I ran a couple half marathons over the past 2 weeks – one of them being my favorite race and the other being one I’ve feared, but have always wanted to do. This is a recap of my favorite race, the 2019 Bill Snyder Highway Half Marathon.
BILL SYNDER HIGHWAY HALF MARATHON
The first running of this race was my very first race, the 2015 Bill Snyder Highway Half Marathon. Therefore, I’m a little sentimental when it comes to this race. Excitingly, it was announced that we end on the 50-yard-line of the Bill Snyder Family Stadium (normally ends in the parking lot outside the stadium). This was going to be very exciting. When I talked to one of my best friends from the KC Symphony Chorus, Craig, he decided that he wanted to do the race this year – his first every half marathon.
Craig quickly noted that he would not be able to run the same pace as I’d been running, but I wasn’t worried about my time at all – I wanted him to have a fun experience and have someone to run along the whole way. I’d already run this race twice, so this was going to be HIS race, not mine.
We arrived outside the Bill Snyder Family Stadium at 5:20 am to get our bus ride out to the start line which is nearly at I-70 on KS Highway 177 (the Bill Snyder Highway). 
We waited in the tent, staying out of the cool wind and waited for everyone else to be shuttled out for the start at 7:00 am. 
Another Chorus friend, Mark, joined us at the beginning.This was also Mark’s 3rd year running this race.
We did a combination of running and walking, first along the 8 miles on the highway into town. Then we went down Poyntz, around City Park, through Aggieville, through the KSU campus, and eventually ending at the football stadium.
We finished in 3:10:45. It was very fun seeing ourselves on the large Jumbotron as we were running in and hearing our names and hometowns announced overhead.
Four of us from the KC Symphony Chorus ran this race. In fact, it was also the first half marathon for Dave, seen here in red.
The most cool part, however, was having Bill Snyder there to take pictures and sign autographs. He signed the back of our medals. So very, very cool.
