One thing I have learned is there are as many different opinions with regards to specific races as there are runners. You can pull two people from any given race and get one that had an amazing experience and can't wait to do that race again and another who found the event to be horrid and will tell anyone that listens to never do it. This tends to be because as runners we have such differing goals than our fellow runners at times. Therefore, I find it best to always consider the goals of the individual recommending (or trashing) a particular event when consider whether to add it to my schedule or not. (Unless the person relays facts with regards to shady business dealings or scams - which sadly do exist on occasion; in which case I avoid the event/organizer.)
When selecting events for 2013 I saw a posting within on of my running groups mentioning the Bear Lake double, which knocks out Idaho and Utah in a single weekend. Given the airfare costs to these destinations from my area, I was interested. A quick verification that the events had finisher's medals (yes, I'm a bling snob) and my decision was made. The event's website is not the most user friendly; and when I went to sign up I could see there were three options in the drop down by one was cut off so I couldn't tell what it was. I selected one of the races and registered, finding that the website would not take my discount code for being a member of the 50 States Club. After my payment was processed, I went on to register for the second race, only to realize that the unreadable option had been the option to register for BOTH 1/2s at a discounted price. Not wanting to take the chance of losing the registeration fee I'd already paid, I only registered for the remaining race, then fired off an email to the Race Director explaining the situation. He responded that it would not be a problem to refund the difference and asked if I minded waiting until packet pickup to resolve the issue. I didn't have a problem with this, but given that it occured in January and packet pick up wasn't until June, I could see where this could pose a problem for some.
It only took a mention to get Sherry, Krissy, and George to sign on as well. Unfortunately, Krissy had to cancel due to a last minute work conflict; but the rest of us headed to Bear Lake in early June to check Idaho and Utah off of our lists. Right off of the bat we had opposite experiences which could have influenced our opinions of the venue. George and I had hassle-free flights, arrived on time (I even arrived a little early), actually got a better deal on our rental car than our original reservation, enjoyed a peaceful drive through the beautiful mountain scenery mid-day,
checked into the lodge, and was given easy directions and a map to our unit. Sherry's flight was cancelled, she then spent nearly all day in the airport, got a MUCH later flight, rented a car, made the drive through the mountains in the dark with deer abound, missed the entrance to the lodge MULTIPLE times, couldn't find the unit, and eventually gave up and slept in her car after being soaked by the sprinklers and falling. We all finally met up Friday morning as we prepped to head to the start line for the Idaho portion of the race. As George and Sherry were running the full and I was running the half we drove separately.
Upon our arrival at the start location, we saw a few friends and chatted with the other runners. I mentally noted what a small field there was. We then posed for a group picture (of all runners), prior to the start.
The first thing I noted was the absence of a start line. There simply wasn't a marker of any kind. The RD was there and some folks asked where the start was located. He motioned to the road in front of the church (where we parked) and indicated we were starting in the road in that area, heading north about a mile, and turning east to go around the lake. I then noticed there was no timing chip (at all) and some folks had already started running. I asked a volunteer and was informed that you could "either go ahead and start and keep track of your own time or wait for the official start and clock". I thought it odd that the event would offer an honor system for time for those wanting to go ahead early; but the RD explained this event was an add-on at the request of folks that wanted to knock out both states whereas the UT race was their main event and where they focused. The advertised start time came and went, and there was no motion to get folks organized to start. I was chatting with a volunteer and some other runners when suddenly I heard the RD say "Go" and people started running. I cut off my conversation abruptly, while apologizing, and started running from where I was...noting that many people did the same and there was no actual "start line". At the first corner Trent had stopped for a photo op and was holding his camera out to anyone that would take his picture. I wasn't going for time, so I trotted off to the side, snapped a few pictures, handed back the camera, and continued on my way. Sherry fell into step beside me and we knocked off the miles, sometimes chatting, sometimes running silently alongside each other, but both occassionally commenting on the beauty fo the course.
As we approached mile 5, I commented that the field must be slow as we had not been passed by the lead runners yet and this was an out and back. Shortly thereafter, folks started coming by us on their return. I couldn't help but notice as we approached the turn around that only 3 woman had passed and one was considerably younger than I was. As we said our goodbyes and I made my turn I began to wonder if I could possibly place within my age group. Nearly as soon as I'd made the turn around woman who appeared to be about my age approached the turn around. I found myself silently willing her to be running the full as I was feeling slack and not wanting to push the pace but hopeful I could still age group. She turned. For the next 3 miles I felt her bearing down on my and watched her shadow creep up on me. I pushed the pace, determined to stay ahead. I found myself out of breath a few times and while I knew part of it was the pace I was running, the majority of it was the altitude. I'd find out later we were between 5925' & 6100'. At the water stop my competition seemed to back off a bit and walk.
I walked the water stop and then resumed my run, hopefully that I'd opened up a gap between us. Before long her shadow was creeping over my shoulder again and I had to pick up the pace. The sun was bearing down on us, the heat rising, and I was begining to have hydration issues as the stops were every 3 miles and the cups were small. We stayed in a footrace until just prior to mile 10, where she seemed to back off. I pressed on, hoping to open a gap. While I walked the water stop I picked things back up immediately and never saw her shadow again. I picked off another runner; and as I approached the final turn I was confident I'd opened a substantial gap and could relax on the final half mile. As I made the turn I glanced over my shoulder and was alarmed to find she was RIGHT there. I barely had anything left in me and felt sure if she was a runner that saved for a final surge she would surely pass me. Determined not to let go this far along, I held on and really pushed myself through the finish. As I approached the finish area I was confused as there was no finish line. The only indication of where to go was a little boy standing on the side of the road, looking at Runner's bibs, and yelling the numbers out to the adults seated at a nearby table. I pushed past him, stopped my Garmin, and walked towards the water table. I was handed a cup of Gatorade and turned to see my competition cross the line. I smiled and thanked her for pushing me; and was floored to learn she'd actually wanted to walk but didn't want to be alone so she'd decided to keep my pace! Had I known that I may have walked with her! As runners trickled in we hung around the "results" table and I quickly realized the time keepings was simply an iPhone that had a timer started when the RD said "go". As the little boy yelled out your number, the adults would write down the number, then as you crossed their imaginery line (which seemed more of a vacinity from what I saw) they'd write down the time off of the iPhone as your official race time.
I found my time to be slightly faster than what my Garmin said...and my Garmin to say slightly less than 13.1 miles. I obviously wasn't the only one as a few others continued running past the finish area until they hit 13.1, then walked back. On the paper they were recording "results" on, my time was fast enough to put me as 4th woman overall; as this paper only listed bib number and time I had to figure this out by looking at the numbers of those around me and I had no idea how many of those were in my age group (except for the fact that one was obviously MUCH younger). As I wondered to myself if I'd actually get my first age group award and older man puffed his way across the finish line and bee lined directly to the table to confirm he'd won his age group. His request for confirmation was met with an awkward response about how there were no age group awards today, they were for tomorrow. He was not happy about running so hard for no award, but I was happy with simply knowing my standing. However, to further complicate things, a few days later when the official results posted, I found they separated the half results into 2 categories: Half Marathon and Both Half Marathons. So, officially I got first in my age group and second female overall in the half marathon (because the original registration link hadn't worked for me), but I had to view both results and look at everyone's time to figure where I'd be if all half marathoners had been considered a group. Hot and tired, I took a picture with the few Half Fanatics that had finished thus far,
then headed back to the lodge to shower.
Once Sherry and George arrived back, we laid by the pool for a while and enjoyed the view,
ate, and showered we decided to go get raspberry shakes
then check out the spring that George had seen on the way through the mountain the day before. Once there, I quickly scampered across the rocks in the water and climbed the biggest one, goofing off.
I climbed down and explored a bit, climbing other peaks...I've always loved playing on rocks!
We then headed back into town, drove off the full course for the next day to check the elevation profile (because it looked KILLER on the elevation map, but totally wasn't), then stopped to pick up our packets for the next day. While picking up I received my refund for the hassles while registering and George found they had no record of him for a bib, but they had him fill out his information and they assigned a number. We then headed back to relax and crash.
As we were making our plans for the next day we questioned the start time. I pulled out the information I'd printed off the website and we found that it did not list start times. It did, however, list bus departure times for both the full and the half. George and Sherry decided to ride together as their buses left an hour and 15 minutes before mine. I slept a little extra, got up, got ready, and headed to the bus. After parking I got on one of the buses and waited. They were supposed to depart in 15 minutes so I just waited. The bus QUICKLY filled, as did the other 2 waiting. The driver began turning folks away, telling them there were two more buses that would be back shortly to load (these were the buses returning from dropping people off to start the full) as each of these three buses were at their capacity with 75 people per bus. When we arrived at the start area we were uncerimoniously dropped off and the buses left. The website had said today race would have chip timing...there were no chips. Approximately 225 people now stood on the road with traffic still utilizing the road, 4 porta-potties lining the shoulder, no designated start line, no volunteers, and no instructions. As we tried to determine what to do a lone runner came jogging through...the first participant in the full. She was obviously an early starter as there was no way we were looking at someone who had transversed miles 1-13.1 of a full in just over an hour. As we stood, chatter went around wondering what to do. Some folks just started their Garmins and took off. Another full runner came through and we all cheered. I finally pulled up the website and called the contact number, telling the person that answered that we were all standing at the start for the half and were wondering if we were just supposed to go. He asked me to tell everybody that someone was on the bus that would be arriving in 5-10 minutes that would officially start us. I tried to pass the word as I began to wonder how in the world this could be a Boston Qualifier when the time keeping was so shoddy.
As the final bus arrived the RD got off. He told everyone the race would start in 7 minutes. As we all stood in the center of the road, occassionally having to move for traffic to get through, someone asked about timing chips and he informed us that even though the website said that there were only 500 people running both events so it wasn't cost effective. Someone else asked where the startline was. He response was "see that sage bush over there?" as he started telling us to back up. He continued saying "back, back, back" for a bit but stopped way short of the bush he'd pointed out, then quickly said "go" and waited for us to run. Again the timer was an iPhone. I set out on sore legs from having pushed myself so hard the day before, trying to enjoy the run and the surroundings.
One recurring theme in both races was road kill. Some worse than others, but lots and lots of roadkill.
Another recurring theme was running over cattle bridges.
We were definitely out in the sticks. But the views were amazing.
We ran around the southern end of the lake and headed west before heading back up the northern side.
I enjoyed the run, but we had started much later than the previous day so the heat got intense quickly. By the time we hit mile 8 there was no water, only Gatorade (and RIDICULOUSLY strong Gatorade at that!). I worried about my friends completing the full as I knew they still had quite a while until they reached this point and would definitely need hydration here.
I struggled in my last few miles but was still able to pick some people off. I hadn't finished nearly as strong as the previous day and there were many more runners today (nearly 300 in the half alone) so I didn't think I'd have a chance of age group placement. But after I crossed the line, when they posted the results I was surprised to see I was only the 11th female overall. Glancing through the results there were some age groups listed (none of which were in my age group) but many of us had a "1" for age group. I inquired as to why and was told it was because I'd registered for both races vs. the individual half and they would have to "go back in the database tonight and fix it". (Which wasn't at all true because I'd registered for them individually.) I asked how this would affect knowing age group awards as they didn't have a record of our age groups; and was told there were no age groups. I looked puzzled and stated that the website had said they were 3 deep today and that was what was said yesterday as well, then I was given the response that due to the small number of registered participants they deicded not to give age group aways. Once the online results were posted two days later I was shocked to see I was actually 87th female and 133 overall in the "half marathon" category. Not that I thought my time was anything amazing (it certainly wasn't at 2:15); but how in the world did the results on race day show me at 11th or 12th female and 22nd overall??
Hot and tired, I posed for a quick finisher's picture
then headed back to the lodge to shower, eat, and pack. As I waited for George and Sherry I started to get restless so I decided to head back to the finish line and meet up with them. On the way I was tempted by (and caved to) another raspberry shake!
As I waited in line they passed me on their way back to the lodge, so shake in hand I headed back and waited for them to shower and pack. We all chatted about the timing/start issues , chaos at both start lines, and deviations from posted race information (no chips, no age groups, etc). But in the end, we agreed that it had been an amazing weekend, the area was ridiculously beautiful, and we had positive race experiences overall. All said, I'll likely go back and run this one again sometime; but I will do so knowing what to expect and it won't be a ridiculously organized race or a tightly run ship....it will be a laid back experience that gives you a beautiful run, nice medal, and posts official results so you can check off the state. If I were to view this race critically with regards to organization, information provided, and technical merit it would easily be one of the worst races I've done; however, based on the relaxed atmosphere, medal and shirt quality, scenery, fun, and raspberry shakes...it was easily one of the best races ever!
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