Black Diamond Express Half Marathon & 5K

This is a small half marathon with about 200 participants located in Mendon about 20 minutes from Rochester. There is also a 5K option. Registration was only $50 and this is definitely about the best half marathon you can get for that price. The race takes place on the Lehigh Valley Trail. The start is at a park by some baseball stadiums. It was easy to get to and they said what to put into your GPS to get there. There were plenty of volunteers to help with parking. Packet pick-up was either Saturday at the Rochester Running Company store or the morning of the race. I was busy Saturday so got it race day morning. Packet pick-up was easy. The bib is personalized and has the race logo. Participants either get a long sleeve cotton shirt or a mug. I got the shirt. It’s not my favorite. it is black with an orange train I just don’t love the color scheme. I’d also prefer a tech shirt but this is a low budget race so it is fine. They did delay the start by 5 minutes to make sure there was enough water set up for the runners since it was a hot morning. This was clearly communicated and I appreciated the effort to keep the runners safe so won’t knock off a sneaker for the late start. About 15 minutes before the race there were pre-race announcements including discussing the course, the trail and honoring a local runner who passed away. That is one of the nice things about a smaller race, this kind of personal touch. The race started exactly at 8:05 (it was supposed to start at 8). One improvement would be an earlier start time as it is not unexpected to be hot at the end of August. Although I didn’t mind not getting up super early. The course is pretty nice. It is again an out and back on a rail trail. Of the rail trail courses I’ve done recently I liked this one the best. The trail is non-technical and well maintained. The scenery is a little monotonous but quite pretty with very little signs of civilization which is how I like a trail course. You do pass by a barn with some horses. There are a number of road crossing but there was plenty of volunteers directing traffic. Aid stations were also quite frequent. There were four of them, 3 you passed twice and one at the half turn around. There was never more than 2 miles between the aid stations. The aid stations had volunteers with cups of water and gatorade. There was plenty of water which was great since the start was about 85 degrees and humid for the first 5 miles. There was additional ice and paper towels at the street crossings if runners needed it. There were not many spectators but at one point the trail goes through a park and a parking lot. While this was the only not scenic part of the trail, there were spectators there along with a few musicians and a sign pointing to the park restroom. This was the only restroom on the course which you passed twice. A few more porta potties and some nutrition at the aid stations could have made this even better but again with the low price of the race I can’t complain about what was offered. As I said initially the race was really hot and humid for about 5 miles. Then it started to downpour for the next mile. Finally at the half turnaround point the rain stopped. There is also a timing mat at the half turn around point so no cheating. The temperature was pretty perfect on the way back but the trail was quite muddy and there were a lot of puddles to maneuver around. The weather woes were why I gave an otherwise easy as possible half marathon two sneakers for difficulty. At the finish line you go through the start/finish arch and over the timing mats and are given your medal. The medal is really nice. It is a ceramic medal with a train on it and the race distance, location and year. My time was quite fast today especially for the weather. I had very even, steady splits and actually ran the entire race with no walking breaks except at the aid stations which is a first for me. However if you are having a bad race day don’t worry there is absolutely no time limit. They also have an optional early start if you are concerned you may be over four and a half hours but will keep the finish line open for everyone regardless of start time. There were plenty of walkers and slower runners behind me and from what I could tell there was still plenty of water and gatorade at the aid station and finish line food left for them. Food was at a picnic area shelter in the park and included granola bars (yay), bananas and a delicious bag of donut holes from Donuts Delite. Not bad for a cheaper, smaller race. The drink selection though was chocolate milk and pickle juice. Yuck. Those would both make me sick so I just had water. Overall I was very impressed with this race. It wasn’t the most exciting or best produced half marathon I have ever done but it was a very well done half marathon for the price. It was definitely in the top half, maybe even top third of half marathon’s I’ve done and is about 1/2 the price of most of them. This is definitely one I will do again and would highly recommend it to locals. It’s not really a destination race and it wouldn’t be my first choice for NY for 50 staters but if it works perfectly with your schedule or especially if you are concerned about time limits definitely consider it.