Race Report: 2025 Hole Half Marathon

I was pretty bummed out when I had to pull out of the Hole Half Marathon at the last minute last year. It's a fun fall race and a great way to close out my season before winter sets in, so I look forward to it every year, but with last year's Fish Creek Fire sending the AQI into the stratosphere---235 on race day---I really had no choice but to skip it. We've been much more fortunate this year with a low-key fire season and good air quality most of the summer. I was once again looking forward to completing this race—not just to close out my season properly this time, but because it's also the first time I would finish all three of my local half marathons. It feels like a neat little personal milestone. The Hole Half Marathon is the third and last half marathon of the year in Jackson Hole, after the Jackson Hole Half Marathon and the Grand Teton Half Marathon, both in the spring. It sits in the middle in terms of participation, with about twice as many runners as the former, but nowhere near as many as the latter. (It's also run concurrently with the full Jackson Hole Marathon, which I've never done—maybe someday, though.) The course is almost the reverse of the route for the Jackson Hole Half Marathon. It starts in the parking lot of the Presbyterian Church in Jackson, follows the community pathway across the Snake River for a quick loop to Wilson around the Stilson Lot, and then continues north on the pathway along the Moose-Wilson Road towards the finish line in the lawn of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village. It starts mostly flat, but the last 12 km are at a mild grade, ending at 1,930 m with a total elevation gain of about 90 m. It's a beautiful route, with gorgeous views of the mountains most of the way, and the fall foliage and crisp fall weather add to the beauty of the landscape. View this course in Garmin Connect or Strava. With fire season finally over, the AQI wasn't a concern at all this time—it was firmly in the "good" range on race day. As is typical for this time of year, the day started chilly, with a barely-above-freezing temperature of 1ºC shortly before the 9:00 AM start. With clear blue skies and the sun shining brightly, I expected it to warm up quickly, so I didn't bring too many layers. In previous years I've made the mistake of wearing heavy tops and long running tights and ended up overheating. This time I wore a lighter-weight Tracksmith long-sleeve top and half tights. It was the right decision; I was a little cold at the start but perfectly comfortable towards the end. After last week's result at Ironman 70.3 Washington Tri-Cities, where I finished the run within five minutes of my personal best in an open half marathon, I wanted to try for another PR to truly close out the year on a high note. I gave myself a very aggressive—and probably unrealistic—goal of 1:35:00 and set it up using the PacePro feature on my Garmin watch (I had never used this feature before, so I was curious to see how it worked). It gave me a target pace of 4:30/km, which seemed tough, but worth a shot. At the Jackson Hole Half Marathon back in May, I felt like I was underfueled towards the end; this time I planned to fuel my effort with a Maurten 160 bar before the start of the race and three Maurten 100 gels spaced about 25 minutes apart, with the last one caffeinated for a little boost at the tail end of the race. This race is cupless, but I didn't want to slow down at the aid stations or carry a bottle, so I didn't worry about hydration. Kate dropped me off at the Presbyterian Church at 8:30 AM. This gave me just enough time to get my bib, do a quick warmup, and use the porta-potties before the start. I placed myself near the front, and hit the ground running as soon as the gun went off. I did my best to follow the pace guidance from my watch, but admittedly let the race adrenaline get the best of me; the first couple of kilometers were a little faster than I intended, and certainly near my limit. The PacePro feature worked well, though—it gives you a special data page on the watch with the current target pace, current pace, and how far ahead or behind you are from the desired finish time. It also provides alerts whenever the target pace changes. I'm not sure if I can use this in triathlon mode, but it'd be convenient if so. The first half of the race went well, and I stuck pretty closely to my target paces, although I was actually ahead of my target finish for most of this time. However, once I rejoined the community pathway for the uphill portion of the race on the Moose-Wilson Road after looping around the Stilson Lot, I started feeling some pain in my right knee. It's the same damn IT band pain I had a couple of years ago in St. George, which hadn't recurred since then. It wasn't bad enough to cause me to DNF or even slow down to a walk, but it was definitely painful enough that I couldn't sustain the pace I had been running. By the end it had fallen closer to 5:00/km. Roughly halfway through the race, in the Stilson Lot. | Credit: Jackson Hole Marathon Races Those remaining 8 km were uncomfortable as hell, and the last couple in particular felt interminable, but I managed to finish the race in 1:38:14, with a final pace of 4:40/km. I was 3rd out of 23 in the M40–49 division and 15th overall, out of 345. Not quite the personal best I was hoping for, but still my third-fastest half marathon to date—I'll take it. My knee is a little sore, but I have plenty of time to nurse it back to health before my next race, whenever it may be. And with that, this year's race season is finally over. With four successful Ironman 70.3s and all three of the local half marathons done, it's safe to say this has been my best season so far. But now it's time to rest and relax, enjoy some fall bike rides and runs just for fun, and start dreaming of next year's races. Onwards.