Sorry Bout That Half Marathon

Runners start and finish the out-and-back course for the race at Mission Valley Aquatic Center on Ridgewater Drive, just off Highway 93. Fifty-one runners crossed the finish line at the inaugural race; 2024 marks the event’s 11th annual running.
From there, runners follow a clockwise loop through the countryside outside the town, with a pass by the Pablo National Wildlife Refuge and later through Polson, before heading back south along the path that parallels Highway 93 to the aquatic center for the race finish.
Along the way, they’ll have views of the lake at Pablo Reservoir and what could be some white, snow-covered farm fields for much of the course. They’ll also pass through several neighborhoods and the town center in the second half of the race, as well as the Polson Flathead Historical Museum when they run from west to east along 7th Avenue through Polson.
Surrounding this small town, which was named for rancher David Polson from Montana’s frontier era, are plentiful national wildlife refuges and forests, including the Swan River National Wildlife Refuge, the National Bison Range and Glacier National Park to the north, where runners can see real (but rapidly dwindling) glaciers inside the park’s boundaries.