Trent Fulbright's Staging Area

The race was all downhill, was a fantastic race. If you are a slower runner though don’t stay to the right for this race, I know it’s the etiquette but you will be hurting big time by the finish. The road is angled due to snow and ice melt runoff, so the middle of the road is much much flatter. The first two to four miles you descend close to 2,000 feet. It’s usually a chilly start, they bus you to the start line and you wait. Great finish line party as well. You get a cookie!!

The course is very hilly, so be prepared for that. You run all through KC and it makes for beautiful scenery. I stuck with the 2:55 pace group just to take it easy and really enjoy the city and the course. The food post race is excellent, Jack Stack BBQ provided pulled pork sandwiches and they had beer other than Mich Ultra (which is a huge win in my book). This was race 1 of 2 on the weekend for me as part of the I 35 Challenge (Des Moines up the next day).

Bonus: Free race photos were provided post race, as well as a cool statistic email about portions of the race. One thing they tracked is how many people you passed in the last quarter mile, that was fun to see.

The course changed up this year, spent quite a bit more time and miles in NLR due to the I30 construction going on. We did get lucky that the rain held off, the race itself was good, great spectator support and an interesting course as it went all around downtown NLR and LR. I will tell you the hills in the final 4 miles make it a tougher run, I did however score a PR on this course. The medals are awesome and huge as I’ve come to expect, also the pst race food was really good, only pasta and bananas though, but plenty of beverages available.

This is the fifth time I have run this race. So obviously I enjoy it, it is just a first rate race, from the Expo, to the medals to the spectator support throughout the Half Marathon distance (have not run the full yet..). I really enjoy this race, I look forward to running it again next year.

It is not what I’d call a flat course but it also doesn’t have any huge hills, just rolling uphill/downhill through the back end of the course. The aid stations are great but I really prefer the privately set up stations featuring beer, mimosas and grilled pineapple (at South Main mile 9ish). Come run the race for the huge finishers medals and realize that it’s a wonderfully run and put together race.

Unique experience here as you start the Half Marathon at the halfway point of the actual Marathon race. We do not all start together, we started 2 hours behind the Marathon participants.

Was really cool to run through the NASA complex down there and to see all of the Christmas decorations set up. Very enjoyable race, set a PR here before I broke it a few months later.