April Brown's Staging Area

-They say you get what you pay for.
Well , when the race is $5 (which later became free) expectations are low. But it greatly exceeded it.
-I didn’t get to do the expo so I’m not sure how that was. Packet pick up at the start was a breeze. Goodies consisted of your cotton Tshirt.
– route was mostly street with excellent safety coverage. There was part that was on a gravel trail. It was mostly flat with a rude hill around mile 7.5 (elevation picture uploaded). Scenery was nice. Ran through a couple of parks.
– production was great. Lots of port a johns at the start… but there were still lines (thank goodness for chip start times!). Hand washing stations, too. Race started on time. There were aid stations no more than 2 miles apart. Mostly the consisted of Gatorade , water, and gu (at every station!). some had m&ms, pretzels, gummy bears & pickle juice. For a free run in a small town, cheer squad was very sufficient. I’ve had way better and way worse.
-swag: cotton Tee and a medal. But post run support was great. Chocolate pie, water, fruit, coffee , hot dogs, chips, heater stations, the normal long free massage booth, music, and then stuff to purchase (Iv fluids, bread, energy stuff, beer, etc). So it gets a 5 shoe review from me! Perhaps had I paid a normal entry fee cost, I would rate the swag at 3. But it was above and beyond for what I paid.
– I recommend this run for sure.

Difficulty/ course: the start was kind of congested. If you’re going for a PR make sure to get in front. They could prob benefit from doing waves next time. sure, there were hills, but there were also horses and camel!! It had rained the days before and the race directors warned of the mud in the road (… I don’t think that was mud!). Elevation map uploaded in pics. Additionally, there were TEN aid stations, and in between the aid stations there were coolers of ice!! And many people left their sprinklers on for you to run through.
-scenery: did I mention camels and horses? Beautiful farm land all around… of course it comes with the fresh aroma of the farm land, but hey, it just adds to the full experience!
Production: super smooth! Packet pick up was a breeze! Pre run bathrooms were the quickest I’ve seen- even for the crowd as big as it was! Post run meal line was kind of long, but moved fast as there were 2 lanes. Food was grilled chicken, brats, hot dogs, and potato salad. Plus there was a little known rib stand right in front so you could get your appetizer. The massage booth was as would be expected, but the wait was worth it!!
Swag- whoopie pie and a tech shirt. Some folks said the shirts were small, but they seemed good to me (but I’ma small person!) I did buy a previous year’s shirt a size smaller and they were actually the same size! So something to ask about when ordering your shirt! If you ran the 5k and the half you got your choice of a hand made serving tray, cutting board, or water bottle! (Water bottle wasn’t home made). I’m sure no one has made it this far without knowing about the medals. Yes. They’re heavy.
– we stayed in a airbnb and had a late check out accommodation which was super nice!
–

– bah pick up was easy. It was available at start line despite the website not stating that. Qdoba was there with free chips and salsa or queso. It’ s a one way run. But the shuttles are available at stat and finish so you can park at either end. They run about every 5 min. Highly recommend parking at the finish and shuttle to the start- you don’t want have to catch a bus back after you just ran (maybe unless you live down that way!)
– swag consisted of tech shirt and draw string bag. In true Alaska style, then after party was awesome. Your bib got you a locally brewed beer or soda. Two local bread companies were present giving out bread/ cookies/ grilled cheese. Messages. Chips, fruit and water. And other booths.
– course was kind of hilly , up and down. Elevation map in pics…. Ok it doesn’t look nearly as painful as I thought it was! 😂
-weather was BEAUTIFUL! Moose at the start line.

-difficulty: not steep hills… but lots of them! Elevation pic for half uploaded
– scenery: was great! Mostly along a coast line. Would have been better if it wasn’t raining. But I won’t hold that against them🙃
-swag: got a insulated drawstring bag with a toiletries (toothbrush, hand sanitizer, muscle cream, Vaseline, chapstick, bandaids, nail file, hand soap paper), canned salmon, post card and luggage tag. Out of staters will get a coin. Shirt is long sleeve tech shirt. Finishers get medal and pin. After meal was a slice of pizza and trail mix, Gatorade, fruit, bagels, PB. I was told there was less this yr than others.
– ok… organization. Organization for the run itself was not lacking. But I think for being an island that takes a LOT of coordination to get to, they could have done better helping out of Towners with coordination. I saw multiple folks walking to the run… from 2-5 miles away. In addition, for those that came in on the ferry … cabs were like $80 to get from ferry to area of run as many stated they couldn’t find rental cars. Everyone who travels knows costs accumulate. But for here- there isn’t just costs, there’s lack of resources.
I rented a car in Ketchikan and put it on the ferry to have a vehicle here. Highly advised. Plus then you can explore the island!!
Over all I would love to do it again, and would suggest anyone do it ONLY if you have transportation. I would not recommend it otherwise as I don’t think you can get the true experience if the race weekends and island. Community was great!!! Just needs transportation coordination

Organization was great. Packet pick up was simple and quick. No real expo though.. Just a couple of booths of sale stuff, so it would have been nice to have packet pick up available day of. But I guess that could be a coordination issue as this was a one way run. I’m sure that was well advertised somwhere. But somehow we missed all those spots until night before what we were planning our hotel departure time. But. No big deal. Pleanty of parking and bus options to take you to the start. At the start you were able to hang out inside the school, use the indoor bathrooms, and stay warm.
– the run itself was great. Pleanty of water and Gatorade stations (though more water than Gatorade). Lots of sideline volunteers handing out jelly beans, m&ms, fruit, and cold towels.
– course was relatively flat (elevation uploaded in pics). But I walked this half. scenery was nice. Ran through a park for a while. I didn’t see any wild life. Except some dogs to pet! My uncle said there were “three bear” at mile 8.25. I was on the look out… But all I saw was “free beer”. I think maybe he took them up on that beer offer 🤷‍♀️
-swag was nice, got a white, long sleeve athletic shift (unisex), and a koozie (not from the run), and of course the conveted medal.
– after you had the option of food from one of four different food trucks and 2 cups of free beer. Panera was also out there with bagels. And this is the only place I’ve seen a post run massage with no line!

Over all the run was great. Production was smooth. Course was flat and well marked (elevation pic uploaded). Mostly team through neighborhoods with some great cheer support from the community. Great job Coasties

– Organization was non notable, thus I’d say it went smoothly. We did run day packet pick up. Deducted 1 “shoe” because the run ended up being 12.95 per my watch and multiple others commented it was short.
– Swag was simple. Nice light weight t-shirt, small wooden medal and a couple little things (pic uploaded). Post race I can’t really comment on since we were in a time crunch, so all I can comment on is the strawberry & chocolate milk, granola bars, and sports drink. Site said jambalaya was there, but I didn’t see any )
– road support was almost non existent. There were police at major intersections, and folks at some of the turns. They appear to be high school students. Other than that not much of a cheer squad.
-over all it was a small (52 Half marathon runners) , local run. It’s not one I would travel for unless I’m in the general vicinity (ie I traveled 2 hours bc I was always out this way). But I like supporting local events. And I really like the unique medal.

Course: Started off with a very steady decline then mostly flat the remainder of the way. Last couple miles was on gravel/ dirt trail. But over all nice route. Not overly scenic but still nice. There were definitely areas that were mostly shade – and when the temp is in the 20s already, made for a chilly run.
Production: no complaints. Though when we headed to the pasta dinner we were quite surprised to hear so much cheering! Pep rally at the pre-feed. Turned out we walked into the middle school BBall game. Oops. suggestion would be to to post signs on where the pasta dinner was….Minor detail though.
Aid stations at least every 2 miles. Each one had water, Gatorade, and Gu. Many also had candy. Start and finish are not at the same spot, but there is a shuttle. Bag pick up is at the finish. Finish line had water, bananas, aluminum blankets. But back at the school there was 5 different soups, sub sandwiches, pizza, Gatorade, water, hot drinks.
Swag: nice hoodie shirt with a pouch pocket and a nice medal. I thought the shirt was unique.

This race supports charities!

Nice local run.

Course : pretty flat. < 350' total ascent per my Garmin. Scenary for the half isn't anything spectacular. It doesn't really go along the river, but through the city of Kenai. The fall colors are beautiful though.
Support: is a community run put on by the city. So very much supported by the town. Very minimal spectators though. But the volunteers were great.
Swag: The cost for the run was low relative to other halves I’ve done. But, registration included, long sleeve tech shirt, socks, finisher medal, spaghetti dinner, and raindeer sausage and beer after the run….as well as some sponsor swag. Pretty decent for the cost. However if you’re looking for a fancy medal, this isn’t it.
Lodging – lots of lodging available. It’s about 3-3.5 hr from Anchorage depending on construction. I stayed at the Tanglewood B&B. Very accommodating. Basically told me I had to check out “before 8 pm bc that’s when I get ready for bed “. So was about to come back, shower, and collect my stuff without being concerned about time! Highly recommended.
Overall it was a great local run. Hope to do it again next year!

Military mile is actually a separate run “the Mile”. This run is – while open to anyone – is free for military (and you get a medal!), and creates a bit of sibling rivalry among the branches of service.
Run is held down town around a park square.
This year, there was a bit of disorganization with scheduling. Email confirmation gave one time for start while the website said something different. Likewise, a coworker got yet an even different email confirmation that had the same time as the site, but a different location.
Thankfully my crew all made it to the right location (although not initially) and on time (since we just opted to show up to the earliest mentioned start). However, we did meet folks who missed it due to the email time.
This was my first time doing the mile, so I can’t vouch for it being just a one time hiccup. However aside from that – if you actually made it to the run, it was well done.

Highly supported by the community. Lots of volunteers & cheerers. Food spread was amazing and mostly home made! and then you saw pictures of the spread that existed before you finished. Not sure whether to be more impressed or jealous! Swag bag had lots of snacks. Photos were free without watermarks. Great photo ops with cows. 10/ 10 recommend.
Only down side…I hate hills!

Well organized local run. Bus schedule was pretty straight forward to / from start / finish line. Scenary is marked kind of low bc well… It was the middle of the night. But don’t let that deter you! It was still a very fun race. My first time, accompanied by two repeats (and none of us are from NV).
Medal and shirt were fun.
Costumes were also fun!
Unfortunately my mom dropped out part way through and had to catch a ride to the finish with the spouse of a volunteer. Maybe having a transport aid team would be beneficial. Otherwise great fun option for a NV run.