First the pros. - Really easy parking and packet pickup. - The absolute best aid station I've been to. Ever. In 100+ races. It wasn't the food that made this … MORE
First the pros.
– Really easy parking and packet pickup.
– The absolute best aid station I’ve been to. Ever. In 100+ races. It wasn’t the food that made this aid station great… the food was average. But the guys running the aid station dressed as prisoners – orange pants and a white tank top – and were absolutely excited when I rounded the corner by myself, but well below 50%th percentile in the race. They screamed, shouted, whooped, cussed a little, and did ALL of my water bottle filling for me and then whooped and hollered as I headed on down the course.
– The waterfall and creek crossings. Really pretty, and unexpected. It was nice to stop and wash the poison ivy off of my legs and then drench myself in the water.
The cons:
– The course was brutal. Brutal ups. Brutal downs. And it was very technical. I did the 18 miler and I think maybe only 6 miles was flat’ish and not super technical. It was a lot like what you’d expect to find at a Spartan race.
The average:
– The swag. No metal, which is fine by me, but it’s not the norm.
– The post-race food was not what I expected it would be. My impression was that there would be some great post-race food. Unless I missed something there was just a lot of post-race snacks and drinks, the same stuff they had at the aid station. They did have some cake at the finish line.
– The post-race beer. First, bring some local craft beer. Second, get some non-alcoholic beer for those of us who don’t drink.
Overall, I’m glad I did this race but I wouldn’t do it again. If they could plot a course that had more good views and less brutal ups and downs then it would be good. I don’t mind the ups and downs but that is a lot of effort to really have the only payoff be a single pretty waterfall. Much of the rest of the time it is like you are running through a green tunnel that feels like it’s closing in on you. I heard repeat runners talking about this course, that they liked it, and so some will really like this sort of race. Run your own race, they say.
Even if you do want to do this race it’s not really a destination or bucket list race. I drove 3 hours to get to it. If you are driving to the race the night before, the hotels are very close by. The park is easy to get to. Parking is simple. There were indoor flush toilets close to the start line. This was not a bad race, just not a great race.
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Low ROI on this course
First the pros. - Really easy parking and packet pickup. - The absolute best aid station I've been to. Ever. In 100+ races. It wasn't the food that made this … MORE
First the pros.
– Really easy parking and packet pickup.
– The absolute best aid station I’ve been to. Ever. In 100+ races. It wasn’t the food that made this aid station great… the food was average. But the guys running the aid station dressed as prisoners – orange pants and a white tank top – and were absolutely excited when I rounded the corner by myself, but well below 50%th percentile in the race. They screamed, shouted, whooped, cussed a little, and did ALL of my water bottle filling for me and then whooped and hollered as I headed on down the course.
– The waterfall and creek crossings. Really pretty, and unexpected. It was nice to stop and wash the poison ivy off of my legs and then drench myself in the water.
The cons:
– The course was brutal. Brutal ups. Brutal downs. And it was very technical. I did the 18 miler and I think maybe only 6 miles was flat’ish and not super technical. It was a lot like what you’d expect to find at a Spartan race.
The average:
– The swag. No metal, which is fine by me, but it’s not the norm.
– The post-race food was not what I expected it would be. My impression was that there would be some great post-race food. Unless I missed something there was just a lot of post-race snacks and drinks, the same stuff they had at the aid station. They did have some cake at the finish line.
– The post-race beer. First, bring some local craft beer. Second, get some non-alcoholic beer for those of us who don’t drink.
Overall, I’m glad I did this race but I wouldn’t do it again. If they could plot a course that had more good views and less brutal ups and downs then it would be good. I don’t mind the ups and downs but that is a lot of effort to really have the only payoff be a single pretty waterfall. Much of the rest of the time it is like you are running through a green tunnel that feels like it’s closing in on you. I heard repeat runners talking about this course, that they liked it, and so some will really like this sort of race. Run your own race, they say.
Even if you do want to do this race it’s not really a destination or bucket list race. I drove 3 hours to get to it. If you are driving to the race the night before, the hotels are very close by. The park is easy to get to. Parking is simple. There were indoor flush toilets close to the start line. This was not a bad race, just not a great race.