DeeRae Nelson's Staging Area

Very subtle gradient changes, overall very easy course. Rural Midwest feel. Lots of greenery: trees, crops, pretty flowers. Small field of runners (about 100 in each), so I placed in my age group, and my son got first in his in the 5K so bonus swag for each of us and medals were great. Cool neon green shirts this year. I’m a fan of a basic t-shirt more than anything. Lakes nearby, plus foam machine and bounce house for the kids. Good post race buffet: jimmy johns, build your own yogurt topping bar, donuts, coffee, plus bananas and water etc.

We started at 4:30 during the light, but as the race progressed it got dark. Cool experience running through the closed down and lit up strip. For the massive amounts of people, it was well run. Plenty of people budging up into earlier corrals which is annoying. I didn’t get bottlenecked at all though. Corral colors didn’t seem to be overly enforced. Plenty of volunteers and water stops. I was in an earlier corral so I didn’t have to stand around as long, but don’t go early if you’re in a later corral, or you’ll stand for 1.5 hours before you run. I’ve determined I’m more of a scenery runner than urban. It was cool, but just the preference I’m learning about myself. Tech shirt and medal were nice and themed. I’m not a big fan of the “Vegas experience” though this was a bucket list item for the sake of trying it out. Bottom line is that it’s definitely a one and done race for me. 3 days of constant second hand smoke is not for me. I’m congested and hacking but not because I’m sick. The air quality outside even stinks like smoke. It’s a flat easy course. My time reflected the difficulties training in my home state during the winter and not the course.

Cannon start kicks off this historical half marathon. The leaves were just past prime but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the scenic woodsy course. The entire path is paved. I loved the monuments and memorials and mini tours. The miles ticked by quickly. Nice sized crowd/group of fellow runners. Enough for camaraderie without feeling bottlenecked. The banana puddin’ was a great post race touch for an upper Midwestern gal like myself.

I couldn’t help but feel group size was down with Covid, less crowds and bands made it a bit more lackluster of a year. I also just love the exuberance of ND marathon in the spring. Happiness is just in the air. September just didn’t seem right. The dome start/finish is normally awesome, but with Covid could have probably been done outside to avoid congestion. No fault except the usual shipping delays affecting everyone right now, but race swag was delayed so they are shipping it to us for free so I don’t know how awesome that is yet. I used the 1:50 pacer who was great. Monster PR on my half time. Medals are big. Aid stations are frequent!

This is all trail run. I’ve never done a trail run before so nothing to compare it too. However, it was a lot more difficult as a result than a basic 13.1. This was a slow time for me but given that it was trail maybe not too bad?! I got it third place female. Scenery was great. A friend told me trail runs are so interesting the miles breeze by, and they really did! Staffers were nice. One aid station, but very well stocked. T-shirts were cool. Non-traditional medal but interesting.

This was not my best race due to life getting in the way of training. I would do it again to redeem myself. Nice medals and long sleeve t-shirts. The course goes around Detroit Lake with decent scenery. The event went off and was easy to follow.

This race was through the local apple orchard and a country run. Minimal cheering crowds, but a small nice group still. We had a late winter so the trees weren’t blooming the year I did it but still a peaceful run.

Scenery is minimal but the crowds cheering and bands playing made this go by fast. The energy is top notch with lots of water/Gatorade stations, nice expo, and runner camaraderie.