The Vacation Races - West Yellowstone Half Marathon has to be my favorite race to date. It could be due to the lack of races from Covid, or the desperate need of a girls trip… but this race from start to finish was absolute perfection!

The views were amazing (when I was able to actually look around me vs staring at my feet to ensure I didn’t eat it on a rock). You ran through the town for a short period and then through very thick forest, up hills (that felt like they might never end), and then would come to a river with mountains in the background. It was gorgeous and much different for this city/bike trail runner.

This was my first trail run. It wasn’t horrendous, but those rocks don’t mess around. I rolled my ankle once and paid attention to where I was stepping from then on out. I saw two people eat it and end their race with bloody knees. We stopped at certain places to take pictures. This was a leisure run for us, not a PR race. There were some areas filled with mud. I definitely walked around that as best as I could. There were also some areas where you were either running in deep tire tracks with claustrophobic ankles, or were running down the middle above the tracks on a bumpy grass like mound. I found a lot of walkers liked this path though, so I mainly ran in the tracks or taller grass on the edges for passing/getting out of others way. For my first trail experience I found it different, but enjoyable. Like a box of chocolates… you never knew what was coming around the corner or over the hill.

I enjoyed not having to stand outside in a corral in the freezing cold for 30-45 mins. They announced waves over the radio station you tuned into in the car. We literally hopped out of the truck, walked up, stretched for a minute and were off running.

I NEVER saw a line at the bathrooms (how is that even possible?!). They even managed to bring make shift porta-potties to the two most remote spots on the course (it was a pop up tent where you stood on a wood box, and did your business in what I would assume was a bucket, with a bag in it and a toilet seat). I didn’t look to closely because.. gross.. but impressive non the less. I almost ate it getting into one (the box was wobbly and tried to shoot me out of the tent). I don’t think I have ever seen that many toilets at the beginning/end of a race. It was like they went as far as the eye could see… it was a glorious sight to someone like me. And when you walked out of one, you got the beautiful Montana backdrop smack in your face.

They handed out a delicious chocolate milk at the end followed by a nice snack box and a banana. The staff was super friendly throughout.

The race shirt is ridiculously soft. I’ll wear it again for sure. I liked that they had so many different designs for the clothes they sold. (I bought too much crap!)

I run at an elevation of 0. This race was over 6000. Not sure if it was the views or maybe my health/training, but I had absolutely no issues with the elevation. I was there for a few days prior which I am sure helped me to adapt.

I want to go back to Montana. I didn’t get to see enough on our day out sight seeing!

I will 100% do another Vacation Race series. Can’t wait for the next one!