Emily Nguyen's Staging Area

The course is easy overall. It wasn’t that well organized this year not sure if this is the norm or not. The way the course is set up you run into the 5k walkers at the end which is bottled necked so you have to weave and wind through people. They could avoid this by adding a running path separate from the walkers. The start was a bit awkward in that it had an immediate right turn so a slow start.

The swag isn’t very good. If you wear a women’s small t-shirt size there’s a youth medium you could try. But, the youth medium was oddly cropped. The medal is the same for 5k and 10k, plus it looks cheap. The had one table of bagels and bananas that was crowded with all of the 5k participants and not moving. I didn’t get anything because it didn’t seem worth it to be in the close proximity to folks. Personal choices, a plain bagel and banana didn’t seem worth the risk.

The water stations only had water. Which I’m fine with because it wasn’t hot. But Gatorade is really nice if I’m sweating a lot.

Loved the cheerleaders at the beginning and end.
It was definitely a family affair. Lots of children and dogs. Great to see so many ages enjoying the run.
The riverfront portion of the run (which is only at the end) is great.
The murals on the running path were great too.

I’d do it again but with lower expectations. It’s a bit pricey for what you get but supposedly it’s in part to raise money for the riverfront. So that seems good. Maybe tell me I’m paying $30 for the race and $15 for the riverfront or however it breaks down.

It’s got a surprise hill around 7 or 8 mile marker. Lol. Not what you want to see at the midway point. Pretty bummed about all the stryofoam cups at the water station. Enjoyed the swag of the meal coupon for the food trucks.