Ming Lim's Staging Area

It’s always awesome running over the Arthur Ravenel Bridge. It’s amazingly beautiful, just you and 32,000 other runners. As a local, I do it most years. For out-of-state, I would recommend doing it at least once. It’s very well organized, only issue is huge crowds of people at the Finish Festival. It becomes an incentive to run faster to finish earlier to avoid the huge crowds.

It starts out at the State House but after that, the only scenery are houses and houses and more houses. Not much of a scenery. And there were a LOT of hills, up and down, up and down. It seemed never-ending. The last 0.5 miles was running through a Farmer’s Market which felt weird as you could smell all the delicious food being sold and swarms of people around, but you had to keep going as the Finish line was in sight. Only to be rewarded by a medal that was so-so. I will not be repeating this race next year.

A half-marathon in my hometown. The first 4-5 miles are lovely, with great views and then up King Street where there is tons of support. However, the race to North Charleston becomes real boring. Especially when it was really sunny. Being a point-to-point race means that we had to wait for the shuttle at the end. I waited about 20 mins for it.

Great run, great spectators with lots of enthusiasm and energy to cheer runners along. Beautiful city and easy to run. Will likely run this again.

Supports a very worthy cause here in Charleston, which motivates many people to participate. Only time when the bridge is closed for running, and provides great views. For the 10K, its over the bridge with its 3 hills and back again. There is a 5K option for those who only want to run it once.

Basic dirt trail run. Not complicated. Flat, no hills. No mile markers, no cheering adoring fans. It’s just you and the forest (and music if you brought your iPod). As a slow runner, I was basically running alone most of the time. My GPS watch didn’t register so I didn’t know how far along I was, which made it mentally challenging to keep going. Worth doing this race at least once.

The course was decent. Had some small hills but nothing too crazy! Good way to see the sights of Columbia. The only issue was the weather, too hot but we can only blame Mother Nature for that.

Held at Dorothea Dix park in Raleigh. Easy to get to. Shuttle was provided to runners and spectators from downtown to the park. No long lines. Easy race through the park.

Well-organized with sufficient restrooms. Beautiful grounds at a gorgeous location, there were some hills but bearable. Plenty of food at the end. Great swag items. Totally recommended!