Jennifer Schell's Staging Area

This course was smooth and easy and lots of giveaways! It’s all big downhills from start to about 3/3.5. So much so that I forgot to fuel. Then it’s pretty close to flat or a very slow decline that I couldn’t feel. Amazing people amazing beauty! I don’t love downhills, but still panned out ok for me in the end.

Everyone did a great job for this low key small community feel race. The course was a loop around a local park to and out and back that you did twice for the half marathon. It was all paved.

The event was smooth, the volunteers were great, and it seems like people that live there do it regularly. It was easy to park and pick up your packet and just all around well organized. I didn’t have any issues.

Tech T-shirt which fit true to size. The medals were nice, and some small post race snacks. This year winners got a champagne glass which I thought was cute for ringing in the new year!

If you are looking for a small race not many spectators, but good welcoming people to check off a state. This was a nice one to do.

Great weather, great race. It’s got rolling hills it seems most of the course. The website I think said 620 gain, my watch showed 740, but who knows. I parked at the school for free and walked about 1 mile to the shuttle. I got there right at the beginning and then we hung out in a warm building. They had coffee and some snacks. They had a bag drop there. We were there for probably over and hour so just relax and stay warm for a while. Porta potties were terrible with lines. However I went to the start about 15-20 minutes early to do a warm up run and there were about 2-4 there and no line. But as soon as I finished more people started coming and they started to get a line too.

The race was beautiful but felt like up and down for most of the course. All worth the views though. Course support weak, but when you have scenery like that who needs it. At the end be sure to bring your wallet to buy food or trinkets because you have e to wait for a return shuttle at least an hour. If you have a time you need to be somewhere be sure to wait for the return shuttle right away. This year they were about 20-30 minutes later than advertised. We saw the crazy insane backup on the way out, so that’s why.

Overall this was an amazing race! I wish I could have stayed longer to get more hiking in at Acadia!

Highly recommend a vacation race here especially if you love the fall leave peeping!🍁

This is a very small town race. Everyone was friendly in this town I met and its very low key and small population. Logistics were very easy from parking to packet pickup etc.

Packet pickup the day before had plenty of parking when I arrived at the start. The market is cute and I recommend going in and getting a treat either for later or going Sunday after the race and having dessert!

The race was small, and if you thrive off of crowd support or are looking for a PR, this might not be your jam. The feel is fun and inviting and like I was out for a training run. The course was pretty, along a river for some and then on some country roads followed by some soft trail back to a short small downtown feel. Miles 3-4 had some rolling hills otherwise the course was flat. Miles 6/7-10 were on a soft trail. The river had just crested and flooded the trail so it wasn’t back and the race organizers were able to have a small part of the trail leveled. That’s was really nice! Beware mile 8ish you cross a train track (why you should go out for fun #1). I personally had to just slow my pace for a little stretch then the train cleared by the time I got to the gates. Then literally right before you get to mile twelve you cross that track again (reason #2, relax and have fun). I did get stopped for about 4 minutes here. Everyone that was stopped was surprisingly ok and chill. You can’t control it, so just enjoy the moment. When the gates lifted it was a mad dash to the finish. It was kind of a bummer because it just so happened it was the group that would have been right under 2 hours. Probably at least 10 people missed that mark due to train activity. Side note, there are race markers, but. It on the trail. So I think I saw miles 2-4, mile 6, possibly 7??, mile 8, and 10-12.

If you go into this race just out for fun, you will definitely have fun and enjoy the quiet beauty of nature. If you go out for this race for speed and PRs, you might get one, but you might also be frustrated if you hit a train and then nobody likes a downer!! (Photo mile 11.8 stuck at a train 🤷‍♀️🚂🌞)

At the end of the race since it’s small the announcer pretty much was able to announce everyone as they came through. The medals were a simple tile design on a cord. Fitting with the art festival that weekend and the small town hand crafted vibe. The shirts were soft cotton (which I love). The finish line had chips some fruit chewy type snacks water and 3 options of burritos (veggie chicken and maybe the third was beef?). Also I loved the race director was at the finish asking for feedback and just a friendly positive person. She was there for as far as I could tell the entire finish line helping at the medals and at the food station. That was great to see!

I’d recommend this race if you don’t need crowd support, like that small town feel and are not too bent on a time just in case you do run i to a train. My expectations were low, but I walked away with a big smile on my face because of all the lovely people in this town!

Obviously the appeal is saying I ran across the Golden Gate Bridge. Race was well organized, lots of communication leading up to the race. Expo was easy for packet pickup. Nice early start for the full and first half so you still have lots of Sunday left to explore or travel back home. Although, I recommend spending time in the city, or book a book tour in advance and do that if you have not spent time in San Francisco.

The course was a good challenge pretty flat or decent until you make the climb to get on the bridge. I think that was mile 4 or 5?? Then cross the bridge. Big downhill, then a little flat or slide downhill. Then big uphill maybe after mile 9 around 10? Then cross the bridge and maybe a very slight incline just before the finish. Beautiful course! My weather was cloudy and a little mist. Seems common for the Bay Area morning though.

After getting few snacks, there is a free shuttle bus back to the start. I didn’t have more than 5-10 minutes of a wait and I finished then went straight to the line around the 2 hour mark. The bus ride was about 20-30 minutes though, so be sure you plan for that time. If you did drop a bag when you get off the shuttle, that line also took about 15 minutes or so to pick up and then if you need a shirt exchange, add another 5 minutes. Just be aware if making post race plans for these little time additions for a bigger race.

Overall, great race, great pace team for the 2 hour group this year. Side note after the bridge they have two signs for marathon miles and half marathon miles. So at 8.5 it says 9, but it was blue for the marathon marker. Then at 9 ours popped up but it was orange. Took me half a mile or so to figure that out, as well as those around me because it was subtle coloring if not knowing about it.

I definitely recommend this race. Nice shirt, nice medal. I felt the women’s fit was tight personally, so I exchanged for men’s/unisex and that was normal sizing for me.

Again, great fun race for the first half bridge section. Stay close to the start it makes it easy to just walk there. I had a good place at club headquarters hotel in the financial district and felt safe walking to and from in the morning solo.

I don’t use aid stations, but they seemed evenly spaced out. If you like GU gels they had several spots it seemed for those and one early on too!

The route is mostly flat. There is a slight slow incline going uphill around 7 for about a mile, but then you get that nice downhill at mile 8 which is right about the turnaround point.

I highly recommend the race and enjoy a nice weekend in the city boating or hiking or even parasailing!