 in addition to the color coordination.

Because of the rain the night before, and trudging through the muddy field, most runners had a thick layer of mud on their shoes. Combine that with the mud on the road from all the cars, the start line was a bit slippery. Nothing too terrible, though.

The sun was rising just before the race started, and you could begin to see the glorious mountains in the background. Though I had registered for this race nearly a year in advance, I was not at all as prepared on race morning as I should have been. The stunning views really helped push me along.

The race is advertised as a mostly uphill race, but it really didn't feel that way for the first half. There were even a few spots that seemed quite downhill. Just past mile 6, though, there was a real doozy of a uphill. I definitely walked quite a bit up that hill! The second half of the race was much more difficult than the first. The uphills, though still mostly gradual, really started to take their toll on me. This is more a fault of my training, and not the course itself.

This is an open road race, which means there are cars driving along the highway throughout the entire race. Certain areas were reduced to one lane of car traffic, so runners could take the other lane, but much of it was run on the wide shoulder. The race was sold out, which made the course kind of crowded the entire time.

The last few miles of the race are in the small town of Springdale. The course moves from the highway to a paved running/biking trail and sidewalks. There were even a few spectators that came out for the final couple miles.

There were plenty of volunteers at many of the driveways to the various businesses in the last mile helping to direct traffic, so the runners could get to the finish line. However, it was a little annoying that there were so many runners who had already finished walking in the opposite direction as those trying to finish. There was a little dodging that had to be done.

The finish line was very good! It was a lovely downhill that I definitely took advantage of. A volunteer put the biggest medal I'd ever received around my neck, and I headed to the post-race food. Vacation Races really encourages runners to take advantage of the national park post-race, so they provide you with a recovery/hiking box full of delicious goodies. There were also bananas and chocolate milk.

Speaking of food, the aid stations along the course were fantastic - well stocked with water, Nuun, Honey Stinger gels, and amazing volunteers! This is a cup-free race, so you need to run with your own hydration packs or you could have purchased a reusable hydra-pouch. There was plenty of water to refill your bottles and the set up was perfect for this! I never needed a refill, but the spigots seemed very easy to use for a quick refill. A couple of the stations even had fresh fruit. I had a couple much needed banana slices.

I would highly recommend this race to anyone! With proper training, the hills are perfectly manageable and the views are incredibly stunning - even on the overcast, dreary day of this year's race. Vacation Races is very well organized and the pre-race communication (even morning of!) was incredible!