The Thelma and Louise Half Marathon makes for an epic girls weekend. Not only do you get to be in a beautiful location, but you get to race with inspiration.

Get your 10k Training Plan here. Perfect if you are running the relay!

I’m just going to go ahead and throw this out there. The Thelma and Louise Half Marathon is a girls’ weekend for the badass. When you combine camping, racing, and the love of a movie that’s all about girl power, you have a recipe for a pretty epic time.

You can camp the night before the race. The race begins at Gold Bar Campground, which the directors reserved for racers to camp at. I slept in the back of my minivan, but if you are going the tent route I recommend this Coleman 4-Person . Extra points if it rains the entire night before the race, which it did.

You run through a gorgeous canyon following the Colorado River. The course itself was absolutely gorgeous. Out and backs can sometimes be a little mundane, but the view along the Thelma and Louise course changed with just about every step. Be sure to bring your camera, or your phone in an armband to take some pictures along the route.

You can run it as a relay, which I recommend! Make the weekend a true girls’ weekend and tag-team the 13.1 miles. Relay runners get to take a boat ride along the river out to the turn around point (or back to the start/finish). It’s a different way to enjoy the scenery while still competing.

The first (and last) water stop is a “Brad Pitt” stop. I had no idea this was coming and when I hit the water stop at mile 1.5, I was hysterical. About 10 gentlemen were dressed up in jeans, a white t-shirt, and a cowboy hat like Brad Pitt in the movie. As I ran by, before the racers all thinned out, I overhead one man say, “This is terrifying!” A swarm of women running towards you, I bet.

The race medal is a belt buckle. Enough said.

The post-race party is the only place to get beer in Utah before 9 am. As mentioned by the band at the after party.

There is a hiking trail right across the street. And not just any hiking trail, but one that requires you to climb a ladder, travel along chains, and ends at an arch.

You can win some sweet prizes. The post-race raffle boasted some serious prizes for runners. If they called your bib number and you answered a movie trivia question correctly (I knew none of them), then you won a prize. It was a cute way to incorporate the movie, but I recommend you start brushing up on your Thelma & Louise knowledge now.

It’s a great excuse to wear matching shirts and costumes. Lots of the women who were running with a partner had custom made shirts, or serious look-alike outfits as Thelma and Louise. I was really impressed with the effort everyone put in rather than just wearing a typical tutu.

My personal race went a lot better than I was expecting. Besides getting a bit hot in the last 4 miles as the sun popped out from behind the clouds, I ran it in 2:02:08. Next year, I’m grabbing a friend and running the relay.

Ready to tackle the relay portion of the race? Get your 12 week 10k Training Plan here.

*Disclaimer: I was provided a 2015 race bib for my review of the race. All opinions are my own.