OK, once again I am a little behind on my race reports, but here we go. I have been pacing a lot of half marathons over the summer, but if I did a report on all of those I would be REALLY behind so I will get caught up with reports on any race over a marathon for a bit.
The next adventure on my list was the Harriman 50K (they also have a 25K) on August 18th. This race was run in Harriman State Park in Island Park, Idaho. This was only the second year of this race so I had not heard much about it, but it was put on by Jim Skaggs, the same race director as the Buffalo Run 50 that I did earlier in the year.
This race was step 3 in my quest for the Yeti Distance Challenge jacket. In the Yeti Distance Challenge, you had to run a 50K, a 50 miler, a 100K and a 100 Miler all in the same year. The Yeti 100 on Sept. 28th is my last race for this challenge. Fingers crossed that that jacket will be mine!
The drive was a pretty easy drive, but a little longer than I like to drive the day before a race. It was about 5 hours from Salt Lake City, so I left work around noon to make it to the packet pick up on time (which went from 3:00PM-8:00PM). When I got to Harriman State Park, I parked the car and walked about a half mile to the building where the race would start and where the packet pick up was. This is a small low key race so there was no expo at all. Just 2 people handing out race bibs and t-shirts.
The view on my walk to the packet pick up.
The really cool thing about this race is that if you don't want to stay in a motel miles away, you can have a bunk in the dorm for like $15! Most of the runners stayed there so it was pretty fun. All the bunks were not full so I lucked out and got my own room.
My bunk.
To find dinner that night I had to drive about 7 miles to Island Park where there was one good restaurant called The Trout Hunter. It was a bar and grill filled with locals and fishermen. The food was excellent.
After dinner, I headed back, got my stuff ready, watched some Netflix shows I had downloaded and called it a night. Luckily, Jim doesn't start his races too early so it was nice to sleep in until 6:00AM (for a 7:00AM start) as the start was 200 yards away.
I got to the start and met up with a few friends, took some photos, Jim gave the course instructions and we were off!
I got to the start and met up with a few friends, took some photos, Jim gave the course instructions and we were off!
In one of the pre-race emails, the RD told us that we were in bear country and that is was our choice if we wanted to carry bear spray. I didn't want to do that so I carried my trekking poles on my back instead. People laughed, but if a bear came, I would rather be carrying two pointy sticks than nothing! 😂
Selfie at the start!
Ran into some friends at the start!
Cutest couple in running! Royce and Ruthie!
The start of the race was just beautiful! The sun was just coming over the water and it made everything look so peaceful as we headed out on the single track trail.
I had to stop about 1/4 mile into the race to take this photo. It was just so beautiful!
Off on the single track!
The scenery on this race was awesome!
Around 4 1/2 miles in, we reached the first substantial climb. We got to choose which lesser of two evils we wanted to go. I went with Coronary Bypass.
There is only one aid station on the course about 6 miles in that you hit twice in each loop. It came the first time after the first big climb. They had the typical aid station fare (chips, cookies, candy, oranges, Coke, water, and sports drink).
When we started down the other side of the mountain, we came out onto this big open space with horses, cows, and grass.
This cow was standing on the trail and wouldn't move until I took out my phone to take a photo. She must have been camera shy! 😂
We ran on this long section of grass.
Coming into the first loop I hit the water stop and asked a volunteer to fill my bottle for me while I grabbed some food. I was trying to get out on the second loop quick. I took off and got about a quarter mile down the trail and went to grab my water bottle and it wasn't there! The sweet volunteer filled it and left it on the table for me, but I forgot to grab it so back to the aid station I went!
I was tired and hadn't kept up on my fueling as well as I should have, so my legs were tired and I had no energy. I felt like walking the entire last loop but decided to at least do a run/walk. I started doing one-minute run, one-minute walk intervals and that saved my race. I was able to get my legs back and eventually had the legs to run the last few miles strong!
Cute barn near the start/finish
There used to be a small out and back on this old bridge, but it was so rickety, they condemned it which made the course a little short, so if we wanted to get an official 50K in (like I did), we could run a few laps around the camp to make up the distance (which I did).
This race gives mugs instead of medals which is nice. I like useful awards and the mug is cute.
Me and my finisher's mug!
After the race they had beer and burgers which tasted so good! I sat and chatted with other runners and watched for friends to finish. The plan was to drive home after the race, but I was just too tired, so I booked a room on Airbnb for $30 and drove an hour to Rigby, ID. It was a Harry Potter themed room, so I was all over it! I got some sleep and headed home the next morning.
This race doubled in size from the first year and is sure to get bigger every year. It is small, but the course is so beautiful. It is a must do!
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