The big sky marathon was not a race I was familiar with at all. My significant other came across this race in an internet search for races in mid-July where we both had some time off of work. Typically the options for distance races in July are understandably slim. I can’t say that July is my first choice, or even 11th choice on months during year when I want to run a full marathon, but when you’re trying to do a half and a full marathon in all 50 states sometimes you gotta run in less than ideal conditions. We started making plans to run this race and visit Yellowstone Park since it was a short drive away. Registration on their website was simple and straightforward and around 100$ which is pretty standard, if not cheap for a full marathon anymore.

PRE-RACE
The race advertises itself as not being a “pansy ass big city race.” The race is made for 50 staters, marathon maniacs and half fanatics. There is a race called the Madison marathon the day before big sky with half and full marathon options. I did not participate in the Madison day before. The race starts around 8500 ft with around 3600 ft of elevation drop it also boasts itself as being one of the largest downhill road marathons. I’ve run a few Revel downhill marathons, so I was expecting a similar setting for this race. I scoured the internet for reviews and could not find many reviews. I kept joking with my significant other that he had no idea what he got us into. The race website mentions that since its not like big city races that aid stations are very limited and you should carry what you need for support to get you to the finish line. I’m used to running, and love big city races so this was a big change for me. I purchased and started training with a hydration pack during the last few weeks of training. This would turn out to be a necessity!

We started looking at flights, hotels and a rental car for the trip. We were Flying into Bozeman airport which is a little over an hour away from the race location in Ennis, MT. *WARNING: rental cars are super expensive from this airport during this time of year. Apparently everyone wants to go to Yellowstone during the summer months😂. * our rental car for 5 days was going to cost over 2000$ for a basic economy option. I was willing to throw away the race registration fee at that point and just not go. 2K for just a car is not reasonable to me by any standards. Luckily we found a cheaper option on Turo and could begin booking the rest of our trip. We stayed at the red bear inn right in downtown ennis, and about 10-15 minute drive from the bus pickup location We noticed after the race that several other participants stayed there as well. Speaking of bears, pre-race emails made several mentions on warnings of grizzly bears and bringing bear spray. And to also be on the lookout for Great Pyrenees dogs protecting their territory and instructions on what to do if we encountered one. Oh my what did I get myself into?!

RACE MORNING:
We got up dark and early and started getting ready. The weather was looking to be less than ideal by the end of the race. But was going to start in the high 50s and low 60’s at the top of the race. Wildfires this year caused a steady Smokey haze to permeate the Big Sky. My significant other was running the half and I was running the full. We both filled our hydration packs with ice, cold water and various gels and chews. We got in and drove the short drive to where the buses pickup location was. Part of the road that we drove in on is the last 8 out and back miles of the marathon Parking was pretty simple. This is a relatively small race between both distances. This ain’t no pansy big city race so no expo and no fanfare. We picked up our bibs, safety pins, T-shirt and matching drawstring bags and boarded our separate buses for the slow bumpy ride up to the start line. The full bus had about 50 people on it. The buses follow pretty much the first 18 miles of the race course in reverse. Narrow gravel roads cause this to be about an hour drive. The sun started to come up during the drive creating excitement amongst the riders. Listening to conversations on the bus, a few people had done the race the day before. Other people talked about their upcoming marathons and their past races. One lady exclaimed that she brought the bear spray and to call out to her during the race if you needed it. About 5 miles before the race start area, the half marathon bus behind us stopped. There were no porta potties I’m sight. My significant other later told me that the half start area did not have any bathrooms and that people were scurrying off into the tree lined areas to relieve themselves pre-race. The full bus trucked on to our start area. People raced off the bus excited to use the 2 available toilets at our start line. The bumpy ride must have shaken things out of everyone. The small group self seeded ourselves and we started the race at the sound of the race directors count.

RACE:
The race starts off on the road we just drove up. Gravely but even. There were views on either side, but the Smokey Air was tainting them. The sun was out, but it wasn’t hot...yet. Most people had on hydration packs or belts. The small group quickly thinned out and I was basically running by myself. The first few miles are a slight downhill. The gravel began to get a little less even after a few miles and I was walking more and more out of fear of twisting an ankle. I’m not a trail runner for this very reason. There were large sections of chunky gravel where I didn’t feel comfortable running. My water on my back stayed cool for awhile. Along the road you could see the limited water stops every 3-5 miles or so. The water stops consisted of probably 5-10 gallon jugs on the side of the gravel road. By the time I got to one I actually wanted to use, it was completely empty. The course became more of a downhill after about 5 miles in. It wasn’t the easy breezy speedy downhill I had been anticipating, it was downhill but still the chunky gravel where I was afraid to go too fast a lose my footing. I leap frogged a few people back and forth, but was mostly running solo the whole time. I did spend some miles off and on with a wonderful lady named Gail from Alabama. You can see why this place is called big sky, I’d imagine in non Smokey conditions you could see for miles like the sky and mountains just never ended. After about 14 miles the biggest portion of the downhill ended and it started getting warm.

The race is now out in the open with no shade and the temperatures rising into the 70s and 80s. There were ranches and farmland that we passed by and a gentle flowing stream to the right that I may have considered jumping into around mile 16. The gravelly road continues and follows the same path as the half marathon to their finish line. The full marathon is teased though since this is only mile 18 and we still had 4 miles out and 4 miles back on a long stretch of gravel road with no shade and temperatures tipping into the 90s. My significant other finished his race, went back to shower and came back to wait for me to finish. He also brought me the most refreshingly cold Gatorade which was amazing since my water on my back was now warm and Mostly empty. He drove off and I continued on the death march of the last 7 miles. Every once in awhile a car would pass by me leaving the area because they had finished their race. I was so jealous! Everyone was very encouraging as they left! I passed by the woman Gail from before and she instructed her husband who was driving nearby to give me cold water. Another welcome refresher. My cell phone was just starting to get some intermittent signal long enough to play some of my favorite tunes as I cross the finish line.

POST RACE:
The race director was there to hand out my medal and record my finish time(no chip timing). It was my slowest marathon to date. Partially due to undertraining. Partially due to conditions and weather . No official finish line to cross no fanfare. Remember this ain’t no pansy city race! There were some warm bottles of water left over in a truck. No post race food. We got in the car and went back to our room in ennis for a refreshing shower. Lunch options ended up being limited in town most likely due to lingering covid restrictions. We spent the day in town walking around some of the parks and headed to West Yellowstone the next morning. A scenic drive with slightly less smoke in the air!

Overall this was a very limited support race with nothing extra and less than ideal conditions in July. If you’re okay with running alone, possible bear sighting, bringing your own supplies, and a road run that feels like a trail run, then this is the race for you. I’ll be mostly sticking to the pansy city races personally.