Suzanne Sirianni's Staging Area

So that my review is not biased and to be fair, I raced a hard half 2 wks prior in my hometown and was not fresh legs and didn’t read prior reviews. I decided to participate because my friend has temp work assignment in area and I needed a medal for SC.
My first thought when I got the first race email was confusion and questions all around how this would work if my friend was coming to cheer me on. (Largely due to ferry). Only other time I did ferry race in ME it was also confusing but it was public ferry so no confusion who could go.
The race staff were EXCELLENT in all areas of my need leading up to race , packet pickup, morning of race.
I think the meal options to go to island were nice and having post race party was nice – unfortunately I didn’t want extra stress evening of race and forecast of pouring rain dampened my motivation to do brunch on Sunday. I was so beat up and drained from the long day I just stayed in hotel and watched nfk games or else I would’ve gone to the post race part they had at a very cool event -the Bank .

Last critical things I felt were areas to note if nothing else. 4 miles of sand that were NOT PACKED down when I ran the 4 miles killed me. Completly killed me but for some reason didn’t bother my friends too much. I tried running on the sides the best I could but it literally was mostly thick sand like a beach. I was toast after this. My legs were not fresh enough to tolerate it. Once I hit mile 10 it was a walk run for me getting one of my worst times ever for a half (30 min slower than 2 wks ago). No water given out to me when I finished ? Huge pet peeve when I ever have been back of pack finisher . And then
No signs for bag pickup and they weren’t where I dropped them so I’m wandering around in bad shape. Then when I finally get bag which took me forever to find (can’t have signs for the numbers so I could fine my bag???
Then the food setup was terrible . Ppl are complaining they waited forever in line only to have to leave line go in beer line to get food tickets?? That’s awful. The lines are flowing into people’s eating area. I then go in beer line (not everyone drinks so why do u make us do this? Or we might want to collect our beer after our food. ) so now we are waiting in beer line while the volunteer or race staff is casually talking to another staff member while we just sit in line so line doesn’t move and I’m dying here . The food line needs to move for runners. It’s bad enough all spectators are taking up space with no prioritizing to those that were just on course 2-5 hours? even a spectator was complaining as he thought the process was horrible too.
I did appreciate black bean burger over a hotdog and pulled pork as I don’t eat pork. Pot and pasta salad was great and loved the coconut water.
I left after I ate with my friends and then that’s what made me say I am writing a review and this race was not worth all these logistics for me . We sat in a line for HOURS getting bit and swarmed with noseeum bugs!!! It was AWFUL. Cold , sweaty, standing for hours.
Greatful for experience and loved the medal (MAIN GOAL) and first time hanging in SC HIlton head- but pouring rain all day today and no time to enjoy post race yesterday was just not my best racing experience .

Other mentions – No heated tent that morning as promised but do appreciate the coffee. Also what saved me was the house and fireplace (best part of the morning).

Loved the last 1.5-2 miles along the beach .