Bridget Fay's Staging Area

Production: top notch. The expo was great, with a sign-making station, Instragrammable Queen Bee sign, and a photo station, as well as extensive branded merchandise and glassware. The pre-race information was quite thorough, including road closures, parking at the start and finish line, and bag drops.

The course had nine aid stations, with Gatorade and water at each, Gatorade first in green cups, water second in blue cups. It made for very quick hydration stops.

In addition to the aid stations, there were about a dozen different cheer stations. I loved the on-course chocolate, Fig Newtons, and petroleum jelly (so helpful around Mile 8).

The pacers were fantastic! The two-hour pace team lead me to my first sub-2 half marathon, and there were a lot of cheers and hugs and photos at the finish line.

Course: beautiful and not very hard. The first half is hilly, but the hills aren’t bad – nothing to kill the quads on the way down or destroy a runner on the way up. Shortly after the halfway mark, there’s a long, easy downhill, followed by a much flatter (less hilly?) trip to the finish. I loved seeing the sun rise over the parks – really gorgeous.

Swag: great! We received a long-sleeve technical tee, running headband, chocolate, and a duffel bag at the Expo. At the finish line, we received a sunflower, crown, and so much food (including pancakes and coffee!). The post-race party is a lot of fun and my family thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Definitely will be a repeat race.