BOISE, Idaho — Boise features a vibrant running community, but over the past year, races have been canceled or went virtual because of the pandemic.
On Saturday, Runtastic Bogus held an event giving runners a chance to run a marathon or a half marathon from Bogus Basin to Julia Davis Park.
“It fits with our downhill criteria, they are fun and this one is definitely beautiful," said one of the organizers Brian Wylie.
Nampa resident Heather McPherson finished her first marathon and her family was there to greet her at the finish line.
"They always say the last six miles are the hardest, but just to see them gave me enough energy to just push through," said McPherson.
McPherson trained for several years to run a marathon but she dealt with injuries and iron deficiency, she was finally ready to run last year but the events got canceled.
"It means so much all of us runners are super excited to be out here again," said McPherson. "The running community is such an awesome group of people they are always congratulating each other, cheering each other on so to have that back makes running fun again."
The race did have its challenges as the marathon runners started at 6:00 a.m. the weather didn't really cooperate.
"It was actually snowing up on top and there was some hail," said McPherson.
But nearly 50 runners pushed through to finish the 26.2-mile marathon and around 150 runners were able to complete the half marathon.
Races are slowly returning and there will be a full slate starting in September here's a list of races people can look forward to.
