The first 6 miles were pretty good. I was a bit worried about the altitude, since I've spent most of the last couple years at barely above sea level, but it didn't feel too bad and my calves were just giving me occasional tightness. I walked a few times, but briefly. I had a few people ask me if I was doing intervals, "no, just tight calves, and I can't get myself to do a 5 mile warm up before a marathon, lol" I was slow, but in good company. There were four of us in the back of the pack leap frogging and occasionally running with each other for a bit. The other three were all 50 state club members with 37, 44, and all 50 plus states. One more state and I can become an official member. :)

Usually these early miles are my slowest, so I was feeling really good about my 12 minute per mile average. Then around mile 7 everything just seemed so much harder. I think the altitude was starting to affect me, plus we were now on a gradual ascent. About mile 8 my hips started hurting, not just general fatigue and soreness. My hip joints hurt. They had actually been bothering me, mostly at night, for the last couple weeks, but have never given me any issues while running before. I was wishing I'd brought some advil, but I didn't. I usually carry it and never use it. So, I didn't bother carrying it today. I was trying to ignore it, but ended up doing some walking because it hurt less. It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't finish, but I did think, "18 miles of walking, ugh". I ran when I could and walked a lot.

Just after the 9 mile mark, I saw one of the guys ahead of me turn down a side road. There wasn't any arrows pointing that way and the course had been really clearly marked so far. I asked him if he was sure that was the way. He said he wasn't sure, but it didn't seem like we should be running into traffic with no cones or sides to the road ( the route forward). I agreed that it seemed odd and pulled out my map of the course. I started carrying one after getting lost at Woodside 50k a couple years ago. We couldn't find a street name for the road we were on so it was still unclear. We ran down the road a bit to see if there were any signs, but didn't see any so came back. By this time the other two runners behind us had caught up and a guy in a car going by said, "stay on the highway". I was so glad I hadn't just followed the other runner down that side road. It would have cost me a lot more than the 5 or so minutes that it did.

I ran with Debbie (one of the 50 staters) for a few miles, as she was doing a run 1' walk 1' that was pretty close to what I was doing on my own. The next few miles went by pretty quickly while chatting with her and enjoying the mountain views. Then, she stopped at a port-a-let and I ran on. After that I did more walking than running, my hips were killing me, and it was getting hot. By mile 21 I was just walking and wishing for the ice and tradewinds in Kauai. I walked it in the last 5 miles until I saw the finish line. Then, I managed to run through the finish.

Bring Advil and a container for water to splash on myself. This was a cup free event, which I loved. The quick fill water coolers were awesome with my handheld, but since I keep sports drink in my bottle, I had no way to splash cool water on myself once the temperatures got up into the high 70s. I also would put on some sunscreen. I had my running jacket on at the race start (32 degrees) and around 10am I took it off and got the worst sunburn I've had in years.

Walked around Teton Village a bit and got a frappe.


This was a training run and a way to check off Wyoming from my 50 states goal. I wish I had been able to run more, but the walking is good training for my 50 miler too and gave me some extra time on my feet. So, it's all good


This was the inaugural running of the Jackson Hole Marathon and they did a fantastic job. The course was well marked. They had plenty of aid stations. Great course with beautiful views of the Teton Range. The organizers and volunteers were fantastic!