Mark Jennings's Staging Area

Pretty nice event overall! No complaints about anything. Ran the 5k and the Half Marathon. Parking for expo, 5k, and Half was convenient, and free. They use shuttle buses for both races. No issues with that. Expo was simple and easy, some merchandise available to buy. Nice to have race day bib pickup options, although I didn’t need to. Courses were wide and had nice views of the coastline. Finish in ballpark was really nice. Finish on warning track, and live video shown on the scoreboard jumbo screen. Good post race food & beverages. Gumbo, pulled pork sandwiches, among other stuff. Plenty of room to sit and relax after the race. Good bathroom access pre and post race. Both finish medals were nice too. And no issues getting out with my car after the Half, while the Marathoners were still running. Overall well done event.

Nice race event, well run and pretty area. Mix of different terrain. Dirt, grass, path, shoulder of the road. Some hills. More shoulder of the road running than I prefer, esp with traffic so close and exhaust fumes, but still a decent course.

I like S.A., and the downtown/riverwalk area is really nice. I did the Half in 2017. Now my daughter goes to college there, so I came back again to run the Full. Course is good and the finishers medals are always nice. Age group awards look real nice too. Expo is in a good location. Post race food was real good! No issues or complaints. A good event.

I think the best thing about this race is the start and finish being inside the Fargodome arena. Its nice not freezing while waiting for a race to start, or having to cover up after, or eat, change, recover while in the elements. Plenty of free parking as well. Great setup in Fargo!

Another fine event from VR. Course is pretty ordinary. But scenery is fantastic. Overall well run event with great bling. And a plus to have access to parking, hotels, shopping, camping, and hiking close to the area.

Course was road or paved path. 3.5 mile incline. What made this race tough was simply altitude. Somewhat scenic course, the mountains are far off in the distance, but still a pretty run.

Beautiful area around Devil’s Lake state park in Wisconsin. A little crazy because they are running a 10K, Half, Marathon, 50K, and 50 mile, all on the same day. Overall it was a pretty smooth event. Course is tough. A lot of elevation gain and loss, lots of rocks, tree roots, dirt, and grass. Warm temps made this years races even tougher. Top five age group awards is nice. Awards ceremony is very basic. Finisher medal is ok. Food was decent after race. Parking was good. One nice feature was they had a shower head hooked up to a hose to cool off after the race. That was a life saver for me, as temps reached close to 90 by noon.

Starting at 5300 foot elevation and ending at 3400 foot. Although downhill, course was not that easy. Really enjoyed nearby national parks. Great race to do while on vacation. Nice finishing medals and age group medals for top 5 in each group!

Nice medium sized race in beautiful SA, Texas. Packet pickup was easy, and in a nice shopping area of town. I really liked the bag with shoulder strap given out at expo. Race production was good, course was fine, nice medal! After race food was excellent. Found free street parking for expo and race. Overall a very good event!

Another nice event from Vacation Races. Always well run and great finisher medals. I did have a complaint about the course. A section runs along the river and the road is slanted toward the river. I assume for water drainage. This was difficult, uncomfortable, and aggravating to run on! Not my favorite course from VR, but otherwise all else is good. I wish they would change this course for that reason alone.

I really enjoyed my weekend in Pittsburgh. Did the 5k and Half. I’m bias because I love the sports teams in Pittsburgh, even though I’m not from the area. A beautiful city with the rivers, bridges, hills, tunnels, parks, and nice architecture. The course crossed the 3 big rivers in Pittsburgh a total of 5 times. Some bridges were a little tougher than others. 1 fairly tough hill near mile 11 cost me a PR for the half marathon distance. Overall a fun weekend, good course and overall event. Bonus was sitting in a sportbar watching Playoff Hockey, Penguins beating Capitals, on their way to another Stanley Cup Championship!

Great course. Go for a PR! Flat and fast. Great for new runners who don’t want a difficult challenge, beyond the distance. I loved the race logo and finisher medal, one reason I chose to run it. Smaller size race, but well run and made to feel like a bigger event. And a bonus of a smaller race is: 1st place age group award!