Bill Robinette's Staging Area

The expo was a trip around the Fargodome with lots of freebies and plenty of opportunities to buy merchandise. Since the start and finish are inside the done there are plenty of restrooms and lots of room to talk, stretch, etc pre and post race. The half, marathon, and 10K were all the same day but the starts were staggered but have different courses at the start to reduce crowding. The course was altered days before the race due to flooding so we ran mostly in neighborhoods. But a lot of people were out cheering despite it being a little cold. The medal was the same as the 5K, just a different ribbon. The pullovers are nice but ran small. They let me trade up a size though. All the volunteers/workers were friendly and helpful. Post race was water, chocolate milk (Yay!!!), one beer or Truly, doughnuts (Yay!!!) , potato chips, and banana. Finishers were announced inside and the big screens showed those about to enter the dome and the finish line. I seriously diubt that North Dakota has a better race for 50 staters.

First, I want to say that this race had to be suspended for two years due to Covid. The medals say 2020 on them. A few people were upset about this, but I have no problem since I am sure the medals were ordered well before they were forced to cancel the race.

The two things I was not thrilled about for the race was running on the boardwalk and the finish line, postrace amenities.

I know running on the boardwalk is part of the identity of the race, but the boardwalk is not closed to other traffic and there were places where I had to run around groups of people blocking sections of the boardwalk. In addition, when you cross the finish line all you received were cups of water. You had to walk to the Berkeley Hotel to get your shirt, medal, and postrace food. The hotel is only about .25 mile away so that wasn’t a big deal. However, the room where you received your swag and food was kind of small for this. There was not much of a postrace spread. Bananas, oranges, some small snacks, and water. No gatorade, chocolate milk, beer ;-(. I am going to write this off as a cost saving measure due to being canceled for two years? Also, I know the organizers were still asking for volunteers almost to race day. So that might have also been part of the issue. I like to get together with other runners after the race and this did not provide much of an opportunity to do so.

The scenery was ok. Mostly neighborhoods for the first 8 miles until you reach the boardwalk. The last 5 miles are along the beach. Of course, being near the beach it was very windy.

I liked the shirt (nice having a shirt that fits and you can wear) and the medal was fine. The communication from the organizers was excellent. Constantly sent updates and information. I imagine this race was probably better pre-covid and will return to its previous reputation in the near future.

For out of towners, staying at the Berkeley was convenient. You can walk right out of the hotel to the starting line. You have to pay for parking everywhere in
Asbury Park but it was cheaper to pay for parking on the street than for parking at the hotel.

I stayed at the race hotel (Sheraton Uptown) which meant the bus picked us up and took us to the start from the hotel. The negative was there was no ride back after the race so we got a lyft at the finish. Also, The Sheraton did not shuttle from the airport. They only shuttle flight crews. 🙁

Our bus driver got confused and tried to take us to the marathon start even though we told him he had already passed our starting line. But, that just allowed us to stay warm on the bus longer. The race itself is mostly down the mountain with a decent sized uphill once you get into town. Overall, I was not overly impressed with the views. It was hot by the time we finished and running in the town wasn’t all that great. Shirts were so-so but they did include a hat. The best part about the race was they did have a variety of donuts, food at the finish and cool wash clothes to help cool you down.

The best part of my trip was breakfast at the Sunnyside Up Cafe right next to the hotel. The lemon berry french toast was awesome.

I was registered to run this in 2020 but Covid caused me to be deferred to 2021. I cannot emphasize enough the great job the race director has done over the last year and a half in communicating with the runners about updates, changes, etc. Kudos to him!!

I heard some of the locals comment about how much smaller the race was this year but then someone commented about missing all of the Canadiens. So that made sense.

As for the race, it was mostly flat through the town of Buffalo. The volunteers were awesome and there were plenty of aid stations, port a potties, etc. The aid stations had water, gatorade, and some had gels. The scenery was what you would expect when running a race in a big city. Nothing special. It was hot because the race had to be delayed a month but the race started very early so that helped.

The finishers got nice jackets and boxed goodies at the finish as well as water, gatorade, and a beer. The box was very full of snacks. Due to covid, no post race party though. The medal was nice and the people were awesome. This was a good choice for my NY race.

For out of towners, there are plenty of hotels that are within a couple of blocks from the start/finish. Also, lots of bars/restaurants in the area as well. Very nice race and I enjoyed my trip to Buffalo.

This race was state #41 in my quest for 50.

First, I stayed in mid-town. It was a nice area but downtown is closer to race start, train station, and more restaurants/bars.

Bib pickup was at Kincaid Park. No expo, just pickup your bib and they had one table of merchandise. I did a little run on the Coastal Trail in the park. Saw moose 4 different times on my run.

The start was staggered with 50 people starting every 5 minutes. There was no way to enforce who started when other than the honor system. But it seemed to go well. A lot of the race is on the Coastal Trail and there are some pretty nice views on the trail. The course has some decent hills but there were plenty of aid stations and porta potties on the course. About halfway you have a stretch that is offroad for about a mile. Since it was raining the trail section was very slick.

At the finish, you get your medal, a bottle of water, and a banana. No postrace party. The shirt and medal were very nice.

Bottom line, the race was ok, nothing outstanding. But my trip to Alaska was fantastis.

It is hard to compare races pre and post covid-19. I want to thank the sponsors and organizers for doing what they had to do to allow us to run an actual race.

The start was in corrals and within the corrals they still did 5 second intervals between groups. People who started in the rear began almost an hour after the first group. But you have to do what you have to do to have the race.

Prerace packet pickup and expo was obviously greatly reduced. Mostly packet pickup, merchandise booth ($5 pint glasses), and a couple of booths.
There were plenty of port-a-pots at the start. No waiting!! Which is an obvious plus.

The first 5 miles or so were rolling hills. After that, the race was pretty flat. The course was your pretty typical run through neighborhoods and a park. Reduced spectators along the course due to the pandemic but there were still some people out and supporting the racers. The course was well marked and well staffed.

The medal and shirt are nice. Nice bag of snacks at the end including gatorade and water. I thought the organizers did a great job under the circumstances. I bet this is a really great race when they are limited by covid restrictions.

We stayed near the finish line so we were close to the Haymarket area. Easy walk to restaurants, microbreweries, and bars.

Overall a good experience. Liked the town, liked the race. Happy to be running in person again!!

This is a point to point race that is very flat except for running up and down an interstate ramp at the end.

The packet pickup was exactly that. Picking up your packet with some souvenirs you can buy.

You catch a bus at the finish line for transport to the start. You run straight down Beach Boulevard with the Gulf of Mexico on your right. You finish in a nice minor league baseball stadium. There are 6 food/beer tickets for runners but the food people weren’t taking tickets so you got 6 beers if you wanted. They were in cans and you could take them with you. Food was a seafood pasta, gumbo, and bbq. There was free chocolate milk and soft drinks too. I would give the postrace a 5.

The shirts are comfortable, the medal was nice. We stayed at the Beau Rivage Casino which was right across the street from the finish. The Hard Rock Casino is very close too.

All in all, a pretty good race and a nice racecation.

Last note, Brett Favre has run this race the last two years.

If you are looking for a racecation, then this is not the race for you. If you are looking for a flat, easy run to fulfill your WV race then this race might be for you.

The race was well organized with plenty of water stops and the start/finish at the football stadium make parking easy and well within a short walking distance to your car. You do get to carry a football across the finish at the goal line in the stadium.

The swag was a short sleeved brooks running shirt and a pair of goodr sunglasses.

The scenery was pretty nondescript. I did like that the people at the animal shelter brought out some of the dogs as you entered the park. I will also give the organizers a thumbs up for having chocolate milk at the finish.

All in all there wasn’t anything particularly bad or spectacular about this race.

On a final note, I stayed at the Doubletree and they let all runners have a 2:00 checkout time. So it was nice to have plenty of time to stretch and shower after the race before leaving.

End of June and Hawaii = Hot! but I knew that going in. I needed a race for Hawaii and this fit into my calendar the best.

Most of the race is running on an open, main road through lava fields. If it feels like you are running in a desert, you are. The climate for this part of Hawaii is actually classified as arid desert. There were lots of aid stations and a couple of misting stations but you are running on asphalt, no clouds, temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s, and in lava fields so it just felt like the heat was intensified.

Race organization was pretty good. My only complaint was that it is a chip timed race but there was not a starting mat. So your time was based on gun time start but chip finish. There were plenty of mats throughout the course so they certainly could have put one at the start. They have four races: marathon, half marathon, quarter marathon and 5K. But they stagger the race starts by 30 minutes so the course wasn’t really crowded.

The course is kind of a weird loop so you run into the sun about half the race and criss cross runners of different races at various times. The shirt is nice and the medal is ok. The expo was nice for a fairly small race with lots of nice extra merchandise options if you are into that.

Best thing about the race, you are in Hawaii. It was a nice vacation race and I really enjoyed my first trip to the big island (volcanoes, black sand beaches, awesome waterfalls). But, if you are worried about great finishing times or PRs you may want to skip this one. If you are like me and just want the finishing medal, it was a decent race on a great vacation.

The 5K was on Friday evening before the half marathon on Saturday morning. I thought it would be a good idea to see how the elevation was going to effect me so I decided to run the 5K. The course was flat and ran around a park. Nice views of the Tetons but the course was crowded and getting out was even worse. the race looped around the parking lot so you were hemmed in until the walkers completed the 5K. The race began at 7 and I couldn’t even get out of the parking lot until 8:20 so it didn’t give me a lot of time to get back to my motel and get rested for the morning (especially since the parking lot closes at 5:15 am for the half). They could have done a better job at the expo of separating the 5K and half marathon to pick up your bibs because the line was very long for them. Since I was doing both, our line was much shorter. Since this was their inaugural 5K I am going to give them a pass on the postrace traffic issue (they acknowledged it was a problem) and hope they have that fixed before next year.

First, the race corresponded with the NFL draft being held in Nashville. So the usually awful Nashville traffic was magnified. The Expo was so-so. I actually considered it to be kind of small for the number of runners that were participating. The course was very hilly and crowded. They use the corral system and stagger them, but many people moved way up into corrals that they didn’t belong in. I saw people that were supposed to be in corrals 30+ (walkers) that were up in the 4th and 5th corrals. So since the course is crowded the walkers just make more obstacles to run around. Also, don’t they know that walkers should be on the side, not walking right down the middle? (Sorry but that is a pet peeve of mine) It got very warm so that didn’t help either. The medals were small (aren’t all r-n-r medals small) but they light up. The shirts were very nice though. I am not a big fan of the rock-n-roll series but this one does help support St. Jude’s Hospital so that at least makes up for the some of the shortcomings. At least I can mark Tennessee off my list now.

The Papa John 10 miler is flat except for about 3 miles through Iroquois Park which has a couple of big hills. You finish on the football field at Cardinal Stadium. Shirts are nice and you get a decent medal too. Lines for postrace food is crazy though and I didn’t want to wait that long. Very popular race for locals.

Well organized race with over 4000 runners through downtown Louisville. Nothing spectacular about this race but it is the first race of the Louisville Triple Crown of Racing.

This is a very well organized, family friendly 5 mile (1.25 option too) run/walk in Iroquois Park. The course can be a little tough as it is 2 miles up the hill, a loop around the top, and 2 miles down the hill. Always have very nice Brooks long sleeve running shirts. Decent snacks at the end as well. A nice little tradition for Thanksgiving Day.

Great crowd support throughout the race, but very crowded streets at times. I spent a lot of time and energy running around walkers in the middle of the road and avoiding spectators. BUT, the organization is excellent, awesome expo, and cheering crowds for the entire 26.2. There is a reason over 40,000 run this race. Just don’t expect a lot of elbow room.

I ran the half marathon and missed a lot of the great scenery. A lot of the race is running through neighborhoods or just areas where people live near the road. Many people were out to support and many houses had sprinklers, hoses, etc for the runners to use to cool off. Very nice medals for all the races (I ran the 5K the day before). Nice tech shirts. I still use both to run in. All in all, a good experience.

Who could ask for more than running from the top of snow covered mountains, next to a roaring stream, through breathtaking scenery. All downhill but extremely beautiful. The most scenic race I have participated in (at least for the first 12 miles). The altitude was a little bothersome for me (flatlander) for the first couple of miles but I would absolutely run this again. Very nice medal. A little blah on the shirt though.