Jamie Mast's Staging Area

The course is overall quite flat, with only a few hills of note around mile 9 and a few closer to 18-22. It was a very hot (84F with 40% humidity and full sun when I finished), humid day, but Lincoln was prepared with tons of aid stations (official and unofficial, I think) that were well stocked with ice, GU, sprinklers, and there were also spectators handing out popsicles, fruit snacks, and ample encouragement. The only bad part of this race was the weather. I think it was very well-organized, and tons of enthusiasm! Would highly recommend!

I had a blast running this race! There were plenty of official aid stations, but also a TON of spectators that also had food, music, drinks, fireball, beer, mimosas, pickle juice, and plenty of encouragement and enthusiasm! This was so much fun! Also, there was a lipstick station at the end of the race where you could apply lipstick for your finisher photo.

I ran with the 4:30 pacers, and they were both SO awesome and positive. They were very inclusive, told lots of funny/inspiring stories, and made the miles fly by. I departed them at mile 20, but they were really the best part of this race for me. Thanks Ron and Dale!

I definitely wouldn’t call this a flat course, but the hills weren’t steep- more rolling, and were not a problem. And the 4:30 pacers did 30 seconds running, 30 seconds walking up some of them, which helped a lot. We went by the capital, Central High, the statues commemorating the Little Rock Nine, and some neat neighborhoods. Overall, I thought it was a good tour of Little Rock- I found it scenic and interesting.

Organization of registration, packet pickup, starting and finish line were all very smooth. No problems finding bathrooms either. I also enjoyed the race promotion by the CIC’s (Chicks-In-Charge)- I thought they really helped build up the event in advance, and did not disappoint on the day of!

The only things I could of that would have improved the race is to spread out the aid stations that give out GU. There were four of them, and it seemed like they were from miles 19-25, and this didn’t make sense to me. Not a huge deal since so many spectators had food too, but I’m curious as to why. The only other thing is that I wanted to buy an everyday cotton shirt to commemorate the experience, but could only find very bright tech shirts for sale. Again, not a big deal.

Overall, I definitely recommend this race!

This was a delightful race! Incredibly scenic for the first 17 or 18 miles, then you run through Missoula, which was pretty too. There was really only one hill to speak of, around the half marathon mark, but the rest of the race was super flat. The weather was warm, but the air was dry, so being too hot wasn’t an issue until very late in the race, plus there were plenty of aid stations throughout the course. There weren’t a ton of spectators, but those who did come out were all in! Very enthusiastic with signs, playing instruments (piano, banjo, guitar, drums, bagpipes, saxophone, etc), and there were a ton of town residents who left their sprinklers on and pointed towards the street for the runners. The sprinkler water was ice cold, too! I was a little concerned about having to ride a shuttle to the start of the race, but it was very quick, efficient, and well-run, much like the entire event. At this race, the pace group leaders tended to run together, side by side. At other races, I’ve seen one pace group leader run towards the front of the pack (running slightly ahead of goal), and the other bringing up the pack at right on target. I prefer this to the pace group leaders running together, but that is only my preference and certainly didn’t make or break the race for me. If Montana wasn’t so terribly far away, I’d definitely run this one again and recommend to anyone! Montanans are so friendly and helpful- this was a great experience!