Ann Malz's Staging Area

Packet Pick Up: Was at Cowles Commons Downtown, which is an outdoor space and also the same location where the post-party is. We had to drive around a bit and then park at a meter. When you walk in you pick the line based on the size of the shirt you ordered. Everything you need is pre-packed into a really nice reusable box that would be great for storing old race bibs. You are assigned the bib # from inside the box. We also got stickers, a race shirt, a ball, socks, and a hat. I LOVE the color scheme they use for everything with the purple and blue against black. There was merch for sale and a few vendors and lots of signs for pre-race photo opts.

Shuttles: We opted to stay at a hotel downtown (Residence Inn) which was 0.50 mile walk to downtown shuttles, and 0.5 mile walk from finish line. Shuttles took off on time and it was a 30 min ride to start line.

Pre-Race: There was no gear check at the start line which was extremely disappointing. It rained during the race, and I was cold when I got back and instead of hanging out, I just ended up going back to my hotel when I could have at least put on my sweatshirt from a gear bag. Plus I do so many races that I can’t afford to always “throw away” clothing at the start line. I have also been to races where it was raining at the start, and I’ve left my rain jacket on to stay warm and then put it in my gear bag.

Port-a-potties: This gets its own section because this was my biggest complaint about this race. Not enough potties!!! If there is not enough at the start, then people either go too early or can’t get into one before the start, which means everyone tries to get into the first sets on the course. The first couple sets there was only three potties. HUGE lines. I waited 7 minutes in line to use one because my gut was bothering me. I was super disappointed because for a PR friendly course to create obstacles for people to achieve their goals is so frustrating.

Race: The race itself was pretty flat and boring the first half and there was no tree coverage, and it was hot. I really enjoyed starting on the dam and that first mile was pretty cool. I did like how they had it broken up into sections and you got to run under the various arches for the Fan Zone, the “Halfway There” arch, etc. Once we got into the neighborhoods, we had more shade, and people were out in their yards cheering and lots of sprinkles for us to run through. It did start to rain around mile 8 and being back of the pack I had a ways to go but there was so much to see after that point. Lots of great views of the water, downtown, parks, and bridges. Plus we started getting a few more rolling hills which was more interesting and gave some relief to the legs.

Post-Race: We were given chocolate milk, banana, and a couple snacks and not far off the exit chute was the Cowles Common area. I didn’t stay there long because I was cold and just too many people. Plus only 3 potties and another long line. As I headed down to the next block there was a huge farmers market with food and gifts. I grabbed something to eat from there on my way back to hotel.

Overall: I’m glad I picked this race to check off Iowa on my 50-state challenge. They had great swag and merch to buy. The fun second half did make up for the boring first half. Plus we were only in town for 3 days and still squeezed in the Botanical Gardens, the Pappajohn’s Sculpture Gardens, and Reiman Gardens. But due to the lack of gear check and pottie issues I can’t say it will be a race I would repeat.

Pre-Race: We stayed at the Hilton Tempo hotel which was perfect location only 1 block from the start line and 0.5 mile from packet pick-up. I appreciated that packet pick up was close to the start area neighborhood. Keep in my that if you stay at the Hilton it’s at the TOP of the hill and you walk down into Broadway area where the bars and food are. We would walk down to that area twice a day which is only 0.50 mile walk each way but the mileage uphill starts to wear on you after a couple days.

Packet Pick Up: Was the same R&R experience as the rest. Not too many vendors. We were in/out in less than an hour. I was frustrated that I had gone into my account and changed the size of my t-shirt after having done R&R AZ and the shirts being too small. I did this well before they sent out the email and confirmed the change was in place. But they still gave me wrong size shirt. They had a special “exchange” table but you could only exchange from the selection others had exchanged so they did not have sz large. I tried to show them it was their error but they still would not do anything about it.

Race start: There were 21 corrals that spanned about 0.75 mile. Gear check was down by the McDonalds behind corral 21. I believe corals 1-10 were for marathoners. They had 3 porta potties in each corral and it was chaos with ppl trying to sort out any kind of line inside a corral. I opted to drop my gear bag off at 530am and walk back to hotel and then just waited until race start and used bathroom in hotel and walked right into my corral. Gear check was not ready at 530am either. Was about 20 min late to open.

If you are way back in the last corrals know that is uphill until you get to the start line. Then you start out going downhill. Lots of crowds at the start

Race: It was 72 degrees with 90% humidity and there is very little shade on this course. It is a very hilly course with a lot of long climbs. I’m back of the pack so I knew it would be important to pace myself with the hills and heat, especially in the beginning. There were a lot of walkers out there whether they intended to walk or not. I saw lots of ppl throwing up on the sidelines and I assumed it was a heat issue.

I carry my own electrolytes and I used my cup of water from each station to pour on my head to keep my body temp under control. They did have a few places where they had a hose out there to spray ppl down but I think this was coming from community supporters and not something R&R set up. They needed more things on course to cool people off. They did seem to have lack of volunteers at hydration stations. I had to wait in a line at every station because there was not enough ppl pouring and they couldn’t keep up. At mile 4 there was only one person doing water and I think they had mostly run out of water at that station.

For me, I do a ton of hill training because my neighborhood routes are full of steep hills. I’ve also had some experience with really hot courses so I had a pacing strategy going into this race but also I did not set an expectation for a time goal. The goal was to survive and complete the race. This is a challenging course and being a back of the packer who is out there longer I’d say to make sure you have a plan.

Overall: This was not my favorite race because of the lack of scenery but if you are looking for a challenge it’s a good one to pick. There was crowd support across the whole race and the full and half runners stay together until mile 11 and then split off so even for back of the packer I was out there with plenty of people. The water and volunteers at hydration stations was a huge issue and lack of ways to cool people off seemed dangerous. If you do this race have a plan. I only did this race because it was R&R and I checked off TN for my 50 State Half challenge.

Post-race: The whole finishing area was set up odd. I wandered around looking for various things and just so many people that it was hard to navigate. Not many shady places to sit either. I ended up just walking back to my hotel.

Hotel: I first want to recommend staying at a hotel close to everything or close to the light rail. We stayed at the Best Western Vib which was 0.5 mile from 5K start and 3 blocks from half start.

Packet Pick Up: Was at the Phoenix Convention center and while we were able to ride the light rail, which took about 45 minutes, it was ultimately inconvenient that packet pick up was not anywhere near the race start and our hotel.

There wasn’t much in terms of vendors at the expo and it was annoying they don’t let you exchange your shirt size at the expo so that you can wear the shirt for the race. There was also no restrooms inside the expo area as they had them blocked off so you had to go back out to the front. When you exit the expo the door opens to the street and we were told we had to walk around the building to use the ones at the main entrance.

Race Start: There were 12 corrals but hardly any porta potties at race start so I ended up walking back to my hotel as it was faster than the super long lines. The gear bag UPS trucks were right on 5th and Mills so this was super convenient as it was a cold start. I was in corral 9 and started 17 minutes after the official start.

Race: The best parts of this race were the beginning and the end for the scenery. You start out heading over a bridge and into a mountain area for the first few miles and this was beautiful. Weather at the start was 48 and got into mid 60s by the end. It felt a lot warmer than that because there is no shade for the entire race. Once we turned into Scottsdale around mile 4 it got boring as we were running down a main street of chain type businesses. Around the half mark you go through Old Town Scottsdale which was cute but it’s only about 0.50 mile on each side. At half mark you are flipping back to retrace your path down the business strip again.

There was not enough porta potties on the Scottsdale strip as they were shared by both sides of the road. I waited in line to use one.

My favorite mile but also my worst mile was mile 9-10. It’s a long hill but absolutely beautiful with the mountains and blue sky and it made me cry. Around mile 10 you turn into a more rustic area where you run through the Wear Blue mile which was mostly down hill. This mile had photos lining the entire path of fallen service members. So there was more crying.

The last section before the bridge was tough as it was boring with not much out there but once you hit the bridge your within 0.75 mile of the finish. I was over by more than 0.2 miles and I didn’t feel like I did a lot of weaving so not sure if it was me or the course.

The finish chute was a little annoying as it would have been more logical to have it mirror the 5K chute as it drew you into the park. But instead you were taken down the street to the round about and it was chaos trying to reconnect with family. The gear bag trucks were deep into the park probably another 0.5 mile+ walk.

Finish area: I was a bit disappointed as the line for the 13.1 picture was SUPER long and only a couple food trucks out there. The bands were NOT good so just hanging out and listening to music was not enjoyable and I ended up just heading back to hotel pretty quickly. They could have certainly had more photo backgrounds.

Overall: I like doing races that are apart of a series and I’ve done other R&R races so I was checking this one off the list. The race was fun and had its goods moments for scenery and entertainment. It was close to attractions like the Phoenix Zoo, Desert Botanical Garden, and Arizona Boardwalk where the Butterfly Wonderland and OdySea Aquarium were. You could take the light rail from the airport to general race area which was only $2/person. But I wouldn’t say it was favorite race and this was actually my slowest half to date.

Packet Pick Up: I’d recommend just picking up the morning of race. There is nothing special at pick up, you just get your bib and shirt and parking can be challenging in the evening in Stillwater.

Start Line: Wasn’t well organized. Porta Potties were on the side of road which caused ppl to form lines into the street. This was also the staging area for the start so you had ppl trying to wait in line for bathrooms while also lining up. Wondered if they could have placed them across the street on that side street? Clear plastic bags are given for gear and you can keep your stuff right up to the start, which is nice. I only saw 2 pacers which was super disappointing. The race started “on” a hill which wasn’t so fun.

Course: The first several miles were long steep hills and then it moved into more rollers. The course does give you some overall down hill but I didn’t really feel it. There was one stretch that was 1-2 miles on a packed dirt road which was very uncomfortable on my body. I didn’t care for this course at all as there was nothing to see but trees and grass. There was no lakes, water, pretty houses, etc. You do come into to Stillwater and see the river but not until the last mile. Then you run a good distance across the grass and with the TC Marathon only 2 wks away I was praying I didn’t hit a pot hole in the grass. The course is also a true “road” race as the ENTIRE thing was on the shoulder of roads that were not closed off. There was a good distance we were running on the right side of the road which I didn’t understand from a safety perspective (to not be able to see cars coming at you). I did however like the number of porta potties on the course because you run through the start lines of the 10 mile, 10K, and 5K so in all those areas were a group of porta potties. Just wish I had realized that before standing in line at the one porta at mile 4. Just wish these were marked on the map. At Min. put them on the map at packet pick up on the board.

Overall: I did the series of 5 races but would not do this one again. Might be a good race for someone prepping for Ragnar to get you used to running on the shoulder of roads for a long period of time…but being that it comes after MN Ragnar (Aug) not sure that is helpful.

Packet Pick Up: Was held at the Pavilion which was an indoor building. The bib table was close to the door so the line went out the door. With such a huge building I thought this could have been organized better

Swag: LOVED the sweat shirt and the design and one of the tables gave out smaller posters with the design which I framed. Also got a cooling towel-love these things!

Start Line: They had a string barrier to separate the Half marathon and 5K runners (who were on the right) but was disappointed to see the start line photographer on the right side so only the 5K ppl had pics.

Course: The course was beautiful! You started by going out away from the lake about a mile and then turning and coming back towards the lake for a couple miles. For the most part you could see the lake on your left. There were a few sections where you went through some neighborhoods but all the houses were either small and cute or beautiful. There was a very small section, maybe 1/2 mile, of dirt road where there was construction. Some of the course was on sidewalks but some on the sides of the road. LOTS of cheer sections and one was so loud you could hear it from miles away. My main disappointment was with the photography on the course. I only had one pic. It seemed like one of the photography spots was after the 10K split so it only captured the 10K ppl. Then when I came into the finish there was multiple pics of this group of 2 ppl yet I was buried to the side of them and wasn’t sure why they didn’t get one of me as those 2 were technically a distance ahead of me. I also had to wait in line for a porta potty on course as there was only one at the water stops.

Overall: I liked the scenery of this course and I’d recommend staying a few days after the race to enjoy the town and go find all the troll sculptures and the Golden Rabbit. There is one troll in the park where the race starts and then we went out the next day to find the rest. I would not recommend tryin g to find the pre-race as it’s about 6-7 miles total to find them all and they are wooded, some are hilly.

Packet Pick Up: Was held at Water Street Inn. Nothing fancy- just your bib and drink coupon. I learned after the first race in this series it’s easiest to just pick up your bib the morning of the race. If you drive a ways to get there it’s nice to use the indoor bathroom facilities before heading to the shuttles.

Shuttle Buses: about 1/4 mile from Water Street Inn. Everyone has a different starting point so specific bus for each distance. Everyone ends at the Lift Bridge. First buses leave around 5:45am.

Start Line: Held behind a BBQ place. There was a outdoor shelter to stand under to get out of the heat. Start itself was nothing fancy-a mat on the ground with start flags. Read-set-go and you are off. It’s best to take one of the earlier shuttles because there was only a handful of porta potties and the line was super long up to the start. This caused a long line for those first couple porta potties on the course and there was literally only 1 potty at each stop on the course. I also only saw 2 pacers at the start so not sure if that was it?

Course: Course itself was pretty but it was a super hot and humid day and it was only shaded the first half and then most of 2nd half you were completely exposed with the sun just beating down on you. This was my 10th half marathon and the only one where I’ve been really scared about heat illness because I couldn’t seem to escape the heat. Water stations were every 2 miles which I appreciated and I would dump a cup on my head and then carried a cooling towel and drenched it at every station and patted myself down. My lower stars were mainly for the overly exposed course. I did however like the small rolling hills of the course because I don’t care for an overly flat course because I can feel very beat up afterwards. I also appreciated how the course was well marked with cones and volunteers at every point on the course where you needed to turn.

Finish Line: The last 1/4 mile you do make a couple turns and then the last jaunt through to the finish strip is very short which I liked. You ended right next to the Lift Bridge. They had water, Gatorade in cups, bananas and chips. There was no shade at the finish line except a couple trees that everyone was standing under. Would have been nice to see a couple canopy tents set up just for people to have a few minutes to get out of the sun. This always drives me nuts at races that have a long stretch of overly exposes course and then you finish and you still can’t get out of the sun unless you just leave the finish area and go into a build.

Overall: I signed up for the series of 5 races but don’t think I would sign up for this one again unless I did it as a last minute sign up and the weather was much cooler. If it was cooler I’d probably have a different review.

This is my 2nd year running EC and I’m committed to the 5-year program. Ran the marathon last year and did the G-EAU Big Challenge this year with 5K & Half Marathon. The online promotion for ECM is awesome! Love all the hype leading up to the race and I’m a sucker for all the swag they sell. Enjoyed the new packet pickup expo location and that it was tied into the 5K race location.

My main issue this year was lack of porta potties. I stood in line for 45 minutes before the race started and barely made it to the start line. On the course there seemed to be only 1 potty in most areas and every one I passed had a long line. I kept holding it praying the next one would have no line but no luck. I finally had to stop and literally waited for almost 5 minutes. I was on track for a PR up to that point so was super disappointed. I’ve never stood in a porta potty line in a race before. For the 5K there were porta potties at the start but not one potty at the end. I was told to go into the building but the security guards said the building was closed. Nobody had any answers.

Only other issue was the coordination of the shuttles with the 10K and 5K as they were not on the same course and started at different times. They held the start of the 5K for 10-15 minutes while they waited for several shuttle buses with 10K ppl who were going to run the 5K. The 5K already starts late at 630pm and if you do the challenge and know you have to get up early the next morning you kinda want to get things going.

This was a must do half marathon! The course ran along the river, waterways and on paved trails and was absolutely beautiful the entire time. There were plenty of points where it was well shaded and got you out of the blazing sun. There were lots of water stations full of cheering young people and spectators cheering along the course. The course was well marked and had lots of volunteers at every major turning point. The race had a 4 hour time limit and this crew fully supported until the last person crossed the finish line. Well done!! Plus we stayed at the host hotel, which was very nice, with super low rates, and was 0.25 mile from start… we walked there fifteen minutes before the start.

Everything leading up to the race was amazing. Great communication, lots of social media posts, and great merch/swag. I especially enjoyed the 3 free nutrition masterclasses. Packet pick up was easy and we quickly found free parking. Staff and volunteers were friendly and took time to answer questions. I liked the 7am start time but wish it was just a few weeks later in hopes of better weather as it rained the last 2 hrs.

The course itself was beautiful and I enjoyed the community cheers and costumes. It was a bit hillier than I expected and I could have done without the 3 miles of gravel trail that wasn’t very scenic.

I’m not from the area but signed up due to the advertisement that they would not remove anyone from the course after the 6 hour limit and that bike crew would help people complete the course and earn their medals. But the back-of-the-pack support was not great. I stopped seeing bike support after mile 18 and the course started being broken down way before the course limit. My biggest issue was they removed the directional signs and after mile 22 I had no idea where I was going. The last part of the course twists and turns and goes down by the river and through campus and downtown. I was really scared that I had put in 6 months of training and wouldn’t finish simply because I was lost. When I did finish there was a small group of people cheering which was awesome and I did get my medal but no warming blanket, no photo finish, no PR bell, or food. I had to walk a ways to get my gear bag and then didn’t see a truck and had to walk back. Would be helpful if the gear bags were near the finish for the back-of-packers if there are only a few people left on the course.