Jessica Cunningham's Staging Area

Pros:
1. Very scenic course
2. Gentle downhill course makes for fast race times
3. I thought the tunnel was really cool and made the first 3 miles fly by
4. Aid stations every ~2 miles (water and gatorade only, no gels)
5. Nice shirt and finisher medal. You got to pick from 3 different shirt designs which I thought was cool.

Cons:
1. The race is not very well organized. The race director was not very communicative leading up to the race and many runners questions went unanswered. There was nobody organizing the buses (aka nobody to tell you which bus to get on and the bus assignment time you reserved was completely meaningless). I asked the bus driver if I was on the right bus but many other runners didn’t do this so the runners on the full marathon bus had to keep telling half marathon runners they were on the wrong bus. They also told my husband who switched from the full marathon to the half marathon at packet pickup that there were no more spaces on the half buses for him if he switched and he would have to arrange for his own transportation which he did and paid a decent amount of money to arrange. Then when he got to the start he saw multiple buses pulling in half empty. They also did a weird “rolling start” that didn’t make any sense and wasn’t organized at all. The runners were just standing around the start line all confused wondering when they should go (no assigned corrals or signs for a self-seeded start). You could also barely hear the national anthem for the full and my husband said they didn’t even play one for the half. Lastly, trying to find my headlamp bag after the finish was a nightmare.

Overall, beautiful downhill course but poor race organization.

Other things to note:
1. I wore Hoka Cliftons for this course which were perfect for the packed gravel (did not feel a need for trail shoes)
2. They mention on the website that you may lose signal in the tunnel and your running watch may not be accurate. I ran with a Garmin Forerunner 245 and it never lost signal and was very accurate!

Pros:
1. Course is mostly scenic with the exception of a few miles. Net downhill course.
2. Mostly well-organized
3. Ran this during Covid and thought they took appropriate measures for runner safety
4. I actually liked the small wooden finisher medal but could see why others may not like it
5. Nice long sleeve race shirt
6. Good chance of getting an age group award (wooden plaque) compared to other races. I got my first age group award ever (third place)!
7. Plenty of aid stations

Cons:
1. There are some nasty uphills in the later miles so be prepared for that!
2. Hotel options aren’t great. We ended up staying in Idaho falls and made the drive.
3. No bag drop
4. Not many restrooms at the start so the lines were very very long
5. Not the race organizers fault but we had tough conditions that day. Very hot (high of 90 degrees that day) and poor air quality (from wildfires in a nearby state)

Pros:
1. Beautiful course. Uphill first half, downhill to flat second half. Mostly shaded.
2. Huge finisher medal
3. Nice finish line area with burgers and other food
4. You get to wait in a school before the start to stay warm and have access to actual bathrooms (no portapotties!)

Cons:
1. Not as many water stops. For one part you grab a full bottle and have to run with it to the next stop to throw it out.
2. No gatorade!!
3. Didn’t love the shirt

This was my 3rd RNR marathon (also ran Vegas and Nashville) and by far my favorite one. The full marathon didn’t feel neglected like it did at the other two. Maybe that was partly because of the separate start lines. The course is scenic and flat but not shaded at all so it did get warm towards the end. Plenty of aid stations. Nice shirt and medal. Post race party/ concert was fun (this was pre Covid)

Ran this pre-covid in 2017 and loved it! Great big city race, lots of spectators, fun finish line party, huge expo. Mostly flat course but with little shade. It was 75 and sunny the year I ran it so it got a bit warm towards the end. My running watch didn’t really work (lost its signal at some point and so it wasn’t very accurate) and after talking to some other runners I guess this is a common problem for this race. There are some hotel options conveniently located within walking distance from the start. For a big city race, the logistics actually aren’t bad. It’s well-organized which isn’t surprising. Lots of portapotties at the start and lots of aid stations along the route. The corral start was also very smooth.