Ahhhh, Idaho. The land of potatoes (fries, mashed, tator tots, baked, twice baked, sweet, curly, crinkle cut… you get the drift). Also the land of an epic illness and flop. So it goes!

Leading into the race, we decided to go spend some time in Salt Lake City doing a bit of hiking and sight seeing. The weather became a little scary when trying to hike Bald Mtn, so we headed back down into Wasatch Park a little and hiked around a few of the lakes. There was some rain on and off, but for the most part the scary stuff stayed away and we were able to hike around some waterfalls as well.

My sister and her husband, Chris, flew into Salt Lake City on our last day to make the trek up to Boise with us. Some of their best friends just moved out to Boise last fall, so they were heading to visit them in their new home!

Parker also decided to start cutting his first tooth and bringing an epic stomach bug with him on the trip too. It was only a matter of time before Thayne and I started to not feel well too, and for me it just so happened to be the day before the race… Yay! I opted for race day packet pick up (which turned out to just be the shirt and bib… no vendors of any kind) so we headed to the course start a little earlier than normal just in case there was a line or large crowd.

Spoiler alert: There wasn’t.

I knew this would be a pretty small race, which I have no problems with at all. The nice thing was the price ($38!), but you also get what you pay for. The course was an out and back along a trail, so no traffic needed to be stopped, no streets were crossed, but there were also no crowds.

Nice and shady route on the Green Belt Trail!

There were 3 aid stations (so 6 total, with the out and back course) that offered both water and Gatorade. However, there were also no course marshalls or anyone telling you which way to go. Now… you think an out and back course, what could be confusing, right? There were a few places the trail converged with others and you just kind of had to hope that whoever was in front of you was going the right direction!

I started the race in the mid 8’s and thought maybe since there was just about no humidity in Boise and the temperature was in the mid 60’s that my cold symptoms wouldn’t hurt my race.

Spoiler alert: Didn’t happen that way.

I only felt good through about 4 miles. That was really early to start not feeling great for a race. I knew then that I’d just need to slow down and enjoy the course if I could. It was a beautiful day and a very flat course, so it was time to just enjoy the run and do what I could… no PR or even a real race type feel for Idaho.

I saw Thayne and Parker at the turn around point (he was hoping to see me in one other spot, but the diaper bag was left at the hotel and… Parker needed a new diaper RIGHT after the race started). I had my phone with me and knew I’d probably have to text Thayne a few times on the latter half of the race to update him on my slowing pace. Because slow it did.

I couldn’t breathe as well as I hoped the last few miles and jog/ walked it in. It’s a little bit defeating when a 12ish year old little girl passes you in the final mile, but you sure bet that I cheered her on! She looked and finished much stronger than I did. I finished in 1:57:55 (9:00 npace). Maybe it wasn’t nearly the race I hoped to have, but it’s another one in the books and one step closer to the goal. I can’t WAIT for my next race in Omaha, NE… it’s going to be so special!

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