On Saturday July 30th, 2022, we traveled over to Idaho and participated in the Idaho Falls Half Marathon.
The race had a cap of 400 runners however, only 217 people registered and 174 actually participated. Out of those runners 23 states were represented! The event also included a full marathon, a 5k and a kids fun run. We purchased our race tickets in the end of February which cost us $65 per person. By race day that price went up only $9 to $74 per person. It included a cotton t-shirt, finisher's medal and entry into a raffle. (Although I believe you needed to be present for the raffle prizes).
On Thursday afternoon we flew into the Idaho Falls airport only 5 minutes outside of the city and checked into our Airbnb apartment. The packet pickup was at a local bike shop on Friday between 4pm-7pm. We arrived shortly after 4pm quickly picked up our bib and race shirt and then headed to Mama Fla's for an early dinner.
Although we could have sat outside, the temperatures were in the 90's so we opted for indoor seating. The menu is a little limited however, everything we ate was delicious. Mama Fla makes their own pasta and we both ended up ordering the lasagna. I had the lasagna 4 formaggi and Dave had the lasagna bolognese. We started with an order of bruschetta and finished it off with 2 cannolis.
Race time was 7:45am the next morning and the starting line was less than one mile from our apartment. We decided to call it an early night so that we would be refreshed and ready in the morning. Due to the two-hour time change from Florida, that was not a problem. Also, not a problem was waking up at 6am. After our customary pancake breakfast, we headed over to the start line.
We arrived about 25 minutes before the start of the race and easily found parking. The temperature was perfect at around 60 degrees. After some brief course announcements, we were off! The first 7 miles were on either a paved walkway along the Snake River and it's canals or a gravel path in between potato farms and factories. I actually enjoyed the gravel path however, at times the footing was unstable, and it did get our shoes and legs dirty. Dave was not a fan.
Rest stops were about every 3.5 miles with a porta-potty and water/Gatorade at each one. After mile 7 the course took us on the roadway for approximately 3 more miles. This was not my favorite as there was no sidewalk or signs/cones notifying drivers that runners were on the roadway. There were also no mile marker signs letting us know our progress throughout the race. Luckily, Dave uses the Mapmyrun app which was pretty accurate in time and distance once we got our race results. Shortly before mile 10 we were back on the sidewalk which led us over the Snake River bridge and around a nice pond before crossing the finish line and receiving our
medal. Surprisingly, there were no race photographers along the course or at the finish line. There was a small race after-party under a large tent where they were raffling off some running gear as well as two massage tables giving runners some much needed post-race rub downs. The temperature during the race went up over 20 degrees by the time we finished. So, we decided to head back to our apartment to cool down, shower and stretch.
Afterwards, we headed out to the town and drank our customary beers and did some shopping. We ran into many other people who also ran the race, most of who were not locals. We exchanged reviews about the race and location and gave recommendations on future races. Overall, Idaho Falls was a perfect location to host a half marathon however, with some upgrades and simple changes it can also become the perfect race to run.
State #47 is complete! Only 3 more to go!
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