Denise Ribeiro's Staging Area

This was my first time in Asheville, a year after the terrible floods, but it doesn’t seem the town has fully recovered. Many stores were closed or surrounded by barbed wire which made the run less than scenic. The run itself was incredibly hilly, one of the most difficult half marathons I’ve ever done. Around mile 11 you run past Planned Parenthood, which was very off putting to have people holding graphic signs and yelling terrible things. Thankfully there was a very kind volunteer who just encouraged us to just keep running.
Overall the race was well organized, with volunteer support. However at the very end when you’re turning to enter the finish line, it wasn’t blocked off so you had people just milling around pushing strollers that you had to get around to cross the finish line.

At mile 10 there was a section to remember our military hero’s who had lost their lives in service. Incredibly impactful.
The race was very organized and although it was over 8 thousand runners it was extremely smooth and well run. I wish I had time to hang out after the race but I had to catch a flight back home.

My biggest piece of advice is book a hotel room close to the race shuttles as early as possible, rooms sell out quickly and the rates go up exponentially. The expo was biggest I’ve attended, and had absolutely everything you could possibly need to run the race. Fantastic communication from the race director, we had extreme rain and thunderstorms the morning of the race and the email communications were frequent and helpful.
The course was pretty and followed Lake Superior, and was nice and flat. Despite the humidity, I was really happy with my time. This race is a must do, several runners I spoke to go out of their way to run this race year after year.

I wanted to run the race after reading Ann Patchett’s wonderful book “Tom Lake” that takes place in Traverse City, and the surrounding area did not disappoint. Full confession, I’ve never been to Michigan before this race, who knew Traverse City would be so gorgeous. The race is nice and flat with the exception of an opening hill that warms you up. The scenery is beautiful, you are running along the lake and stunning lake houses. One aspect of the race that was really fun was the crowd support, some lovely neighbors had even set up beer stands. A great race, and I’ll admit I may have fallen in love with Traverse City!