Walter was kind enough to let me be a pacer for this race, and after reading about the headwind at the UV Half I am glad I was there instead. The night before had some cold rain so I got a little worried about conditions, but the morning dawned bright and cold (in the low 30s). Fortunately my spiffy new running jacket with built-in gloves was up to the task! A little too up, because I got pretty hot by mile 9 when it hit 50 degrees. Anyway, we started off with a stern warning from the race director to clap our hands loudly before going around corners to let the bears know to get out of the way. Turned out not to be needed since the rangers were riding dirt bikes out front to scare away the wildlife. The first two miles were in the town of West Yellowstone which was still kind of interesting, then on some straight dirt roads behind the airport, but then they took us onto some snowmobiling roads and those were really pretty. Tall, green pines with wet clay from the night before, twittering birds, the whole nine yards. The mile long hill at mile 5 was pretty tough even though it only went up 400 feet or so, and I would be surprised if at least a few of the 2000 participants didn't biff it on the somewhat technical descent at mile 8. I tried to gather people as I passed them at a rigid 1:30 pace but the altitude was proving too much for most (6800) so I ran the last 5 miles alone and dawdled a bit near the end to try and cross on time even with a slightly shortened course. A really great race, highly recommended.
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