Melissa Kinyon's Staging Area

100000% a must do race.

I’ve heard about Hatfield & McCoy for decades now. Ever since I started reading Runners World magazine back in the mid-2000s and saw pictures of the start line in the Food City parking lot, I was equally mesmerized and intimidated. I went back and forth on signing up for it as my Kentucky or West Virginia marathon for a couple years bc I was anxious about the logistics of the race. So, I’m going to list some helpful hints to help you decide if this is the right type of race weekend for you.

It’s an incredible race, but it’s also a specific type of race and very different than most other big marathons.

– I’m lucky enough that we live about 6 hours from the start line, so driving was on the table for us. If you fly in, you’ll absolutely need to rent a car.
– The website isn’t always updated with the correct date(s). I think this year had 2024, 2025, and 2026 throughout the different pages. Don’t let that scare you into thinking you’re throwing your money into a black hole and driving into a messy situation – the Facebook page, RunSignUp page, and the Website cobble together enough information for the weekend. And if you have any questions, you can FB message or email the race and they’ll get back to you. Or just ask Half Fanatics, Marathon Maniacs, or 50 Staters – enough club members have done this race and will be more than happy to give insight/answers
– If staying at the firestation or a local space is a little too rustic or scary (especially for single travelers), enough people stay at the chain hotels outside of town. We stayed in Pikeville and most of the cars in the garage were marathoners (I could tell by the stickers and the race t-shirts, we aren’t a subtle group lol). But I’d encourage you to try to stay locally – this is a huge event for the region and the marathon brings in a LOT of money. It’s better if it goes to local restaurants, hotels, etc. A half hour drive to the race may feel long, but when you actually get into the area and see WHY it’s a half-hour, you understand. And it’s no different than driving to a downtown race from the suburbs time wise.
– We got two or three emails the week of with information about race day, so enough that I felt informed but not so much that I felt spammed.
– Cell service is BAD on the race course. I had reception until mile 3 and then didn’t get it again until mile 25.
– If you’re trying to text your location to your people, write out timestamps with your milage so they know when you hit the points. Like “Mile 20 – 10:30am, Mile 23 – 11:15am”, so when they get it once you hit a cell pocket or cross back into town, they know you’re not actually an hour+ off your time. Or know you’re actually a mile from the finish line and can make their way over.
– Take time before race weekend, create a Google Maps trip, share it, and tag the race start line, finish line, parking spots, shower spots, packet pickup, etc. Especially if you’re traveling with people or doing different race distances. It is DARK and TWISTY and EARLY on race morning, help yourself out by knowing where you’re going before 5am.
– DRIVE SLOW RACE DAY MORNING. Especially if you’re parking in WV at the halfway point. It is a dark, twisty climb from Pikeville and through the first half of the course. Leave early and take your time, this part of the world is built around mountains and rivers and nature does NOT care about you rushing. And if you go off the road with no cell service? Not a great weekend.
– NO HEADPHONES! The course is completely open to traffic and, tale as old as time, when the marathon and half marathon split off things get lonely. DO NOT HAVE HEADPHONES, you NEED to be able to hear if there are any cars coming up behind you or coming around the bend toward you. Practice your long runs without headphones if you need to, but do not bring them with you. If you absolutely can’t run without technology, this isn’t the race for you. There are a million other races, go do those and enjoy your playlist. This includes those open headphones, you do not want ANY sounds distracting you or blocking traffic noises. Especially in the heat, the later part of the marathon (marathon brain is real), and on the climbs toward the finish line. It’s entirely possible you’ll be alone for parts of the course, you won’t always have the luxury of being in a crowd or having people ahead of you or behind you to alert drivers/alert you.
– Be smart about what side of the road you use. Yes, the instinct is to get on the “correct” side of the road, but if you’re coming up on a blind curve or pulling away from what the other runners are doing, you’re putting yourself and everyone else in danger. It confuses the drivers who aren’t used to people running on these roads and you won’t always know there’s a car coming around the corner until it’s ON you.
– DO NOT WEAR BLACK. I saw so many people who wore black and were fighting for their lives by the halfway point. Wear a neon color or white. It’s June and there are sections without tree coverage, especially as the race goes on. Make yourself visible, there’s nothing cringe about being smart and not getting heat stroke in the middle of a no cell phone coverage area.
– The gatorades at the aid stations are a little watered down, so if you NEED electrolytes there’s the grocery store at the start and we pass a dollar general around the halfway point.
– The food city and Starbucks open at 6am, so take advantage of caffeine, a bathroom where you can wash your hands, and a space where you can wander and see one of the more interesting start lines in American marathoning.
– Wash your hands before the race starts – the aid stations have fruit and it’s nice to be able to grab watermelon, oranges, or grapes with clean hands.
– take the pickle juice. It is a life saver
– Take your time, stop and talk to the aid station workers. They are all just wonderful and so sweet. I added so much time to my race from talking to people and it was 100% worth it.
– drink your water and gatorade AT the aid station and throw your cups away. Don’t make Memaw chase your cups a half mile down the road. This is essentially a trail race on 90% asphalt, respect nature and please don’t litter. Same for your gel packets – just hold onto them or time them out with the aid stations. Appalachia has been through enough, they don’t need us being bad guests.
– If you’re going to shower after the race, pack a little bag to take to the gym or firestation. BRING FLIP FLOPS. And a little plastic bag to put your gross shower flip-flops in when you’re done. And a towel. And soap, although the gym in WV had like 50 types of soap, shampoo, and a *razor* in the stall I used. So, choose your own adventure I guess.
– Check to see if you got an age group award, even if it seems outlandish. My husband and I did the first half together and he wasn’t hill trained, so we hike/ran the mountain. He finished around a 2:20 and he actually got second in his age group(!). I didn’t see it until the next day, so now we’re playing the ‘chase down the age group award and how we’re going to get it in the mail’ game, which we could’ve avoided with a ten second check at the finish line.
– All four races start at different times. The Blackberry half starts about 5 minutes after the marathon. So, if you’re trying to run WITH somebody for the first half, talk it out ahead of time and come up with a strategy or a spot to meet. I thought my husband would catch up to me, but once I hit mile 4 he still wasn’t with me, so I just stepped off the course and waited for him. I also didn’t care about my finish time for the marathon, so I was fine with it. But it would’ve been a different story if this were a PR attempt or something I was trying to race.
– There are a ton of ATV trails near the course, so don’t be freaked out if you see/hear ATVs coming up and down the main road.

Honestly, I wouldn’t recommend this as a first marathon. That feels mean, but this is a specific type of race. It’s rural, there are no crowds, there’s no cell service, music is a bad idea, it’s unrelenting with the hills, the golf course hits at a weird spot that’s close to ‘hitting the wall’ (I just walked it bc I was nervous about tripping), there are pacers but they didn’t really have people with them. This isn’t a party marathon, there aren’t any real side quests, and nature can be a little redundant if you need something to distract you from the pain.
That being said, this is a marathon that rewards those who are more mature, have done several (this was marathon #28 and state #15 for me), and can sit in boredom/discomfort without distractions (that pig trial cabin is one of the more exciting buildings on the course, honestly). It’s 1000000000% worth the trip, but it’s one of those that rewards you when you’re ready for it. Most of the DNFs I saw on social media were first timers, so I would say go for a more traditional race for your first time and save H&M for a bit later in your journey.

But absolutely go. And get your finish line pic with Hatfield and McCoy.

Flying Pig is iconic – I’ve been a runner for 25 years and have heard about the pig for about as long. It’s always been one of those ‘one day’ races and last May, after seeing about 1000 pictures on social media from the weekend, I decided 2026 was the year. And of course I had to go all in – Four Way Challenge with Extra Cheese. When you’re doing an iconic race, you go hog wild.

Everyone is posting reviews, so I’m going to give some insider tips I noticed from the weekend in hopes you choose to do this race, challenge yourself and do something big, and have some insight for the future.

– If you’re a 50 stater for half marathons, this typically runs the same weekend as Indy Mini Marathon. If this were ANY other race I would’ve doubled and knocked out two states, but I wanted to do the challenge and really have the Flying Pig Experience.
– Getting a hotel downtown on the Cincy side is worth it. We stayed near Fountain Square and it was great. The marathon start line was literally .20 miles from the hotel. The expo was like .30 miles. The Friday and Saturday races were a smidge further, but I think a half mile at most. And we had access to the free light rail right outside the hotel, tons of restaurants, bars, museums, and shops all within walking distance. We didn’t need a car, which was awesome.
– The only ‘meh’ about staying near Fountain Square is they do a cinco de mayo festival the same weekend and I could hear the music through the hotel walls. We stayed on the back end of the hotel, so it wasn’t super bad. But if you go to bed early before the marathon (like, before 10pm), make sure to request a room away from the square.
– The light rail is free. It goes down to the riverfront (aka by the after party location) and up about a mile to a mile and a half. We walked 95% of the trip so we could take pictures of the architecture, hop into shops, etc, but it was nice to know there was a rail we could ride if we needed it.
– Downtown is a downtown – there are homeless people, traffic, construction, etc. So, put your phone down and keep your eyes up

– There are no pace groups for the Friday and Saturday races. I was hopeful there would be a pacer for Friday because one mile runs are rare, but no dice. I still PRed by 20 seconds, which was awesome. There are pace groups for Sunday’s races.
– The corrals aren’t ‘guarded’ (like at Route 66). So anyone can go into any corral. If you’re trying to race or are stupid fast, go ahead and get into corral A. I was in corral B for Friday and Saturday and corral C for Sunday and there were walkers, slow joggers, etc ahead of me all three days. I wasted a lot of energy getting around people and made contact with a few VERY tall men.
– They grow them BIG in this part of the country, so if you’re smaller (5’2″ over here), protect your face. I’ve never had so many near misses of men almost elbowing me in the face/eye during a race. And I had one guy hit me in the clavicle. This is all because they were in the wrong corral and I was trying to pass them in crowded spaces – it shouldn’t have happened, but it happens when people choose corral based on vibes or hoping for Raceday miracles instead of actual projected times based on ability.
– The marathon is televised on the news. We ran by a camera at the top of the hill (iykyk) and like 30 seconds later the guy behind me said he had a text from a friend who’d seen him on tv. So, you’re being televised – make good choices.
– Party smart – there’s booze on the course, don’t be that guy getting sick on the side of the course because they partied too hard before mile 18.
– There are portajohns at SO many points during the course, but every single one had a line. I saw a few people off course behind bushes, etc – don’t do that. We can see you.
– There are quiet spots. I didn’t bring my headphone because everyone talked about how loud it was – and in some parts it really is. But in others, not so much.

2026 was my fourth year to do this race, so my review is a hybrid of several years of experience.

The race weekend is made up of 3-4 separate events. Friday night is a one mile race up and down Main Street. I’ve never done it, so I can’t speak to what it’s like/how it’s run. Following the mile run is the kids event (also a one mile run up and down Main Street). I believe kids run for free and get a special kids event shirt and a finishers medal. So if you’re traveling in for the half and bringing the family with you, something to keep in mind. Saturday morning is the half marathon and 5K.
((There’s no incentive for doing both days, so I’ve never done Friday night. I’m a simple person – give me a bonus shirt/medal/hat/pin, I’ll go out of my way to do extra miles/races. I’m literally doing the one mile run (“with extra cheese”) at Flying Pig in a few weeks bc of the extra swag.))

Anyway, 2026 was a weird year for Gov Cup. They introduced new half marathon and 5K courses and, unfortunately, ran the first 1.5 miles out and back over active railroad tracks. Like, active active tracks that everyone in Columbia knows and has been stuck waiting for. And, of course, a train came through during the races. Apparently about 1/3 of the half marathon runners and the entire 5K field was disrupted by the train, so the RD has already promised another new course for 2027. So it almost makes writing a review for 2026 null since it won’t accurately represent the future race course. And 2026 had a lot of people sign up last minute (mostly USC students I think), so they were short about 200 finishers medals. They promised they’d get more and mail them, so we’ll see if that happens.

But, there haven’t been any reviews on here since 2017 and that makes me sad, so I’ll add a new review:

-Decent race communication via email before the weekend
-Parts of the course are a nice tour of Columbia (the vista, USC, Five Points, Shandon); before 2026 the course included the state capital, the historic house district, and the Governor’s mansion. They changed the course and some of it was an improvement (more time in Shandon and off some busy roads in the later part of the half), but we traded nice scenery for more industrial “I wouldn’t run here by myself” areas. It was an odd choice.
-Historically parking was okay, but this year they were charging $10 for garage parking (unhinged for Saturday morning in Columbia) and had a few garages closer to the start/finish closed. I found street parking in the Vista and guess I didn’t have to pay for it, but that was because I knew where to look. Also, you’ll need to download the meter (parking) app on your phone, especially if you’re doing the Friday night runs.
-Hotel, museums, and restaurants near the start/finish, so if you’re traveling in you’d probably be fine to Uber in from the airport and walk to everything you need
-Shirt is fine – usually tech, sometimes cotton
-Medal is fine, sometimes it’s SC specific, sometimes it’s generic.
-After race party is fine – pizza, stretch/massage tables, beer. It’s crowded because everyone is in a REALLY small space
– Enough bathrooms at the start as long as you get there early enough to stand in line. If you’re running late, there’s a Starbucks nearby (be cool and tip the baristas since it’s technically a ‘for paying customers only’ situation and they were super chill when I and other runners ran in and out before the half)
-Minimal crowd support. They had to pay groups $200 this year to come out and cheer and even then they only got seven groups to show up and literally none of them cheered, although the ladies group at mile 12.5 handed out leis. Friends and family do come out to cheer their runners, but they tend to stay at the start/finish line, so there’s nobody *on* the course and then the finish line area is frustratingly crowded (which makes me sound like a monster, lol. I love seeing the celebrations and support, I just wish it was spaced out and not a huge clump at the finish line).
– Saturday morning event, so if you’re trying to double you have plenty of time to get to your Sunday event. In 2026 I ran the half in Columbia and then drove up to Virginia to the Virginia Creeper Marathon for Sunday morning. Columbia is along I20, I26, and I77, so if you want to leave the state to get anywhere else in the South, you absolutely can.

I like this race enough to do it every year, but IDK if I would fly in to do it as my SC half. Columbia is an interesting city and different than Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Greenville, etc, but I’m not sure if we have 13.1 miles here that really rivals Charleston or a beach run in MB.

I’m eternally frustrated because I want this race to be more than it is – I want it to be a community event where the Governor shoots the gun at the start, USC’s Greek Life comes out and cheers while we run through Greek Row, where the community has unofficial beer stops and neighborhood parties, and people travel in from out of state to see a new town and see that SC is more than coastal cities. And for whatever reason, this 53 year old race just can’t seem to get the momentum it needs to be successful on that level.

It’s a good race and a good way to spend 2 hours on a Saturday morning, but it bothers me that it could and should be more.

Pros:
– parking was convenient- the start/finish is on a college campus, so there’s a decent amount of nearby parking. We got there early to pick up our packets since we drove an hour in from SC, so I’m not sure how parking was for those who got there closer to the start, but there are neighborhoods around campus so I imagine street parking was an option
– Augusta has a good sized army base, so a sizable chunk of the runners are military and they are *efficient* with using the portajohns. Fastest I’ve ever seen a line move – I was really impressed.
– Half marathon starts at 715am, the 10K and 5K start at 745am, so it was nice not to fight the shorter distance runners for bathrooms or at the start line.
– Course itself is fine as far as things to look at – Augusta is a weird Southern city where there’s industry/mills, but they’re past their prime. Walking on the waterfront next to the Savannah river (which wasn’t apart of the course), it has the same vibes as Buffalo/Niagara Falls – like you’re seeing a city after its heyday that hasn’t figured out how to write its next chapter yet. Also, it makes sense historically – a large chunk of the city burned in the early 20th century and I think it just didn’t know how to recover/industry moved elsewhere.
– Course was starting and finishing at the college, mostly neighborhoods, and through a hospital campus. It wasn’t super scenic, but there were some neat houses to look at (including Ty Cobb’s in the first couple miles!) and I never felt bored.
– Hilly course – I’m including my elevation chart in the pictures
– Wikipedia says Augusta is the second largest city in Georgia, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. It’s a city race but easy to navigate
– Apart of a three race challenge with Aiken’s Triple Crown and Palmetto Peach; when you do all three in the same calendar year, you get a bonus medal.
– Decent course support – the last two miles are a steady climb and there was a lot of course support/people cheering/good energy in that stretch. The hills keep going until you hit campus with less than a mile to go, so mentally prepare for that.

Cons:
– They have an expo the day before and then packet pickup the morning of the race. We did packet pick up the morning up b/c I wasn’t going to drive an hour one way just to get our shirts/bibs. The website and emails talked about how your shirt size may not be available morning of, which was almost enough to keep me from signing up. I signed up literally 12 months ago (Feb 2025 for the Feb 2026 race) and they ran out of my shirt size at the expo. They emailed me at 7pm the night before the race to say they’d mail me a small in the next few weeks (which is nice of them), but it irks me that I planned/paid for my stuff literally a year in advance and they still gave my shirt away to somebody who signed up like a day before. I know that’s ugly of me and doesn’t really matter, but it’s still frustrating when 99% of other races have a ‘if you sign up late, come see us after the race and see if you get a shirt’ policy. But them mailing it to me is a nice solution.
– The hype video on the website shows runners in a brick/historic setting. I think it’s supposed to be the main drag of downtown, but there isn’t anything like that in the actual race course. TBF, the main part of downtown is being torn apart right now, so Idk if they changed the course to accommodate that or if the video is a bit of a tease. But if you see that and think “awesome, historical brick downtown!”, that’s not actually the course.
– Last year they had hoodies for the runners and this year it was a hooded tech shirt. I was really disappointed b/c I was expecting a hoodie – but I didn’t even get a shirt so I guess it doesn’t matter (LOL). IDK if last year was a special anniversary or what, but we don’t have a lot of hoodie races down here so it really stood out as something unique.
– medal is a nice size/weight – they do a Mardi Gras theme for the races, so that tends to carry into the medal/shirt. I’m not quite sure why since the race is a few weeks after Mardi Gras and it’s eastern Georgia, but it’s not the worst theme.

Notes:
– There’s a ‘blue’ stretch around mile 7.5 where there’s literally a half to full mile of pictures of soldiers who were killed in the line of duty. It’s hard b/c so many of them are from the last 20 years and it’s a LOT of young millennials holding their babies, fresh out of high school, etc. The pictures are on the right side of the trail, so if that’s triggering for you, you should be good to just run on the left side and avert your eyes for that stretch. It’s powerful, but it’s also painful. Of course we did the race a couple hours after they announced bombs were being dropped in Iran, so that played in on the emotions.
– There’s not a TON to do in Augusta, but visiting the James Brown statue, the Augusta museum, and the church near the waterfront are worth it. The museum has a nice collection of James Brown items, stuff related to the Masters, and historical artifacts from the Civil War. If you’re not from the South, those are always interesting since so many were destroyed when Sherman marched through/history is trying to pull back a bit from the ‘lost cause’ narrative and not feature CSA artifacts as prominently. The church has the grave of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a marker of where Augusta was colonized.

Unfortunately the Augusta (GA) Half and the Greenville (SC) Half run on the same day, so that eliminates a chance to double on states with two cities really close to each other for anyone trying to hit 50 states. But if you’re trying to knock out Georgia in one weekend, Augusta and Atlanta fell on the same weekend this year — so if you want to hit a half and full in Georgia in the same weekend, this may be an option. Or you can do the Greenville half (in SC) on Saturday and the Atlanta (GA) half on Sunday to get both states – there is an interstate that runs between Greenville and Atlanta.

All in all, Augusta is a good ‘one and done’ half – and if we lived closer, I think it’d be a fun hometown race. I PR-ed both the 10K and half marathon during the race and ran my first ever sub-2 hour (1:59! It counts!), so it’s going to have a special place in my heart for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t fly 1,000 miles for it, but I wasn’t annoyed with getting up at 4am and driving an hour for it.

I always add cold winter’s day to my race calendar – it’s historically the Saturday between Christmas and New Years (IDK when they put it when Christmas is on a Saturday, guess well find out in 2027) and a fun little end of the year celebration/motivator to keep up training during the last few weeks of December.

2025 was the first year they added a 10K option. I signed up for it since Columbia is sorely lacking in 10Ks. They also had an option to run both the 10K (starting at 9am) and the 5K (starting at 10am), but the price point was pretty high for one shirt/medal and no additional swag for doing both races. Looking at the results page, there wasn’t even a 15K option for awards/rankings, so I feel okay with my decision to just run the 10K. It worked out b/c I PRed by over a minute, so I’m glad I was able to just focus on one race.

This year was warm (60s, direct sun, 95% humidity), last year was 40s and rainy, the year before was in the 40s or 50s and overcast. So, it’s a gamble with the weather, but that’s early winter in South Carolina. But keep that in mind if you’re traveling down here and want to do the race – it may be warmer than you’ve been training in (looking at you Bangor, Maine woman who got first in my age group. Also looking at you Connecticut couple who did the race b/c you spent the night in Columbia on the way to Florida). But it’s a nice course – Strictly Running does a LOT of their races in this neighborhood and for good reason – there’s a lot of neighborhood to play with road wise (I did a 5 mile women’s race in the same neighborhood earlier this year and I think maybe one or two miles were a repeat). It’s hilly enough to keep things interesting and it looks like SC – lots of pines, nice houses with their xmas decorations, runs around a golf course and over a lake. The roads are open to traffic, but everyone was slow and respectful of the runners.

The only “oh” was the start and finish lines were in a different place than Strictly Running usually puts them. I think people just didn’t look at the map since the last 850 races SR has hosted here have all been the same course, so it created some confusion for both the runners and spectators who wanted to wait for their runners at the finish line. So that’s 95% on the runner for not looking at the map and 5% on the store for not mentioning “hey, look at the map, we’re doing something different this year” on the website/in the emails/at packet pickup. But if runners were good at communicating we’d all be doing team sports, not road races.

Huge finishers medal, it’s bigger than my last three marathon medals. Shirts are … the sizes are always weird. 2023 and 2025’s were both so small and 2024’s was big, so IDK what to tell you. It’s always a cotton long sleeved shirt and they usually don’t have extras at the finish line to swap, so I guess consider sizing up if rocking a race shirt is important to you.

Parking is fine – the race location is near a few shopping centers, so you can always park at Sbux or whatever and walk over for the race.

Overall, Strictly Running always puts on a solid event and this 10K was a nice replacement for the sorely missed Daybreak 10K.

This race randomly popped up when I was researching another half marathon in Aiken. The moment I saw the person dressed as a headless horseman on top of an actual horse (it’s Aiken, horses abound) posing for pictures with runners, I knew I had to do it.

I was a little nervous about the course since it’s 100% trail/mixed terrain, so I emailed the RD back in June asking some logistical questions and they were quick to respond and even invited me to come out and test the grounds during one of their group runs. I decided to just take a risk since all the runners in the pictures were in road shoes and figured, wcs, I could hike some miles.

Communication ahead of the race was good – several emails and posts on Facebook. They have packet pickup the night before as well as the morning of, so perfect for driving into town (we live about an hour away). GPS got us to the stables and then the paper signs pointed us to parking, so no issues in the dark.

Indoor bathrooms at the start and finish, but no bathrooms on the course. But you’re also in the woods, so that’s between you and nature.

The half marathon started at 8am and the 10K and 5K started later (830 and 9am maybe?). There were 49 half marathoners, so enough that there were people within sight but not enough that we had to navigate trail running in a crowd. The half course also dipped into the 10K and 5K course at different points, so we were rarely alone on the course. There were about 100 5Kers and somewhere in between for 10Kers. So a good sized crowd but not too overwhelming for the trails.

The website said there would be five water stops, but I think there were only four. Only downside is two of the four only had nuun, no water, so that sucked. If you need water or another electrolyte mix every few miles in a half, consider carrying your own.

Course was good – 13.1 unique miles that didn’t repeat any of the course. Loose sand and thick grass/brush were the most difficult to navigate, but my Superblasts were fine and I saw other people in Ghosts, Hokas, etc who were fine. It was definitely a ‘follow your vibe’ kind of event – there were people racing, people running, people walking, and people hiking with poles and backpacks. Ultimately it was a course supported time in nature, which is what trail running should be as far as I’m concerned.

Cotton long sleeved shirts (currently wearing mine), awesome finishers medal, and I got a plaque for getting first female in the masters division. We saw the horseman on the course, but the horse got spooked and had to go to his safe space, so he wasn’t available for pictures at the finish line. Which was literally the only disappointment of the day.

Awesome food spread at the finish line as well as beer and wine. I couldn’t find any water aside from little 8oz bottles, but the car was close enough I could’ve just gotten my own and been fine.

Overall, a fun morning in Aiken – this race is a gem.

I took a bit of a gamble with this half marathon – there weren’t very reviews online and the half marathon doesn’t have a huge social media presence (hot tip: if you’re still on Facebook, follow both the Bluegrass Half Marathon and the Goose Chase – they don’t post anything about the race until about a month before, then suddenly both pages explode about the BG half marathon – they were good about answering my questions and giving info via email the week of the race), but it was a 3 hour drive from SC and I wanted to explore a new part of Tennessee / get my Tennessee half marathon knocked out in a different part of the state (I did my Tennessee marathon in Chattanooga). And it was only $45 to sign up, so I figured it would be worth the drive and if it was awful, I could always double back up and do another TN race for the memories.

-Quick packet pick up the day before, also available morning of – so if you find another race in NC/VA and want to double, that’s on the table
-Fair amount of parking near the start/finish, but good luck if you try to go out the night before. We circled the area for 20 minutes trying to find parking before my husband made a spot. The race is the same weekend as ETSU parent weekend (a choice) and Football Saturday in the South, so it was a smidge busy. But we ate at a German restaurant and it was super good.
-Nice cotton shirt – I’ll definitely be wearing mine
-Baby medal, but it fit the Bluegrass theme (a banjo in front of a wagon wheel) and for $45, it’s within the price point
-Race communication via email the week of the race. They just sent the same email out like four times, lol, but it was consistent and informative.
-Free race pics – more or less just someone randomly taking pics at a few points on the course, but it was nice to have a pic of us on the course and at the finish line
-Nice tour of Johnson City – it’s an old city, so it was through a few lower income areas (we may or may not have watched someone break into a house around mile 3 – seriously), nicer houses, ETSU, and a couple of the main roads. Traffic was okay, I didn’t feel unsafe at any point. Not every residential intersection was blocked, so we had to be aware but there weren’t any issues/we finished before the church crowd really hit the roads.
-Hilly, but not terrible for being in Eastern Tennessee. I was able to run all of them but lots of people walked and we all finished around the same time. So, you do you. It’s the next day and I’m walking normally/no issues on stairs. I’ll add my Garmin elevation chart to the pics.

It definitely felt like Tennessee. It was misty that morning, so it was nice to see “smoke” in the mountains while we were running. Heard Southern accents all around and the national anthem was a really stirring recording of a bluegrass cover. And I saw a baby black bear off the interstate when we left town, so 10/10 for Tennessee experience.

JC itself doesn’t have a ton to do, but it’s close to a lot of areas (Asheville, like ten nearby state parks), so it’d be easy to make a weekend or a few days out of it. Definitely worth the drive, maybe worth a flight if you want to explore Asheville, Smokey Mountain National Park, or Appalachia.

This was the inaugural year for the race, so I knew there would be tons of areas for improvement/learning opportunities and to take the weekend as a casual ‘this is for fun, there will be hiccups’ – I think everybody came with that mindset, which helped make this a really relaxed vibe from the athletes.

Pros:
-The race website was well done. The video they did advertising the city absolutely convinced me this would be a fun race to do for my Virginia half
– Solid race communication ahead of time – several emails with comprehensive information in the weeks leading up, lots of updates on Facebook in the months leading up to the weekend.
– Friday night 5K and Saturday morning half/full – love when races do that because I only need to book a hotel for one night and figure out meals for a 24 hour period, which is ideal in a smaller town and within a four hour drive of home
– Medals were super well done, real show pieces
– It felt like Virginia (even only being one exit into the state) and the South, which is important to me on my 50 states journey.
– 5K and half course were solid – getting to run by all the old houses (Millionaire’s Row), the revitalized buildings that used to be warehouses/for manufacturing, and the Dan River was awesome. Lots of hills including toward the finish line – the rebranding of ‘victory hill’ is a nice spin and helped with the final climbs
– Incredible crowd support, honestly. A lot of people came out from the nice houses and downtown area and cheered on runners for both days. It was more crowd support than we get at any of our races in South Carolina, so that was a blast.
– Generally everyone in town was super nice

Cons:
-No updates on Facebook the week of the race
– Parking and race location information didn’t appear on the website until AFTER the 5K. The roads were closed for the race, so using GPS was a nightmare trying to figure out how to get to the McDonalds parking lot and none of the volunteers knew how to get us there. Directions and a physical address for out of towners are needed for next year. In theory, it’d be great if they could just use the Casino as a host hotel and parking lot, but the hotel rooms are like $500 a night and I think they allow smoking, so probably not going to happen. LOL.
– Generic long sleeved shirts. Got one for the 5K and one for the half marathon, so two white long sleeved tech shirts with the logos on them for doing the double. Love the logo, so I don’t mind that, but maybe a t shirt for the 5K and long sleeve for the half/full in the future.
– Hotels were expensive for where we were. The Casino is driving up the prices in town, so we paid a lot of money for a room across the river. Host hotels wanted a minimum of two nights, so we just stayed across the river and drove in. NBD once we knew what roads were closed and how to take back roads to get to the McDonalds parking lot, which was only like .3 miles from the start/finish line. And the McDonalds employees were awesome, they came out for both races and handed out ice water and just enjoyed watching the runners. And they were chill with us using their bathrooms before the races.
– Race started late. No explanation given, just an announcement that the marathon would be starting later and then the half marathon would start fifteen minutes after. It wasn’t weather related and the roads were all closed, so IDK what the delay was. Race was supposed to start at 7am for marathoners and 715am for half marathoners (IDK, there were only 100. marathoners…), so it got pushed to starting at like 720 and 745 or something? It was chaotic, especially since they pushed the weekend as a last chance to BQ.
– HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT AND HUMID – it was already 70* at 7am and 100% humidity. So starting 30+ min late was a nightmare. ((We live in SC, we’re usually done with our long runs and back in bed with our cats by 8am.)) And direct sunlight for most of the course. We walked a LOT in the later half and I still managed to finish in the top 1/3 of half marathon women with my 2:30 finish time. But the vibe was good – everybody was in it together (trauma bonding, lol). The marathon course went across the river for miles and then back – when we left town a few hours later we saw lots of marathoners walking in direct sunlight (miles 18-20) and just hanging out at water stops chugging hot water. So I’m not sure how many people actually BQed and how many just pushed through and were just grateful to finish.
– Some weird electrolyte mix on the course, not gatorade or Powerade. So if your stomach can’t handle mystery mix, bring your own. I can’t do anything ‘healthy’ mix wise, so I was out of luck. And I’d sweated my soul out by mile five, so I wasn’t getting on top of anything.
– We watched the race pick up the marathon course with a LOT of runners still on the road. That’s the downside of delaying the start and having so many people in unfavorable conditions – the permit runs out before the runners do. So if you’re a back of the pack marathoner, this isn’t the race for you. If you’re a back of the pack half marathoner, come on down for some good vibes and views.

So, not the worst inaugural year. I loved the half course, the vibe of the town, and the medals. I think this has good bones and will grow into something special, but it may be better to drop the ‘last chance to BQ’ and push it into October when the temperatures are more favorable.

This long standing 5K night time race in Columbia is put on by one of the local running stores (strictly running) and they’ve really upped the wow factor in the last couple years.

Pros:
– Really nice cotton shirt and medal. The medals are actually bigger than some of my marathon ones, lol
– Nice flat historic neighborhood. A couple inclines, but nothing quad blowing
– The last couple years this weekend has been freakishly cool
– Confetti canon at the start, flames and confetti at the finish, it’s a party for sure
– Lots of cross country kids using this as a test run, so the energy is contagious and it’s always fun to see them at the nexus of summer training and the new season
– lots of parking
– race photographers with free pics at the finish line
– free print out of your race time at the finish line

Cons:
– Minimal bathrooms, so get there early to stand in line

Tip: bring a light (both flashlight and night light) if you’re gonna be over a half hour (or honestly 20 minutes if it’s overcast/stormy). It gets DARK on the course and I wish more people had lights on them for safety.

Packet pick up is the day before at a local Fleet Feet (with like no parking, so heads up that you’ll probably have to circle the lot a few times) several miles away from the race location. They do offer race day packet pick up, but be sure to get there early.

The race itself has a fair amount of parking. It’s at a baseball stadium, so get there early if you want to park in the actual paved parking lot. If you don’t, you’ll park in a nearby grassy field, which is fine if things have been dry but problematic if it has been rainy. The race site isn’t near a hotel, so if you fly in you’ll need to figure out transportation. Not 100% if Uber/Lyft would be an option at 7am.

Lots of indoor bathrooms as well as a row of portajohns near the start. The Half, 10K, and 5K all have different start times. No corrals, but there are pacers so that helps with figuring out where to line up.

The half marathon course itself is fine – it runs through a new build neighborhood, around the local high school, and down some major roads/four lane highways. They close off the far right lane on the highways for runners and have orange cones/heavy police presence to separate runners from the traffic. Personally, I hate it because the traffic is coming up BEHIND us and I spend those miles absolutely terrified someone in a lifted pickup truck is going to give into their intrusive thoughts/frustration with traffic being slow, but I 100% know that’s a me problem and (probably?) irrational. But I’ve heard other people mention they share the same fear. Sharing because it’s a real mood killer if you’re not expecting it.

The course used to run further into town and around an athletics complex (youth sports ball fields), but they changed the course in 2024 due to a tournament and now it runs through the new build neighborhood again. Which is a mixed bag – flat and you know the terrain, so it helps if you’re chasing a PR, but also a bit of a mental “ah come on” to do the same thing again around miles 10-12. Finish line is different than the start, which is also a mental “….” – you turn into the grassy parking lot and run over some mixed terrain (rocks and gravel), onto the baseball field, and round the bases on the … clay? dirt? … to the finish line. It’s a fun finish line experience and looks cool for the photos, but it adds to the race (13.2 or more) and by that point I’m ready to be done.

The finishers medals are really nice (hefty, good size) and the shirt quality has consistently improved over the last three years. Different shirt/color for each distance, so it’s fun to see them in the community. Not a lot of post race food – a few granola bars and fruit and then food trucks with the option to purchase.

Does it feel like you’re running in SC/the South? No. The area is overgrown and you run past a lot of thrown up neighborhoods and businesses. No Spanish moss, antebellum houses, or rocking chairs on this course. Not a lot of spectators, but the people at the water stops are happy to be there and encouraging. But it’s flat-ish and is historically the best option for a PR of the few half marathons we have in Columbia.

I did the marathon in 2023 and 2025:

Pros:
– It’s a solid NC race if you want urban/don’t want to deal with renting a car. Everything you need is in uptown (albeit pricey, but big city means big city prices, even in the South)
– Generous deferral options — I had to defer from 2024 to 2025 due to injury and there wasn’t a cost to do so, even at a week before the marathon.
– Start and finish line are near each other, so nice for parking options. Also near the light rail station, so an option if that’s your thing
– Corrals are new and worked well (they started in 2024, so I ran in 2023 with no corrals and 2025 with and 2025 was a lot smoother), we were in corral F (I put down a 4:30 finish time estimate, so….) and hit the start line like five minutes after the race began.
– Shirt and medal are good quality — the shirts were tiny in 2023 and huge in 2025, so don’t size up unless you want something baggy. You can exchange after the marathon if they have extra.
– In the past they gave pulled pork sandwiches at the finish line, this year was a Publix (grocery store brand) bag of snacks and a nice beanie (hat) – I prefer the bag and the hat; I didn’t do the post race party b/c I wanted to get back to the hotel and shower

Facts:
– The front half of the marathon is STACKED with spectators. It’s loud, it’s crowded, it’s a good energy. And, as is tradition, once 3/4 of the runners peel off to finish their half and the 1/4 of us dumb enough to run another 13.1 miles stagger on, the energy and crowds drop off.
– The front half is really hilly, the second half has some flatter sections until some random “ah jeez really?” hills throughout.
– Charlotte isn’t really the South anymore, you’re not gonna hear any Southern accents while you’re in town. That part died around the same time they rebranded it from Thunder Road to Charlotte Marathon.

Facts:
– The first half of the marathon is too crowded. I couldn’t really make any moves or get around people in the first 10 miles – it’s just really tight through uptown and the rich neighborhoods. My husband is faster than me on uphills and we lost each other a couple times because he couldn’t step off to the side to wait for me / I couldn’t get any speed going downhill to catch him. Things finally opened up at mile 13, so make sure you put yourself where you need to be pace wise at the start b/c you’re not getting it in the first half.
– The expo was moved to the nascar hall of fame building in 2025, but they didn’t actually tell you HOW to get to the expo. It was a pain to find and we definitely met up with like 20+ other lost people in back stairwells / hallways trying to find where to go. Annoying.
– The front half is stacked with water stops, bathrooms, aid stations – it’s awesome. The second half is NOT. We couldn’t find a bathroom until mile 23 (don’t worry, that was like our mile 16, we had to run across the path of the 3 hour marathoners to get to the single portajohn), the water stations were sparse, the gatorade was watered down (the gatorade was a pale yellow, my pee was not.), minimal shade. A lot of community members made up for the lack of water stations by handing out their own at little neighborhood aid stations, which is always appreciated but also shouldn’t come down to somebody being generous enough to give me a dixie cup of water when I paid over $100 for a race

– the second half was sparse crowd wise in 2025 and I remembered it being busier in 2023. However, ICE was in town in 2025 and I think a lot of people opted to stay home out of an abundance of caution. We didn’t see them while we were in town, but I doubt they were going to be in the most affluent part of town. Some people in the second half did have protest signs as their marathon signs, so I think that part of town was probably more of a target.

The marathon keeps moving later and later into November and it’s still hot and humid. This year it was 40s at the start and got into the 60s/70s during the day. I finished around 4:45 and the announcer said there were still like 1000 people out on the course – I passed a LOT of walkers while heading back to the hotel. It’s irresponsible of the race to not have enough resources in the back half, especially when they push for this to be such a “you can and will do it!” kind of event.

So, all in all, I’ve done 2 of my 3 sub 5 hour marathons at this race (and that includes walking the water stops and taking pics), so it’s a good course/energy, but I think it’s a better half marathon than full marathon experience. And if you NEED supplies while marathoning, pack your own. My husband ran in a camelback and drank the entire thing over his 5 hour adventure.

We lived in Tulsa for a decade, so this was the hometown marathon and has spoiled me for every other marathon out there. I ran from 2013-2019 and flew back in 2025 for the Blue Whale medal, so I’ll just list some insider points:

– The race course is different post-pandemic. I was disappointed not to run past the Meadow Gold sign and see the Buck Atomic statues (that sounds insane out of context), but it was also nice not have to repeat back through Utica Square after the half splits off. That part always felt like being at the club after the lights have been turned on – the magic is gone. IDK if running down riverside for a million miles is necessarily better than going back through town and the neighborhoods heading into TU, but riverside is nice (it better be for all the races we do out there, lol) and I did like getting to see all the marathoners on the out and back portion. And it was nice not to have to run UP cherry road at mile 23.
– As is tradition, the front half is a real party. There are SO many drink/shot options, please pace yourself. DO NOT be the guy I saw vomiting his soul out at mile 10. Just because somebody offers you a shot every tenth of a mile doesn’t mean you have to take it. But I did take a bottle of fireball from an elementary aged child at mile 2 and it’s gonna remain one of my favorite marathon memories. There are still drinks and shots in the second half, but not nearly as many.
– Expo is much smaller now than it was pre-pandemic. It was weird not to have any of the local running stores and most of the regional races or national shoe brands on site. And fleet feet isn’t doing finisher shirts anymore, which is a shame bc the 26.5 finisher shirts were iconic.
– Expo does offer a section to exchange your shirt/jackets/swag if it doesn’t fit.
– THE 5K START LINE IS NOT THE MARATHON START LINE, DO NOT GO TO GUTHRIE GREEN ON SUNDAY, GO DOWNTOWN ON SUNDAY – TOWARD THE SKYSCRAPERS, NOT BLACK WALLSTREET/THE ARTS DISTRICT. I saw TOO many half marathoners walking to Guthrie Green on Sunday. That’s the finish line for both days and it’s a mile from the marathon start line, do not go there on Sunday.
– Do yourself a favor and park near Guthrie Green, though. We parked around mile 26 and it was WONDERFUL to not have to trudge back a mile after all those hills.
– The race bibs don’t list your name and hometown anymore, which is a shame. I always loved that bc I could see someone’s info at a glance and start a conversation. So, write your info on yours and take an earbud out so you can make a new friend.
– Water stops were abundant throughout the race course. They did white cherry gatorade flavor this year and I’m so sorry to the volunteers who had to explain to so many disgusting runners that it was gatorade and not bad colored water. I’d never seen that flavor in a race before and I was legit confused and can’t imagine I was the only person who was like “????!!!!”.
-Put yourself in the middle of the corral if you want to see the confetti show at the start line. And be prepared to have confetti fall out of your clothes for the rest of the day.
– Pack for all seasons and know it may be windy on race day. And bring gloves/sleeves if you get cold by the water, my body temp dropped a bit on riverside since I’d been sweating for 2 hours at that point
– DO THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE DETOUR
– Check your results before you leave – they had WEIRD timing issues this year. One of my girlfriends ran the 5K and it didn’t even register her as doing the race.
– Once you leave the finish line area, you can’t get back to it. They are very strict about this.
– The tents by the finish line have the bonus coins/medals. They’re not super well marked and marathon brain may make you forget to get your extra stuff.
– Post race food is mediocre, but luckily there are a ton of restaurants, bars, and coffee shops around the finish line.
– Tulsa is GENEROUS about opening the entire Road up for runners, so it was wonderful to spread out and not have to run at a slant or worry about cars speeding by. If that’s the trade off of doing several miles on riverside, then it’s a fair trade
– Do the 5K the day before – it’s worth it for the bonus coin/gift and a baby version of the marathon medal. And it runs by the Blue Dome and parts of town that aren’t on the marathon course anymore, so you get to see even more of the city
– Free race pics this year, which was very generous and a wonderful keepsake

Just, do it. It’s a great experience and not as somber as OKC/typically better weather. There’s a reason why FX keeps making shows in Tulsa – it’s a special place.