Scott Sabol's Staging Area

The crew at Vacation Races hits it out of the park again. Despite being thrown a few Covid curveballs and having to split the race into two separate days, they hit it out of the park with a beautiful race that ran through trails surrounded by cacti of all types and then a road surrounded by amazing views the rest of the way.

The only thing I hope that they change next year is to run the course in the opposite direction to allow runners to use the road part to spread out a little bit before getting to the trail. This year there was only 3/4 of a mile to the trail and even with smaller starting groups, we were bunched up. With minimal passing room (thanks to cacti on both sides of the trail), I think some runners were pushed faster than they were comfortable going leading to some falls.

A note on the trail section: it is somewhat technical. Besides the cacti (watch out for the evil cholla!), there were a lot of ankle killer rocks that you had to watch for. If you have never run a trail race before, you might want to get some experience on them before you try this race.

Overall though you can’t beat Vacation Races for their pre and post race hype and overall atmosphere not to mention the best finishers medals in the business. Even with Covid restrictions they put on a great event!

This race is held on the old Pennsylvania turnpike. It’s an out and back course with two tunnels (1.25 miles & .75 miles). You definitely need a headlamp as there is no lighting at all in the tunnels.

I honestly thought that tough part of the course would be the tunnels but the surface in there was smooth and with no wind, I actually picked up time in there. The road outside the tunnels was the tough part as it’s open to the environment and is torn up. If you aren’t careful you could twist an ankle.

Overall this course is fairly flat. There are some hills but they are almost unnoticeable. I wouldn’t expect a PR due to the rough road but you can definitely expect a decent time. The scenery was beautiful as well with the fall colors in full bloom.

I definitely recommend this race. If you are considering it, I would not wait to sign up. While the race did not sell out this year, it did double in size from the prior year and due to the area that it is in, they will eventually have to cap the participants.

This is a local race for me that I’ve done several times. I always refer to this as the little brother of the Fall Towpath Marathon/Half Marathon as it’s the lesser known of the two. It is smaller and takes place on a scenic, but not as scenic as the October race, part of the Towpath

This is a really fast course and the weather usually hovers between 40-60 degress so it definitely has PR potential. The first mile is a downhill start through the parking lot of the nature center and onto the Towpath. After that the only hills are two small bridges that you pass over around the 3 and 5 mile marks and then one more just after the 12 mile mark. The course does “corkscrew” so at about mile 9, you turn around and re-run part of the course before heading on to the finish. There were some issues this year with runners not being directed in the right direction but it didn’t add/subtract any distance and the race director acknowledged it afterward and promised to make sure it was fixed for next year.

The medal is nice (actually a little better than the fall race surprisingly) and a local bar hosts the afterparty so you can enjoy a good local brew while waiting for the awards to be given out.

Overall this is a good race and I’d recommend it…but if you are only going to be able to do one, the fall race is much better in my opinion.

I can’t say enough good things about this race. The race directors got hit with weather and temperatures far below normal for this time of year. It was 9 degrees at the start when it’s normally 50-60 degrees. Despite the weather causing them to have to make numerous last minute changes to race day logistics, they handled it smoothly and the race went off with as planned.

I would not call this race easy. The course could be described as rolling hills but it was more up than down plus being at altitude (about 3600 ft) with the cold, heavy air definitely slowed my pace down by about a minute a mile. However, this is a race where it definitely pays to take your time. This was by far the most beautiful course I have ever run. It follows the 13.1 miles that lead right up to the entrance to the park and the snow covered mountains all around us definitely took my mind off the hills and cold.

The swag for this race is good. The medal is beautiful and is one of my favorites. The shirt could be a little better in my opinion. The design is nice but the fabric is very light and flimsy. One other really awesome perk was that we received free professional pictures from the race. And they had photographers in multiple locations so you got several shots!

I do love the cupless concept that Vacation Races uses. It’s great to run through water stops and not see countless bags of garbage laying around. Although this race the cold hurt a little as the nozzles on the coolers they use for water froze up. However, the volunteers did a great job of innovating on the fly to make sure everyone got the hydration that they need.

The thing that impressed me the most was in the afternoon after the race, we received an email from the race directors admitting that the water stops were an issue and acknowledging that they could have done better. While I think they did the best they could with the circumstances, I think it says a lot when a race director calls themselves out and acknowledges where they came up short. I will definitely be putting many more Vacation Races on my schedule.

This is one of those races where I have to say it wasn’t great but it wasn’t bad either. Mother nature didn’t help us out much…severe storms pushed the start back an hour and a half. Once the storms blew out, we got sun and humidity. But you can’t really hold weather against a race but it might bias my opinion a bit!

Pros: Scenic course…ran past Beale Street and along the water front. Great crowd support..especially running through the St Judes campus where patients and their families were cheering us on! Nice medal and great post race party with local beer brewed specifically for the race. Also had a lot of aid stations on the course which was huge with the humidity

Cons: Very crowded. With 25,000 runners and some confusion about road closing times due to the delays, parking was a bit of a nightmare. You really have to arrive really early since the 5K/10K starts an hour before the half/full. Parking and traffic around the expo were also terrible. The course had steeper hills than I expected which were amplified by the humidity.

Overall, I would say this race and city are worth doing once. Graceland is a must see as are the Peabody Ducks. Beale Street is a big draw but we did not feel very safe there after dark. We also had some bad Uber experiences. HINT: if a driver tells you they need to get gas, insist that they bring you to your destination first.