In my quest to run a marathon in every state, I chose the Bearly Ultra for Alabama. Here's the pros: The course is close to Birmingham. It's 20ish minutes from … MORE
In my quest to run a marathon in every state, I chose the Bearly Ultra for Alabama. Here’s the pros: The course is close to Birmingham. It’s 20ish minutes from downtown if you’re staying there. The course is beautiful. It’s entirely on trails in the woods. The course was interesting with lots of vertical with some stretches of flat closer to the end. Packet pickup was easy, at a cool running store. The aid stations were plentiful if you bring your own bottle. I would go through my bottle about the time I got to each aid station. The food selection was smaller than similar races I have done before, but had what I needed. I didn’t bring any fuel and was totally fine on calories based on what was provided. The race director is great. She sent enough emails that I felt prepared, but not too many. She was quite friendly and personable too. The volunteers cheered for every runner crossing the finish line which was cool. The race is low key, has all the stuff you need, none of the stuff you don’t.
I don’t have any big complaints. I found the quality of the race far exceeded the amount I paid. Little things that I thought could improve: I don’t care for the finisher’s mug instead of a medal. I appreciate the uniqueness of it, but it’s too big for me to display on my medal stand and I don’t use mugs to drink out of so it’s going to get donated. The bib has no mention of Alabama, the course, or the year. It’s very generic. I don’t have much use for the SWAG either. I don’t wear handkerchiefs, and while the running hat is cool, I prefer visors and don’t want something black on my head for hot runs. The shirts look cool, but they’re cotton and I would prefer a tech shirt.
All of these are nitpicky though. I loved the race!
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Great Alabama Experience
In my quest to run a marathon in every state, I chose the Bearly Ultra for Alabama. Here's the pros: The course is close to Birmingham. It's 20ish minutes from … MORE
In my quest to run a marathon in every state, I chose the Bearly Ultra for Alabama. Here’s the pros: The course is close to Birmingham. It’s 20ish minutes from downtown if you’re staying there. The course is beautiful. It’s entirely on trails in the woods. The course was interesting with lots of vertical with some stretches of flat closer to the end. Packet pickup was easy, at a cool running store. The aid stations were plentiful if you bring your own bottle. I would go through my bottle about the time I got to each aid station. The food selection was smaller than similar races I have done before, but had what I needed. I didn’t bring any fuel and was totally fine on calories based on what was provided. The race director is great. She sent enough emails that I felt prepared, but not too many. She was quite friendly and personable too. The volunteers cheered for every runner crossing the finish line which was cool. The race is low key, has all the stuff you need, none of the stuff you don’t.
I don’t have any big complaints. I found the quality of the race far exceeded the amount I paid. Little things that I thought could improve: I don’t care for the finisher’s mug instead of a medal. I appreciate the uniqueness of it, but it’s too big for me to display on my medal stand and I don’t use mugs to drink out of so it’s going to get donated. The bib has no mention of Alabama, the course, or the year. It’s very generic. I don’t have much use for the SWAG either. I don’t wear handkerchiefs, and while the running hat is cool, I prefer visors and don’t want something black on my head for hot runs. The shirts look cool, but they’re cotton and I would prefer a tech shirt.
All of these are nitpicky though. I loved the race!