Tammy Campbell's Staging Area

It’s obvious that there’s a lot of passion going into this race. It’s well run with tons of cheerful volunteers. I was a pacer and the markers and distances were all right on. Lots of aid stations and support along the way. We started and finished at the state capital. We ran across the Missouri River and looped back over a different bridge. Then we ran through beautiful parks and finally through downtown and back up the hill to the capital. The race was mostly flat but there were small rollers. It starts down hill and finishes uphill because of the location of the capital. I really enjoyed this race.

This race takes place during a jazz festival so that is pretty fun. It was well organized and well supported. Everyone was nice and happy. There was a pancake breakfast afterwards and we had to catch our pancakes in the air. The course was nice going through downtown, around the University and HS, through many quiet neighborhoods with resident support and along some nice trails through the trees and over a rail trail bridge that was cool. We enjoyed our weekend in Springfield.

Even though it rained the entire time, this was a fun race. Very well organized. Nice out and back course through town and down a paved running trail. The tavern was perfect for pre race and post race gathering. The food was the best I’ve had at a race with pulled pork sandwiches and macaroni and cheese and meatballs. The AG awards were nice. I earned a medal and a hat. Everyone got a long sleeve tech shirt, medal, and drawstring backpack.

It’s great to help celebrate Mew Mexico’s birthday. It was the 124th year. Since New Mexico was state 47, they gave the first 47 runners a road runner medal to add to the extra cool finishers medal. I’m excited to pair it with my state 48 medal from Arizona. The age group medals were also really cool being the shape of NM with a pepper and your placing. I also liked the backpacks they gave out at packet pickup. The race itself was pretty flat for a good PR opportunity. The wind was tough at times but mostly this was a great race with a fun party at the finish.

I enjoyed this race in Salina from the packet pickup, to the enthusiastic crowd support, the fast course that looped through town hitting several parks along the way, to the amazing after party. The town seemed genuinely happy to host the runners making this a top notch experience. The packet pickup had big maps of the course and a background with cool signs for taking pictures with your friends. The course took us on a tour of the town as we looped through various parts of the city including parks with lakes and fall colors with a little bit of trail running although road shoes were still preferred. I liked finishing in the historic part of town with the bricks and all the statues. The finish line provided more photo opportunities from paintings on the bricks with the city name to the race background. Overall a very fun event with a lot of photo opportunities provided by the thoughtful race organizers. I highly recommend this race to all of my friends.

I had a great time at this race. We saw many parts of the city and the weather was nice. The festival was a lot of fun and everything was well organized.