Jennifer Colbeck's Staging Area

If you stay at the Holiday Inn downtown Portland the start of the race is less than a half mile, very convenient. Packet pick up easy with a small but nice expo. Really nice windbreaker jacket and medal for swag. Did pick up a tank top on sale that was nice as well. 7am start time with corrals, appeared to be plenty of porta potties. Organized start to the race. Pacers available for most finishes. First part of course about 1-2 miles pretty blah, but then you get to run through some nice neighborhoods with a lot of miss Kim lilacs that smelled amazing. Then a nice ped way along the shore, a bit of a bottle neck area between 6-7 where fast runners were coming back through part of the course. A really nice trail section that circled you around water with wild roses, again, smelled so good!! One short terrible section where you ran on the highway, and then back to the finish line. Nice after party with two free beer tickets, the normal banana, granola, pretzels and water. Live band that was playing for a couple of hours. Traffic was well controlled and the aid stations were well supplied. Very little crowd support. There was a Lulu Lemon crew that were at the top of a hill that were amazing. There were some tough climbs/descends in this race, but manageable. Apparently they reversed the course this year which had you facing the big climbs early on which was nice. A great race if you’re checking off Maine. Stay longer and go up to the coastal botanical gardens in boothbay and the on to Acadia NP.

Wow! This year there was a cold snap, and this became a very chilly race!!!! Best part was the availability of the VB convention center for pre and post race celebration. Easy packet pickup, nice expo booths. Nice medal, long sleeved t shirt and a fun beach towel. Some parts of the course were amazing-Space center with the rockets, space shuttle etc, the botanical garden(go back for the lights at night), the tinsel trail with all the fantastic decorated trees. Good traffic control(which was needed). Some industrialish road running, and some hills. One of the best post race food offerings with amazing chicken tenders, grilled cheese, hot soup, Bavarian pretzels. No pacers for the half marathon. Course well marked though and for a back of the pack runner you were never alone with the marathoners blending in at their mile 15. Aid stations had power aid, water, GU at two of the stations.

Perfect running temps, beautiful, historical scenery, downhill finish and lots of great food post race. Well organized: packet pickup, communication, parking, course marking. Highly recommend this race for anyone checking off Georgia, or someone that wants to run a half marathon. There were hills, but they were manageable, no congested areas other then maybe the first small loop. Great aid stations with lots of support. Fun cannon send off, really nice medal and fun extras such as gloves. One of the best half marathon’s I’ve run when you add up all the good qualities. Can see why it’s voted best half and full for Georgia!

Registered for the black bear double. Packet pick up before the 5k race easy, lots of parking and fun with lots of extra merch that could be purchased(plus a bargain bin with great prices on past items). Some other tents with product and a food truck. Some great photo opportunities with a large VR 13.1 and also a smoky mountain national park sign. Lots of energy with fun give aways before the start of the 5k. They also had bug spray and sunscreen for people to apply. 5k weather was HOT and HUMID, and the course was nice, but not overly scenic, well marked. Plenty of porta potties at the start. Next day, same parking area as the 5k. Buses lined up to take you to the start of the point to point, starting at 4:15. We got on the 5:15 bus. The parking lot where you are dropped off is fairly dark, but VR has big lights in a few key areas. More porta potties, party vibe still going with another enthusiastic announcer. They had more give aways, but not sure what you would have done if you had won a poster, were you expected to carry it during the race? They had pacers all the way to the 3:30-3:45 mark, which is unusual but nice for the back of the pack peeps. Course was run on a secondary road that took you through some open field areas with the Smokies visible, and then along side a river with some great homes to look at, some farms, a nice covered bridge and then back on the ped-way into Townsend with part of it through a very nice garden area. There are hills, but not nearly as bad as I was expecting. We lucked out with an overcast sky that kept the temps at 70(instead of the feels like 93 from the evening before). Lots of aid stations with the fast flow water and gnarly(cupless event)plus honey stinger gels. The worst part was the banking on the roads at certain points, hard on the ankles and hips. Cold chocolate milk and a cloth bag with gels, stroopwaffles, granola bars, plus a banana. Live music, although they wrapped up by the time we got done. Beautiful medals, and I thought the challenge medal was really fun. My first Vacation Race event, I was impressed with the organization, runner safety and the swag. I would certainly do another of their events, although even though they are considered national park races, they do not race inside the actual parks.

Chasing my 50 states, this was a fun location. 2025 saw this race taken back over by the original race directors and a 5K and 10k were added to the event. Everyone started at the same time with no chip mat at the starting line. Everyone was shuttled to the start line(cool vehicles by lakeside pros). Plenty of start line porta potties(again, maybe 400 runners in all 3 races). A nice downhill start and running across Bagnell dam. This was an open course, but cones were spaced well along the course and at the main light the police and volunteers stayed until the last runners came in. Aid stations were water and Gatorade only, but fully staffed. The Shriners were a lot of fun as well as the rainbow man station. Once you got off the busy highway you were tucked back into some amazing neighborhoods with lots of views of the water and some amazing homes. But, hills galore!! But at least these hills had downhills as well….but it was a tough course for this lower Michigan gal. The after party at neon taco was nice with a free drink ticket. The medal was a nice size for the half marathon and your basic race t shirt(nice color though). With only 139 runners in the half, I’m not sure I would recommend this to slower runners(me). They did have pacers, but 2:30 was the slowest available. The biggest concern was the open course and having to watch traffic, better if you’re in a more visible group, not so if you’re just one slow runner. But everyone volunteering stayed out on the course supporting until the end. Weather was pretty perfect, organization of packet pickup, race day parking, shuttles and course directions were all very good. Lots of alone time on the course, lots of hills, basic aid stations.

Race directors for this race are amazing. You are allowed to start the race early(I had a sprained ankle and was worried about how I might do). Beautiful course along a pedway for most of the course. Good aid support and course direction. The most amazing afterparty food…hot biscuits and gravy, any kind of pie you could wish for, fun Photo Booth with lots of props.

Communication for this race was a little sparse. Packet pickup up was easy. Did the 5k the night before(lots of hiking vs running, some steep climbs). Not a huge production at this finish line(boarded a bus to return to the start). Half had a nice early start, poor course direction, a large portion of the runners ended up doing the loop backwards so the first aid station(which would have been one of the last) wasn’t set up yet. This is a gorgeous area with some tough areas of trails(roots, rocks, climbs) but the setting makes it well worth it. Thankful for the longer cut off times. Very nice finisher medals and lots to do in the area afterward.