Lost Dutchman Half Marathon in Apache Junction, Arizona

Awesome Arizona!

This is a special race! It's the first destination race that piqued my interest after officially joining the 50 States Half Marathon Club. The 2025 Lost Dutchman Half Marathon had just happened, so people were sharing their experiences and pictures. Everybody raved about it and the medal was beautiful. They do an interesting thing where they introduce a new medal for the full marathon each year, and shift the previous year's medals down to the next distance. This meant I had a pretty good idea that the awesome, state-shaped (!!!) with a cactus, full marathon medal from 2025 would be headed to the half distance in 2026... I wanted it!

My first state-shaped medal!

Fast forward a year, and I was pretty close to bailing on this trip. We'd squeezed in a family Disney Cruise vacation the first week of February, and it hadn't quite been enough time for me to feel excited about heading back to the airport yet. Plus, we’ve been passing around a cold since Christmas and I haven’t felt 100% in a long time. No training, no running, just coughing and hibernating in the Pittsburgh winter. I’ve also spent time in Arizona before, so this wasn’t a new-to-me state opportunity. I forged ahead anyway because I wasn’t missing anything fun at home, the kids were looking forward to a quiet weekend. This race has a delightful 6-hour time limit, so I figured I could listen to my audio book and enjoy some peaceful time among the cacti.

My 7:00 am flight required an early start, but I breezed through security. I was very grateful for my TSA pre-check. This was the first time that I’ve seen a significant difference between the regular security line and the pre-check line in the newly renovated Pittsburgh airport. It was a very smooth travel day (actually the flight was pretty bumpy, but the traveling logistics were smooth!). I listened to “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach and the time passed quickly, hooray for direct flights! I landed in Phoenix at 10:00 am. I had a rental car waiting with Hertz (pre-paid to save money, but I should learn to stop doing that because it was another reason I felt like I couldn’t/shouldn’t bail on this weekend race-cation). I'm glad I reserved one though, because the Phoenix airport was busy and several rental car companies appeared to be sold out.

It was warm and sunny, a glorious reprieve from cold, snowy Pittsburgh. Arizona is beautiful! I love  seeing the mountains and the cacti are so much fun - big, small, such variety! I headed towards the packet pick-up location in Apache Junction, and stopped for lunch on the way. I had to try In-N-Out Burger for the first time! It was tasty, and it is fun that they give you a little placemat for your lap if you plan to eat in your car. Packet pick-up was straightforward, no lines, located in a YMCA/gym type of building. Several vendors had tables set up and everybody was very friendly and helpful. They made an error with the dates on the shirts, but it's tiny print and I've never given a second thought to the dates on my race shirts, so I was not bothered. It’s a very nice long-sleeve technical shirt, in silver to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the race. I especially respected and appreciated the nice e-mail we got from the race director that took ownership of the mistake and reframed it as a special limited edition!

I received an alert that my hotel room digital key was ready, perfect timing. I headed back towards the airport to a Hampton Inn & Suites in Tempe. Initially, I'd booked a room for two nights at the Best Western in Apache Junction because it seemed like a great location close to the start/finish. I still would have needed to drive and park on race morning though, so when I decided I was just going to go for a quick one-night trip, I switched to the Hampton. It was less expensive, very close to the airport, closer to the dinner location, and an easy 30 minute drive to the start. It also had a lovely pool and hot tub, yay!

Sheri from the the 50 States Half Marathon Club graciously planned a wonderful pre-race dinner for the group at Vito’s Pizza & Italian Ristorante. It was so nice to see some familiar faces from earlier in the year in Missoula. I also got to see Yana from Pittsburgh, and made some new friends as well! It was a great opportunity to chat about the races everyone has been doing and find out where people are planning to race in the upcoming year.

50 States Half Marathon Club Pre-Race Dinner

Misty, Sheri, and me

Yana and I with our twinning club jackets!

I didn't sleep particularly well, the travel and time change and hotel noise had me out of sorts. The time change helped in a way though, because I was wide awake by 4:00 am! Since I was a little nervous about the parking logistics, I decided to just get ready and roll. I was parked at Prospector Park by 5:45 am. It seemed like parking and race-day packet pick-up was all fairly easy. The park is really nice! Playground equipment, fields, actual bathrooms, and incredible views! I met the 50 States Half Marathon Club for a pre-race photo. The sunrise was perfection, the photos do not do it justice!

The start line energy was awesome! Great music and an enthusiastic announcer. We got started and the first few miles flew by just taking in the incredible views of sunrise over the Superstition Mountains. I ran with a new friend I made at dinner the previous night, Misty from Nebraska. We chatted and stopped for plenty of fun pictures with cacti, so the time passed quickly. We started out pretty strong with 30:30 run/walk intervals, but around the halfway turn-around point we were definitely doing more walking than running. I started to feel the heat and the rolling hills. Could we have run a little more/gone faster? Probably. Did we have fun and enjoy the race? Definitely! It was really well-supported with plenty of water/Gatorade stops. For being a fairly remote race, I thought there was great crowd support. The volunteers were so friendly! Kids were running up to us offering gels, and one young man ran up a hill with us. The finish line energy was great! They had little bags assembled for us with bagels, peanut butter, chips, bananas, and water. There were food trucks and other vendors set up near a stage with seating. I spent a little time enjoying the post-race festivities and cheering for fellow 50 Staters before I had to head back to the hotel.

I appreciated a 2:00 pm late check-out, which gave me time to shower, stretch out, and pack up. I filled up the rental car gas tank and headed back to the airport with plenty of extra time. The rental car return center is a little bit removed from the airport, and requires a Sky Train ride. It's a nice system, but the process does add about 30 minutes. Smooth travels on the flight home as well, my flight left Phoenix at 5:00 pm and I was back home in my own bed by midnight! Certainly a whirlwind race-cation weekend, but I’m glad I made it happen. The Lost Dutchman Half Marathon is a well-organized race that showcases the incredible beauty of Arizona!

Arizona complete! State #11, Half #16

Date: 2/15/2026
Bib: 732
Time: 3:31:07
Pace: 16:07

Next up will be the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Washington, D.C. in March. I am very glad I have a month to get healthy and get back on track with my training plan. My friend Laura, who is training for the Pittsburgh Marathon, will be joining me!