Leona Tompkins's Staging Area

I picked this race as it was a great way to finish my birthday week, to complete another State and support local charities.

This race was a local sponsored race, and it was to celebrate Mardi Gras. The race directors were super friendly at the bib pick up and absolutely had the warm southern charm that I was expecting to find.

The race swag was a purple beanie hat that came in very handy as it was a cold morning for the race. I loved the purple shirt and so happy with my medal. The small bottle of hand sanitizer was a good add to the swag bag.

The race was small as there were only about 179 runners. The course itself is not technical mostly concrete and some loose rocks in places. The views were great of the waterfront, then came the industrial side, then through Mallard Park and back again. This is an out and back course which made it easy to know where I was to the finish line.

Course support – there were 2 water stations and only 1 station had 2 port-a-potties for the runners. There was very sparse course support and it was defiantly noticeable at the finish line. This was not an issue for me as I have grown accustomed to running alone. I would say to make sure to bring your own hydration system to keep you going on the course.

There were photographers on the course and taking pictures everywhere.
The course was mapped out with white paint and there were officers to stop traffic at the intersections. I would say that when you are running in Mallard Park, run single file, cars were passing quite close and pay attention to them. I had a minor “detour”, on the return portion, I missed the turn and ran down the wrong street. I think at that turn point, there should have been a directional sign for the finish line.

Overall, I loved this race. This was my first in-person race in two years, my first vacation in two years and a good gauge for me to know where I was in my running to prepare for my marathon in June.

Like many runners, I did this as a virtual runner up here in British Columbia, Canada. I signed up to run the 5k and Half Marathon.
I live in a farming community and I planned my route so that I had cows at the beginning and at the end of the run.
I read on their website that to cover the cost of shipping the medals, if participants would make a donation to the charity that this race was covering. I was really happy when I contacted them about shipping the swag to Canada that they said YES. (A lot of the US virtual races told me that they would only ship to US addresses)
With that, I not only signed up for the Half Marathon but also the 5k since they already had to ship 1 medal and t-shirt, why not ship 2.
The t-shirts and medals are a great addition to my collection. I do hope that I will be able to get down to Kansas and actually run this race in the town and State to OFFICIALLY say that I ran Kansas.

I am on a mission to complete 1 Marathon in each 10 Canadian Provinces before I reach 50 years old in 4 years.

This Marathon in Val David, Quebec is a MUST DO!
It is a linear course which starts in Val David and you run on an old railroad trail now used for outdoor activities. It is also a Boston Qualifying course.
It is only in its 3rd Season and sells out very quickly for the Full and Half Marathon Race.

There was ample communication including leading up to the Marathon itself.
You get a detailed email at least 2 weeks before the race with all the pertinent info that you will need. i would suggest signing up for the bus to take you to the start line. That was very well organized. They gave you three places to park your vehicle all within distance of the finish line. I would suggest getting to the train station early to park, less walking to do after the run.

The start line was interesting. They did have a tent where people could wait and keep warm, lots of Port o Potties available. There were also little coffee shops around and people found other places to stay to keep warm. I just kept warming up as it was easier to climatized to the temperature and wait for the sun to rise and warm up the air.

Race package pick up was simple. The bag and tech t shirt were nice but the brochures put in the bag were just for advertising purposes.

The RUN ITSELF! because they cannot have too many people running at the same time, thus crowding the trail, the start is staggered according to what time you put to finish the Marathon and they really do “police this” which I thought was AWESOME! The course itself was beautiful! It really started going downhill right from the beginning but I really noticed it at km6 until km22 which is the half way point. From there, you start going somewhat flatter and start hearing the road noise.

Course support along the way was great! Lots of water stations, gatorade and also a JubeJube station. I was absolutely thrilled that they had not run out of water considering that the Half Marathoners and Most of the Marathoners had already passed through!

The finish line was great. They were there to greet you with your medal, there was even a guy standing at the 41.5km point to remind you show your bib as you cross the finish line.

They had the massage tent ready with lots of support so that you were not waiting long to see someone. And the goody table! Oh, it felt like getting hallowe’en candy! The assembly line was awesome and the volunteers were great.

All in all, this was a point to point Marathon and well worth doing

This is a very hilly course, no doubt about that. Running over the Bridge of the Gods was very interesting. Don’t look down if you are afraid of heights! It is an open grill and you can see straight down to the water.

The production from start to finish went very smooth. There were lots of Port-o-Potties at the start of the race which was great. They offered “start prizes” if you got on the first couple of buses as you had to take the bus to the start line. They had a pancake breakfast ready at the bus stop too.

Easy to find race package pick up and they even had a volunteer waving a glow stick to show where the buses were.

Course support was awesome with water stations and 2 port-o-potties.
Scenery was gorgeous to take in. Perfect running weather, could not have asked for a better day!

The only really hard hiccup was that the medals got lost in transit. A posting and email went out 2 days before the race about the lost medals. The day before the race, there was a long write up on FB outlining what really happened and what they were doing to correct the situation. So, the organization very much stepped up to the plate and are trying their best to make it right. Very sincere in their apologies and I do believe that they will live up to their customer service pledge. They were able to get engraved, glass water bottles (for your chosen distance) to give all participants as they crossed the finish line until the medals show up or new ones made.

New Edit: January 2020
I did receive my medal in the mail in November, it is a nice medal to add to the collection, so it receives a final review of 3 shoes.

This was an OK course. Not at all scenic until Mile 9-11, course support was sparse in some areas but got better through Mile 8 to the Mile 13. Lots of cracks in the pavement so watch your footing if the course remains the same.
The Expo was well done and easy pick up. Lots of space and did not feel crowded at all. The Headlining Act at the end was good until their music started to sound the same after 45 minutes, again lots of space to enjoy it and unwind.
Overall, I ran this once and probably would not do it again. It’s a city run and honestly, I am more of a outdoors runner.

This should be on EVERYONE’S Half Marathon to do list!
From the swag, to the medal, to the organization of this event, to the events associated with this Half that you can sign up for, the package pick up, to crossing the finish line with a High 5 from the race director! they even have an APP that you can track your workouts on and get additional goodies at the race. Did I mention the medal! By FAR MY FAVORITE in my collection!

Loved everything about this race EXCEPT that they could have tried to get some big names in country music to sing to us along the course after all it is Nashville. Did run by a lot of stars home, scenery was great. However, if not use to the humidity, go a couple of days before, and bring double the hydration with you. They were running out of water pretty quick and they had to adjust the Marathon course because of the higher humidity and heat which made a lot of marathoners UNHAPPY!

What fun it was running through the tunnel! Bring a headlight and stay in the middle of the tunnel, the edges drop off unexpectedly and there was at least 1 girl who had a bloodied skinned knee but finished the Marathon.
Easy trail to run and the scenery was awesome! Old rail trail at it’s best!
Take the bus to the starting point, park your car at the finish line.

Go a couple days ahead of the run to climatized to the humidity of Hawaii.
The views as you are coming to the finish line was awesome to see
Wonderful Half Marathon