Ro May's Staging Area

State #38 If you’re looking for a well-run, runner-focused, community-centered race where you will likely place then — you must come do this one in Savannah.

Yesterday 2/14 race in Savannah was such a great experience from start to finish. Easy and flat course. Nice soft T-shirts and cute looking medals. They added 5K and 10K night before for a double experience.

Communication leading up to the race was simple and clear. Packet pickup was quick and easy — no confusion, no chaos. You can tell this race is designed by runners, for runners.

Race morning couldn’t have been smoother. Parking was easy in the church lot, and the church was open so we had a warm indoor place to wait before the start. They even had more snacks and hot drinks to buy, which was a nice touch. Bathrooms were clean and plentiful!

The race director, Dan, was fantastic. He started the race with a genuine message and a prayer for safety, which made the morning feel special and that community race feel.

One of my favorite parts? Free medal engraving for everyone — yes, everyone! And they do age awards by single year instead of age groups 😆 which I absolutely love.

It’s a smaller race through neighborhood streets, which made it feel personal and like a long run.

The race was super organized, plenty of shuttles, lots of nearby hotels with reasonable prices. Race started on a hill and had some gnarly hills with gravel. Race signs were awesome. Volunteers were great and lots of water and hydration stations. The reason we flew there to do it is to get the *access granted* for the Marine Corps Marathon.

Super organized, communicative, loved the smoothness of race day packet pick up, and that wonderful prayer at the start of the race truly spoke to me with its kindness and intention and that was a first at a race and I have done a few 🙏🏼

I have always wanted to do a race on my birthday. Being 01/14 hard to find many that are not on the west coast (where I live lol) Having been to Arkansas 2 others times, I am a huge fan of the state parks in AR so that was my first ✅ then as I read about the cause ✅ which is to send $$ to a library at an elementary school, as a teacher, my heart was so excited that I knew this HAS to be the race I do for my birthday race. It’s state 34 for me and trail half marathon #2. I am so thankful I got to do this race!

On to the race:::: clear directions and signage, wonderful volunteers, deliciously stocked aid stations, the tacos and selection of soft drinks after and finished with hoodies to cozy up post race.

The medal is made from wood and the hoodie is top notch seriously.

Race day was chilly but after couple hours it was perfect. Lots of leaves 🍁 but not impossible. It had a good amount of climbs and defeats to make it super fun. We also crossed mini creeks 3 times but didn’t get wet. Flush and heated bathrooms at the state park were a luxury I needed coming from Southern California 😆 cause 39 degrees is cold to me.

Thank you once again 🙏🏼

This was my very first trail race. I knew it would be hard and boy it was!!! Ran it with an amazing friend of mine and we had a blast
Good 👍🏼:::
Stunning course, amazing smiley volunteers, participants are regular community runners who were just soooo encouraging, AMAZING and enthusiastic announcer, perfect weather, cold 🥶 at the start but the fire pits really made it perfect, easy parking, easy packet pick up and beautiful sweater.

Need improvement/not so good 👎🏻:::
Race director was not personable, short with participants, no where on the site does it say no medal 🏅. So be aware!! Poorly stocked ONE aide station, they ran out of utensils at the finish, beer was not cold, no photographer at the finish, and they could’ve made stickers or wood medals or something and had them as optional.

Great course, somewhat hilly but absolutely beautiful scenery. Many sections were muddy because of the torrential rain the night before. Race course support was awesome. Several cheering stations. Medal is super fun too. It was super hot and humid and I struggled to keep going. Thankful I finished!!

Stunning course with plenty of inspiring views of the Tetons, beautiful medal, water and gel stations were plenty and well staffed (although I recommend carrying your own hydro pack), free race photos to be emailed next week, generous finish time or 4 hours if you choose or need to take your time, recovery box waiting at the finish line, enthusiastic race coordinators and volunteers, very organized race from packet pick up to shuttle return. Also at race expo they were giving out past years race shirts and demonstrated how to recycle them into reusable bags (definitely got my vote – caring about our environment is something to love). They emailed great suggestions for hikes and places to eat nearby also.

Think about:::: Altitude is definitely a serious issue, we got to town half a day before the race and my lungs didn’t have time to adjust so the struggle impacted my race time for sure.