Once again I prepaid via SpotHero for parking at the Airport Center Express parking structure next to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Since I had an early morning United Airlines flight, I rolled in at about 15 minutes before 3 am. When I arrived at the terminal, TSA wasn't opened yet. They were just barely starting to set things up. One of the female employees working there was downright mean and should not be working in any capacity dealing with customers. I was off to the side observing her interactions with customers. Everything that came out of mouth with filled with anger as if the customer wronged her. The day just started and you're already that cranky? Wow, please go eat a Snickers bar or something! Once they were open, it was a pretty easy process getting through TSA since they had the new self-replacing bin system in place. The conveyor belt would keep pushing empty bins along so there's never a need to wait for bins when they run out. I've only seen them when I was flying through Europe.
The first leg of my trip took me out to Denver. While waiting for my connection, I bought breakfast at McDonald's. I got the Sausage Egg McMuffin meal. It irks me that this McDonald's does not accept any of the deals on their mobile app.
McDonald's in the morning
The second leg was into Idaho Falls on a small regional jet. The plane arrived at the airport early, so I still had about an hour before the reservation time for the rental car. I asked the lady at the Avis counter if I could get my car early. Since the car was available, she had me sign the paperwork and I was on my way.
The drive over to Jackson, Wyoming was a pretty nice relaxing drive. For me, anything outside of Southern California would count as a relaxing drive. I didn't have any cars riding my ass for driving just the speed limit. The drive was also scenic so that it didn't feel like such a long drive. It took a little over 2 hours to reach my destination. The first thing I did was to check into my room at the Antler Inn. It was a pretty cozy motel with a rustic decor.
Antler Inn
After dropping off my bags in the room. I walked over to the nearby SpringHill Suites for the race packet pick-up. Besides the usual bib, goodie bag, and race shirt, I was also given a coupon for a free pair of socks over at the Skinny Skis store a few blocks North. So after I was done with the packet pick-up I walked over to pick up the socks.
Expo at SpringHill Suites by Marriott
Goodie bag
Race shirt
Back of race shirt
Free socks at Skinny Skis
I was a bit hungry, so after dropping off the race stuff in my room, I drove over to the McDonald's to pick up some food. I used the mobile app to score a Quarter pounder with cheese for $1. I ate it there before walking over to the Albertsons across the street to buy some drinks and some snacks. Along the way, I saw the sign for the Pony Express Motel. I almost stayed there solely because of the name and its proximity to a McDonald's. :)
Quarter Pounder with cheese for $1
Drinks and snacks
After I dropped off the drinks and chips in the car, I went back inside McDonald's to pick up more food for the evening. I bought a $1 cheeseburger and got a free medium french fries by using the mobile app. I took that back to my room to enjoy while watching TV. After I was done with my food, I laid out my flat runner to make sure I had packed everything for tomorrow's marathon.
Free medium french fries with $1 cheeseburger
Fly casual
Flat runner
Saturday 9/1
The marathon was scheduled to start at 7 am right over at the Town Square at the intersection of E Deloney Ave and Center St. It was only about 1 block away, so I timed it so that I would get there at about 6:30 am. It was a fairly small field so that was plenty of time to take some obligatory pre-race photos and get settled into the starting corral. One of the race participants actually sang the national anthem. He had a really nice voice!
My friend finishing her 50th State!
Friends from Seattle
Start line
Knowing that the elevation was above 6k feet and that I didn't have time to acclimate, I made sure not to go out too hard during that first mile. I went out at what felt comfortable which was about a 9 min mile. The legs felt great, but the lungs felt like I was trying to run 7 min miles. The course started off with a left turn onto Broadway Ave before heading South on Nelson Dr over to Hansen Ave. We headed West until Willow St where we turned South. Then we turned onto Snow King Ave heading West. We would then zig zag on Scott Ln, Maple Way, and Elk Run Ln before hopping on the Jackson Hole Community Pathway System. That pathway would have us running parallel to the US Highway 191, S Park Loop Rd, and Teton Pass Highway.
Near mile 12 heading North on S Park Loop Rd.
Near mile 17 crossing Snake River
We then looped around Wilson Elementary School heading East until we start heading North parallel to Moose Wilson Rd. This stretch along Moose Wilson Rd would span about the final 10k of the race. It would ultimately take us to the final left turn on Teton Village Rd to head for the finish line. We crossed the road at McCollister and run up the grassy field to the finish line with the beautiful slopes in the background. My goal for the race was to just finish under 5 hrs, so I was happy with my finishing time.
Almost mile 19 just past Wilson Elementary School
About a couple of miles to go
Finish line
Finish: 4:43:35
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, getting my medal, and catching my breath, I waited with my friend for our other friends to finish. After taking some finish line photos, I moseyed on over to the post race food and drink table to get a food box, a bottle of water, and a bus ticket. They were also giving out cans of beer, but I passed, opting for good ol' water.Relive 'Jackson Hole Marathon'
Finisher medal and post race food box
Post race food box contents
It was pretty cool to check out the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort as I waited for my friend to finish. Maybe one day I'll return in the winter for some skiing. For my friend, it was a celebration/victory lap for her as different members of her family got to run portions of the marathon with her. It was pretty awesome that another larger group of strangers that was there for another runner also finishing the 50 States, stuck around to welcome our friend to the finish line!
Silly bear!
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
After taking pictures, I forego the bus ride and caught a ride with my friends back to their AirBnB place in Jackson. My friend's husband surprised her with a video montage of congratulations from all of her friends. That was pretty cool! It even included a message from the ever so humble marathon champion, Meb Keflezighi!
After watching that cool video, a small group of us made our way into town square to eat at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. The fancier steakhouse didn't open until 5:30 pm, so we settled for food from their grill. I got the elk burger with fries. The flavor was good, but it was way leaner than the juicier beef burger that I normally eat. While we were there, it got kind of uncomfortable as the Mongols biker gang sort of took over the bar. As we were exiting, we saw that a few of the cops had shown up. I hope nothing happened as there was a lot more of them than there were cops. I had to excuse myself from the group as I was pretty wiped out and had an early flight to catch tomorrow morning. #GettingOld :)
Elk burger and fries
Sunday 9/2
When I originally booked my trip, the flight home was supposed to be at 10 am. However it got moved up to about 7:30 am. That meant I had to leave pretty early for the drive back over to Idaho Falls. The drive was dark and there were many signs warning of wildlife crossing. My eyes were definitely peeled! While on highway 20, I exited at N Holmes Ave to gas up the rental car at the Exxon on E Iona Rd.
It would turn out that I didn't have to get there that early as the flight was delayed about 2 hrs due to mechanical issues aka the plane was leaking fuel. Eventually they were able to patch up the leak and we were on our way. Thankfully I still had plenty of time to catch my connecting flight in Denver.
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