Pre race: I signed up for this race about a month before. I didn't know much about the race or really much about Cheyenne wyoming other Than it being the capital of Wyoming. My significant other and I had a trip planned to Jackson hole the next weekend where I was already signed up for the full marathon. Welp I need a half in Wyoming too why not knock them both out over the course of 6 days!

I'm constantly on the internet looking at ways i can fit in a race when I have my 48 hours off lined up well. Normally it's a drivable distance, but I'm running out of states with a reasonable drive over the weekend. Ive looked at flights in and out the next day, but they typically leave too early, leave too late or are unreasonably expensive. I looked for races on Sept 18th and came across Cheyenne half marathon. Definitely not drivable from home in Iowa, but the airport an hour from me had a direct flight for 200$ to Denver, CO which was only an additional 90 minutes drive to Cheyenne. Wow. Maybe I can pull this off. Price of the race when I registered a few weeks out was 85$ with about 8$ in signup fees.

I was still working on Fri night the 16th into Saturday morning, getting off at 8am.

* Did my typical shakeout before traveling the hour to the airport. This airport is super easy to navigate and I've never waited more than 5 minutes in the TSA line. Next up was the 2 ish hour flight to Denver. We landed a. Little late but I had plenty of buffer time to make it to packet pickup by 6pm. That was until I got to the rental car pickup and the line was literally out of the door with only 2 agents assisting customers. I Iiterally watched time tick by on my phone panicking as my buffer became non existent.

The website mentioned mailing packets being an option, but but the time I registered that was no longer within the mail cut off limits. Website didn't mention anything about race day packet pickup which I know a lot of races don't do. I took a chance and emailed the race director knowing there was a good chance they wouldn't read it. I finally obtained my rental car and may have made about the fastest time driving from Denver to Cheyenne. I hadn't even eaten at this point since leaving home that morning, but I figured maybe if I go straight to the packet pickup location there might still be someone there so I could race in the morning. I got there about 640pm and saw someone inside. It was the race director and I nearly cried tears of joy when she said she could give me my packet tonight and I could pick up my bib in the morning before the race. The whole drive up I kept imagining that I had spent this money to end up not racing. Race director was kind enough to show me a map and give me the general idea of where the start was and how to get around in the morning. Packet included a tech style baby blue short sleeved race shirt and some sample packs of a few items.

I headed to my hotel the red lion hotel which was the partner hotel about 10 minute drive. This hotel had a shuttle in the morning for racers and was a Phone call away for post race. Hotel wasn't too fancy, but it was one of the cheaper ones in the area and provided all the basics including a late checkout with request.

*This hotel also provided a shuttle race morning which was super helpful since I traveled solo and didn't want to worry about carrying my rental car keys(no bag check). There was a sign up at the front desk for a shuttle leaving at 615am that i put my name on. I had my traditional pre race meal of a burger and pancakes and indulged in my new favorite of crumbl cookie flavor of the week. This was in a commercial area 10-15 minute drive from the hotel. Lots of chain restaurants, a mall and target and Walmart along this strip. I grabbed some extra water and Gatorade to make sure I was hydrated for the elevation to my body on short notice.

*the next morning I woke up around 520am to get ready. I debated just driving myself and carrying my keys since I didn't know how late they would be handing out bibs at the start line with the full starting at 630. I ultimately decided to take the shuttle van and eliminate worries of losing the keys. Me and 2 others were on the 610 van ride. One of the guys on the bus was running the full. Shuttle driver for the hotel was awesome and got us to the start line in a record breaking 9 minutes. I was concerned for the full marathon runner😂. But he made it in time even for a short warm up. I noticed people were parked along the grass just a stones throw away from the start line. The line was long when we pulled up and instructions said people needed to be parked by 625am because traffic would be closed off once the full started. The race was located at Archer recreation complex. The course was pretty straightforward for the half making a large rectangular loop back to the start area. I can't speak on the full course, but seeing their signs along the way made me a bit confused of the route.

The full marathon started at 630 am promptly and although the weather was a perfectly cool 49° I was happy to not be running the full that morning. There were about 50-60 full runners and 3 pacers sprinkled in at various finish times. Some of the 5k runners were there early and the other half runners were all in the area around the start line and port a potties. The race director made some announcements that were difficult to hear starting in the back of the pack. There were a few pacers in the half start area 2:30 being the last one. The race started at 7am and we were off!

The first part of the race was on gravel which I thought was going to be temporary until we got to the roads. The gravel lasted about the first 3.5- 4 miles with some steeper climbs built in. I dont think i was expecting that much gravel so it slowed me down a bit. Not to mention the elevation difference from my flat land home was taking my breath away. I heard some ladies who were more local comment about the race course changing and that it used to go through downtown Cheyenne. There was a brief section of paved trail around 4 miles that lead to hereford ranch which the race director had mentioned was one of the oldest ranches in the country. The next 4.5 miles were on a paved road closed off to traffic on one side and light vehicle traffic on the other side. There were wide open spaces and clear skies meant you could see for miles. I was able to pick up some time here even with the small rolling hills. The paved road meant that I didn't need to watch my footing as much. Water stations were about every 1.5-2 miles and easy to access and well stocked. Some of the later stations had some much welcomed candy and treats to nosh on. With about 5k left to go we returned to more gravel roads. I stopped at the aid station to tape up a blister that had started to nag me. Volunteers were super helpful with getting me gauze and tape and sending me on my way.

The recreation complex was in sight, but there would be one more nasty climb before we could get back to the finish line. After cresting the last hill the last aid station came into view. I snagged a reeses peanut butter cup from the station as I finished catching my breath. Blister was still annoying me, but manageable as I shuffled across the finish line to half state number 31.

Enthusiastic volunteers were cheering for me and everyone else as I crossed the finish line. A medal with a brown ribbon was adorned on my neck and a room temperature bottle of water was handed to me. I sat in the closed off road just past the finish line and stretched out while watching others triumphantly cross the finish line of their own half and full marathons.

After about 30 minutes of stretching and cheering on other finishers and chatting with other runners I made my way over to the finish line festival about a 10th of a mile away. I got in line for the food truck. Suddenly the food truck announced that they were out of food. Noone in line budged so I thought I misheard them. Nope. Alas it was true. They had run out of food. This was disappointing as even though im a slower runner, the majority of marathoners had not finished at that point. And a good chunk of half marathoners were still finishing up. I sat down at one of the nearby tables and listened to awards. I heard a guy go up and use his food voucher for an ice cold water while the food truck was making the remainder of the meals already ordered. I decided to do the same and handed over my food voucher from my bib for an ice cold water, sitting back down to listen to awards for the 5k and half.

The race director stopped the awards and made a special announcement. She apologized profusely for the food running out and explained that she had called the other food truck the night before and she had confirmed that they were coming for the post race festivities. The second food truck had not shown up despite just speaking with them the night before. The director announced however that she had made a deal with a concession stand In the event center across the street and that they would be accepting people's bib food vouchers over there. Damn. I had already used mine for the water. I called the hotel shuttle to get a ride back so I could get in a shower and head back.

* I watched more awards as I waited for the shuttle van. Race director announced a few more times during the awards about the food change of plans and apologized for the inconvenience for the marathoners to walk all the way across the street for food as more of them continued to cross the finish line.

My shuttle arrived and I headed back to the hotel ready for a shower and a long day of traveling back home. In order to make this trip more cost effective, I returned my rental car after 1 day of use. This meant getting to the airport around 3pm with my flight not being

*until 820pm. Not ideal but Denver Airport is an interesting Airport to spend 5 hours in. Look it up if you haven't heard about the conspiracy theories out there. Plus it was super busy so lots of people watching. Really wanted to sleep on the flight back since I had to drive an hour back home and still be to work at 730am Monday. I even paid a little extra to move from my middle seat to a window seat with the hopes of some restful slumber. Alas twas not meant to be. Slept all of 5 minutes. Got home, after driving , a little after midnight.

I wish I could have run this race when it went through downtown area. Those types of races are much more interesting to me. I'm glad I did this and I was able to knock off a half marathon state in about 34 hours of my 48 off shift. I would reccomend this race if you're looking for a half close to Denver in Wyoming. I personally think Jackson hole is more scenic. But much less cost effective. Look for that review soon!