Boise River Flooding Claims Another Favorite Treasure Valley Summer Event
I actually had to read the post four times before it completely sunk in that I won't be doing something I've done every summer for the past four years.
Since the second week of March, I've had the opportunity to be a mentor for Fleet Feet's half marathon training program, "Half Crazy 2." It's a 15 week journey for runners/walkers/joggers of all ability levels. The people in the group range from seasoned vets like myself trying to lower their personal best time to people just started running 5Ks a few months ago. Seeing how our participants grow, change and get to know themselves in new ways during the program is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to do. It's no surprise that there were tons of hugs and happy tears at the finish line of the target race "Half Crazy 1" trained for. I was so looking forward to seeing it happen again on July 8th at the Fit For Life Half Marathon.
...but that's not going to happen. For the first time in 15 years, race organizers are canceling the the 5K/10K/Half Marathon that starts and finishes at Hawks Stadium. Organizers had hoped that by July the river would have subsided near the course, but it continues to get worse as river flows increase. Over 90% of the course takes place on the greenbelt and even if the waters do subside in time, it's unclear how safe the path will be for runners at that point. The Race Director worked with Boise Parks and Rec on putting together an alternate route, but kept running into the same flooding problems.
They were also unable to postpone the event because of conflicts with other events in and around Hawks Stadium. Participants who've already registered for the event will be contacted with details about credit/transfer/refund options. The organizers also put on September's Payette Lake Run in McCall and October's City of Trees Marathon in Southeast Boise.