Running From Yeti Kansas City, MO
Kansas City, MO
- Half Marathon, Half Marathon Relay, 10K, 5K
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
In Nepal’s folklore, Yeti is an “abominable Snowman”, who looks like an ape, is taller than an average human, and is believed to live in the Himalayas, Siberia, Central and East Asia. Yeti, during pre-19th century, has been believed to be a “Glacier Being” who was worshipped by the indigenous … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Mar 07):
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| H (°F) | 63 | 59 | 51 | 49 | 32 |
| L (°F) | 35 | 41 | 44 | 37 | 24 |
Find Nearby Lodging (hotel, rental, etc.):
Poor signage
As others mentioned the whole HM field went straight into a neighborhood where there should have been a sign to turn around adding an extra 1.5 miles. This is a … MORE
As others mentioned the whole HM field went straight into a neighborhood where there should have been a sign to turn around adding an extra 1.5 miles. This is a bummer as I came in with a sub 2hr goal. I chose to have a good attitude about it. Going off garmin time, I still hit my goal and got some extra miles for free. I also understand these events require so many volunteers so it’s hard to stay upset. Course is extremely hilly but I am familiar with it so was ready. Merch was top notch.
Flawed Race
The swag was great. The Yeti concept was fun. The race execution was not good. Apparently at around the 1.5 mile mark of the Half there should have been a … MORE
The swag was great. The Yeti concept was fun. The race execution was not good. Apparently at around the 1.5 mile mark of the Half there should have been a person and a sign to have us turn around. Instead there was a sign with a yellow arrow (yellow was the color for the half) to turn left off the trail. There is no question about that. This was wrong. So most of the runners wondered around a residential neighborhood, up hill to add insult to injury, for at least a mile or more off course. There were other places also that were not marked or marked by red tape that came up in the race. Please dont ever use tape to marl a course it comes up. Just use spray paint. In my 40 years of running and having done 100s of races this was the worst marked course. im not mad, just being honest. You have to do the basics like “blocking and tackeling” this was not it. We went off course another time as well. Most of us righted the ship by adjusting the course to end at 13.1 miles but it wasnt great. Also, the 6 inches of water under the underpass was not great either. We were splashing through the water in a cold day. Again in 40 years of racing i dont ever remember that. So, i dont know if I would do this race again. I guess if I knew this was going to be an adventure race with puzzles ans crazy stuff I would like to know upfront.
Solid race despite some hiccups
So my running partner and I had a few more miles logged this week than usual going into a half. That already made for a rough start. The 30+ degree … MORE
So my running partner and I had a few more miles logged this week than usual going into a half. That already made for a rough start. The 30+ degree drop (with windchill) over the prior 24 hours, that didn’t help. The fact that I knew a great many portions of the lower course would be flooded due to the storm the night before, didn’t help. What also didn’t help was reduced sleep because of weather alarms going off all night. Ok, so this’ll be a fun one, but at least I can talk to ccruiz03 and pass the miles. Nope to that one, as our radio headsets were pretty worthless amidst the trees and hills once we got a little space between us. Now none of this is the RD’s fault and some of it is pretty irrelevant, but somewhere between mile marker 1 and 2, we missed a turnaround and went off track. Not “we” as in “ccruiz03 and I”, but dozens of us, pretty much the whole pack at that point who had committed to the half marathon. Now at the time I thought the change was due to later flooding, so we just rolled with it. Like lemmings over the cliff, we crested the next hill and hung a right….right into a cul-de-sac. Once we righted our azimuth the race went on as expected, for better or worse. Was the flooded underpass there where I expected? Sure was. Was the complete absence of portapotties after mile 4 or 5 still an issue from last year? Yep. As expected. Did they run out of, and have to swap some of the swag if you did race-day packet pickup? Apparently, because none of us got the insulated headband and instead got another beanie. Expected though, because they ran out of medals last year and had to mail them out.
While this sounds like a….crap show…for lack of a better term, honestly something about it just made it be a “*shrug* okay let’s do it sort of event. It’s a hilly course. Nobody PRs out there anyway. The medals are easily the best in the three years I’ve done this event, and the hills were every bit as hard with the occasional mud washed across it as they are bone dry and warm. The swag is great as always, though I would have liked to get the insulated headband I ordered when given the choice between it and another beanie.
The RD was very apologetic about the “extension” and it didn’t seem like corporate speak but actually sincere. I told her “you know what, I got more for my money…all good”, but I accept not everyone may feel that way. It’s not a high production race (but there is a food truck at the end for some free nummies). You’re not going to get fireworks at the start and music along the course. What you are going to get is a nicely challenging race with great scenery, that honestly gets even better when the creek that parallels much of the course has doubled and crested the banks only the day prior. Not only will I almost assuredly be back, but I’m looking at other races within a day’s drive that they put on, and there’s a challenge or two calling to me as we speak.
Overall, great showing from an out-of-towner that I hope will set up a greater presence in the KC area. Let’s just get some more signs…
Not all it’s hyped up to be
This was my 7th half marathon and by far the most confusing course I’ve done. They did not have any mile signs along the way, and they misjudged the distance … MORE
This was my 7th half marathon and by far the most confusing course I’ve done. They did not have any mile signs along the way, and they misjudged the distance of the route- causing it to actually be 14.5 miles! So many of us were confused when we were done. My watch said 13 miles with no finish line in site. I went back onto the website and looked at their course map and they had us reaching 5 miles way too early, setting off the entire thing. It was much lower attended than other races I’ve done, so that also made it difficult because often times there was no one around us as we started realizing the distance was off. I’m not upset I did 14 instead of 13, but for an overpriced race that seemed way hyped up, I was super disappointed in the lack of signage and overall distance accuracy.
It was ok....
It was an out and back on a bike trail. The swag was a cheap plastic cup, a beanie, and a hoodie. When we finished they had run out of … MORE
It was an out and back on a bike trail. The swag was a cheap plastic cup, a beanie, and a hoodie. When we finished they had run out of medals and gave me a broken one from a previous race at a different location (they did mail me the correct one). Very little in the way of production, course support, or scenery. People can run this route any day of the week for free.
Big improvement over last year
No more crappy plastic medals! Admittedly, they did run out of the Kansas City ribbons so we got Springfield that day, and they are going to mail us the correct … MORE
No more crappy plastic medals! Admittedly, they did run out of the Kansas City ribbons so we got Springfield that day, and they are going to mail us the correct ones along with the hoodies they ran out of. While that’s inconvenient, apparently there was a lot of last-minute interest on this cool morning.
The race is thought a local park on concrete paths. Boo, concrete obviously, but it really is a nice course with some great views into the meadow. There are two big but short hills, and one gradual one that’s about 3/4mile long, but not too much of a trudge.
The SWAG is really top notch here. There’s a hoodie, long sleeved tshirt, knitted cap, I think there was a mug or a tumbler, and it was basically pick two, I think. The hoodie is really heavy and feels like it may be rain resistant. There was a great food truck available (free food) afterwards. The production company is top notch and the little hiccups we had are going to be rectified via USPS pretty soon. There were multiple timing mats with splits uploaded at what seems to be pretty arbitrary lengths, but more data beats less data if you ask me. Free pictures with the race as well.
Absolutely I will be back next year for what I believe is the third running in Kansas City. Hope to see you there. I’m the guy in the back in body armor. Say hi when you pass me.
More Porta John's
I wish there was one or two more Porta John's throughout the course. Course was mainly on a trail and scenery was decent most the time. A little hilly in … MORE
I wish there was one or two more Porta John’s throughout the course. Course was mainly on a trail and scenery was decent most the time. A little hilly in select parts.
Great Race!
This was a great race. I thought production was really smooth. I liked that it was smaller, and I liked that the packet pick up was at the race location … MORE
This was a great race. I thought production was really smooth. I liked that it was smaller, and I liked that the packet pick up was at the race location – great for us out-of-towners! Aid stations were amazingly stocked.
My course difficulty is probably skewed a little high. I was all trained up in January (when the race had to be moved due to weather), and then didn’t run again until the race. That’s on me, but it did make the course harder than it should have been.
Running a paved trail, so of course it’s beautiful scenery. The fact it was out and back was kind of nice because on the back you knew what was coming up.
Race production – touched on that earlier. Everything ran smoothly. I think it’s one of the best run races I’ve done. One thing is, they handled the weather as well could possibly be hoped for. Runners might have been okay on the January date, but support volunteers and staff definitely wouldn’t have been. Moving dates was a must, and I thought they offered enough options that everyone should have found one they were satisfied with.
Cool swag! I like that it was a hoodie instead of t-shirt. Just something new and different. And it’s a thick warm hoodie, not thin and cheap. I know people commented on the plastic medals – I like it! Metal ones are too heavy and hurt my neck. But I was able to wear that sucker allllll weekend! Plus it was just a cute design. (Side note – did not run all 3 legs of it, but I liked that they were color coded. That was cool.)
Overall, great race. Would run again.
It was just perfect race for me
This was very first time Kansas City had this race. It was supposed to happen in January but because of really bad weather, it was move to later date. But … MORE
This was very first time Kansas City had this race. It was supposed to happen in January but because of really bad weather, it was move to later date. But they managed really well. They were really supportive if someone wanted to do virtual run due to this change. Communication was perfect and was on point. Race swag was just perfectoooo… Chief’s kiss…. loved the hoodie and cap. Considering race location, it was really good. It was paved and all covered with shade / trees, loved that a lot. People on the track were nice and cheering too. So overall race experience was nice for me. Kept me motivated for sure. My last long run (50K) was in Oct. of 2022 and this race set perfect tone for my running activities this year. They also gave nice gift / soft toy for each person who came 1st in the specific age group. Yeti was fun. So over all it was sooooooooo much fun to run this race. I think they set really nice tone in KC. Looking forward to this next year.
My worst performance in years
**Updates at the bottom of original review So I've done this trail a dozen or so times. I have no idea why my time was garbage today other than everything … MORE
**Updates at the bottom of original review
So I’ve done this trail a dozen or so times. I have no idea why my time was garbage today other than everything hurt. None of this is the race’s fault though. It’s a beautiful trail (mainly) though a park. The trail is wide enough for a golfcart and a biker to ride side by side with a little room left over, so plenty of time to pass. This is NOT a trail run in traditional sense, as everything is paved and very much not wild. Mainly flat(-ish), but there are a couple short steep ones and a long grinding one that goes largely up for a mile. This race would be 5 shoes on overall and race swag if the medal had been nicer and befitting of the rest of this production. Despite my worst time on a half marathon (other than my very first), I had a great time. In part because I finally got to close the loop on a race that was delayed due to cold weather/wind in January.
The SWAG I marked down one because the medal is acrylic and feels cheap, though they do offer engraving plates. The long sleeve tshirt is very comfortable and the hoodie is tapered a little better than most of them, so I don’t have all this extra room around the waist. There were also socks, but I haven’t worn them yet, and the option to select between a trucker hat or a water bottle. I got the water bottle, but I’m told the hat was quite nice as well. DIdn’t get to see it as they had some supply chain issues so the hats are all getting mailed out, gratis.
UPDATE:
So because I was nearly DNF on that race (knees), I didn’t get my medal engraved due to some hardware issues that arose by the time I finished. They offered to mail me the engraved chip disk thing. It arrived today (looking sharp) and they were awesome enough to throw in a free Yeti running belt and a personalized note. It’s those little things that really make an outfit stand out. Also, it dawned on me that my original review failed to mention that there are three locations (cities) in which this race occurs, each with a different color hoodie, so it really incentivizes you to do the whole series, which I hope to do next year. I’m no stranger to racing multiple legs in a series of races under the same name. You get more of the same tshirt usually…it is what it is we all know the drill, but THESE folks solved that problem for you and make the different locations different theme colors (Think it was yellow, red and blue). The hoodies are nice, especially if you need an athletic cut, and I’m going to be picking up more colors next year for sure.
Just one more thing that made this organization stand out.