State # 10, the Moose Double, and the first half of the Grand Quad!

 

State #10 in my journey to run in all fifty states allowed me to go to one of the most beautiful places I have visited!  I signed up for the Grand Quad with Vacation Races.  This means I ran two 5Ks and two half marathons over one week.  The first weekend I finished half of the races and the Moose Double...meaning I ran the 5K and half in the Grand Tetons.  That got me 3 medals!

My vacation started by me flying into Salt Lake City, hopping in the rental car (well, that took  a minute!), and driving 4 and half hours to arrive at 4:55 for a 5:00 bib pickup and race at 6!  I at least had a person pick up my bib since I didn't know if I would get there in time!  

The drive seemed long because it was mainly on back roads....but it was a pretty ride!

The starting line and parking lot for the race had the view of the Tetons and was a great welcome to Wyoming!

All the runners got to sign the Grand Teton sign!

After getting up at 3:30 that morning, having a 5 hour plane ride and a 4 and a half hour drive, without much for lunch other than snack type foods, and arriving in 6000 feet elevation, that 5K was very hard!!  But it did allow me to get my legs stretched and ready for the half the next day!

The view during the 5K!

Finishing the first of my 4 races!

After the race, I checked into our hotel, The Hostel at Teton Village.  It was the most inexpensive and closest place I could find, but it was like staying at camp.  Not bad, but not the greatest place compared to normal hotels. But it was in a very cool place at the base of the Jackson Hole Ski Resort.  

Teton Village at sunset

I had to finally get some food and found a place where I was able to get a grilled cheese sandwich.  On the way back to the Hostel, I was startled by a moose crossing the street in front of my car.  Too startled to take a picture!  And the last moose I saw on the trip.  

The next morning was an early start to get to the race.  And then one of the most beautiful courses I have run!  For most of the course you could see the Tetons.  

The Snake River

Lots of cows in Jackson

Just couldn't get enough of those mountains!

Wouldn't it be cool to live on this property!

Baby cows were everywhere too!

And then at the end, after we couldn't see them for a time, we crossed the finish line with them right in front of us!!  Made the 13.1 miles worth it!!  

Between being tired and enjoying the view, no one wanted to leave this finish line!

I finished the Moose Double!!

I finished my 2nd race of the week! 

And this was my 10th half marathon state!

It was tricky getting to Wyoming in time for the 5k...Camden's 8th grade graduation was the night before and I had to fly into Salt Lake City in order to barely make it in time for the 5K, but it was so worth it!!  Now to have a great vacation before I run state number 11 in Montana!

State #9....Tennessee

 

On May 1, 2021, I ran the Memphis BBQ Half for my 9th state!  It was an extra special race because it was the first one Camden ran.  Originally it was scheduled for April 2020, but you know why that didn't happen!  We were supposed to run the race with my sister's family.  We were all training and then it got postponed to June 6, 2020.  After training the 2nd time, it was then postponed again!  Because of the date change, none of my sister's family could make the race, so Camden and I did it just the two of us.  

When we signed up for it, it was during Spring Break, but the May 1 date did not cooperate with the school schedule.  So we left on Thursday afternoon and missed a Friday of school.  We spent the night in Alabama  on Thursday and went to the Waffle House for breakfast  before heading to Memphis on Friday.

Camden was a little tired during the car ride!

We got into Memphis in time to meet my sister's family at Pimento's for lunch.  Camden said it was a much better burger then the one he had at Chili's the night before!

Lunch with the fam!

After an evening of family fun and cheesecake, we got a good night's sleep in order to run in the morning!

Camden at the start!

The race gave us a start time of 7:55 and 7:56, but once we got there and warmed up, they were letting people start early.  They had everyone line up and they released a runner every 10 seconds.  The race was on the running/biking path through Shelby Farms.  It was an out and back course.  Since it was in a public park, there were lots of non-runners on the path....even bikers!  The strangest thing I saw on a race course was a man walking and smoking!  I am just assuming he was not in the race!  Both Camden and I had signed up for the RaceJoy app and anyone following us could send us messages throughout the run.  I was able to hear the first several before my phone signal quit working.  My favorite was from my brother-in-law, Rob.  I heard "the man in front of you...", and as I looked up and saw a man, I then heard "just farted".  I'm pretty sure Lincoln was the actual sender of that message!

Camden was more interested in running than in posing for the camera...maybe that is why his time is better than mine!

Camden started ahead of me and stayed there the entire race!  He had a great run and finished with a time of 2:12:45.  I didn't have a PR, but finished with a time of 2:24:06.  After struggling with an IT band issue since October, I was happy with this time.  It would have been faster, but the last mile killed me.  It wasn't super hard, but after most of the race being in the shade and fairly flat, the last mile was in the hot sun and up a slight hill!  Nevertheless, we both placed in our age groups!  I placed 2nd out of 8 and Camden placed 1st...out of, well, one!  But he was faster than all the other boys his age that didn't run it!

Camden finishing the race strong!

Amy finishing the race...not as strong!

Jennifer, Declan and Lincoln were at the finish line waiting for us and were able to take our pictures!

At these photo props, I met a girl who had run a Vacation Race!  She saw my VR sticker on my phone when she took out picture!

Although they didn't have a big BBQ at the end for the runners, they were able to give us a to go pack with a BBQ sandwich in it!  Camden chowed down while we were taking pictures!

My two medals from the race!

We spent the rest of the day eating....well not totally, but it felt like we ate a lot!  We went to Gus' for fried chicken; Gibson's for donuts; and then Jenn and I went out for Chinese!  We also went to get pedicures!

Pedicures are a great way to end a race day!

Sunday was an early day so that we could get home for school and work.  We did take several breaks so that I could stretch my legs.  One was to a new to us gas station...Bucees!  It is a big gas station and has a huge store!  We had fun shopping there and buying lunch and snacks!  Camden thought that the gummy worms were cool because they had faces on them!

One of our other stops was at a cheesy carnival in the parking lot of a mall outside of Atlanta.  I let Camden ride one ride.  Although I ride all roller coasters, this is one thing I would not ride!!

This race was not in a new town, and we didn't see new places, but it was fun in that we got to see family and we got to run together!  What could be better!