Jennifer Larsen's Staging Area

This race was fantastic. Along the water for much of the way, fairly flat with only small down hill on way out and uphill on way back (5K and 10K were out and back courses). Packet pickup was easy and organized in a field house, meaning runners could wait in the field house and walk the short distance to start line just before the start since it was pretty windy. At the end of the race, runners returned to the field house and got a cup of hot chocolate and a tray of goodies to dip into chocolate fondu which was delicious. Age group places 1, 2, and 3 all got mugs. Shirt was a long sleeve brooks quarter zip. We will definitely be doing this one again!!!

What a fun run! A women-only half with the most beautiful course I’ve ever ran. Pretty flat, no wind, and perfect weather. It’s a smaller race, so they didn’t release in corrals which was fine. I wish they would have had more water stations and while I didn’t need one I did not notice very many bathroom stops along the way either. Only other complaint was at the end medals were not handed to you, you kind of hand to hunt them down at a tent at the end. Would definitely do this one again.

This race is getting bigger and bigger every year. I’ve only ever done the 10K, which is on OU’s campus. Very beautiful, but pretty hilly. A lot of fun!

Ran the 5K this year with someone a touch slower than me, so was definitely just in it for fun and not the race. T-shirts were super cute, unless you were a guy, and then they were way too feminine (my fiancé complained about this). The scenery for the 5K was pretty, through some subs and ending on main street on the bay. I’ve heard the Half is gorgeous. Only parts I took issue with: parking and packet pickup were not that well organized, but they did have shuttles at the end of the race to take you back to your car. And the 5K finishers only got a pin and not a medal! I truly don’t like when races do that. Other than that, really fun to get fresh cherries at the end and hang out at the cherry festival for a while after.

The 10K and half marathon course are both very hilly, but beautiful! I’ve ran the 10K twice and trained on the half-marathon course all summer. It’s very hilly, but scenic, and they have live music every mile, which is really nice. The 10K is completely on Oakland University’s campus. GREAT Expo.

Beautiful, relatively flat course through downtown Rochester and onto the paint creek trail. T-shirts were not tech and I don’t recall medals, the race is relatively small and laid back. A good race for a first-timer at any distance, but don’t expect huge crowds or expos.