The Bear Lake Idaho Marathon & Half is a race that can be ran on it’s own or if you want to challenge yourself, you can sign up for the Trifecta and take home some additional swag and bragging rights. The trifecta is a great way to add to your 50 states, gain membership or level up if you are a member of Half Fanatics or Marathon Maniacs. When we signed up for this series, a different company was putting together this race & about six weeks prior to the event, someone new bought the race and it was surprising how organized these races were. Below are some pros and cons from what me and some of the other runners thought about the race.
scenery- throughout the race you are surrounded by countryside and mountains. A negative about the scenery was that the location for this race changed 3 times and the first two times, we had the chance to run by the lake.
Aid stations – For the half, they had 3 ad stations (5 total since the course was a down and back) and they were fully stocked with water, electrolytes, gu, jelly beans, pretzels and a ports potty. The only negative about the aid stations were they would sometimes run out of cups and toilet paper. It was an issue for the back of the pack and most marathoners.
Course – Mostly flat course throughout with some small inclines. Negative- since we ran out in the country, the roads were 90% rocky dirt roads with pot holes and loose gravel throughout and there was no trees for shade from the sun.
Pre & Post Race – Packet pickup was either the day before or the morning of the race. If you picked up your pack the day before, you got a tech shirt, drawstring bag sponsor swag and the choice of either a mug or buff. If you picked up the day of the race, you got a different design shirt and drawstring bag and a buff. Post race, whenever you finished you got a nice size medal with a ribbon showing the state and under the pavilion, they had fruit, water and pizza from a local sponsor. If you placed in your age group or overall, you got a gold medal (which they didn’t have available on the first day. They had an announcer and music playing throughout post race so even if you’re a back of the pack runner, everyone is cheering and are happy to see you finish.
Con – a lot of the swag and medals were from the previous year so some people got a medal with a bears head on it (this years design) and some got a medal with a bear paw on it (last years design). Some runners didn’t like the new design because it didn’t say ‘half marathon’ on it. I also was expecting that we would get a shirt for each state we were in but for the size of the race, I’m okay with what we got.
Overall it was a good race to run. Not my favorite of the 3 but If the current race director was able to get all this done within 6 weeks, I’m sure next years series will be well worth it.