Victoria Dent's Staging Area

Overall a fun race but not one of my favorites. It’s a smaller race so there are far fewer people running it. I was alone most of the race but it was well marked (except for one place where I missed a turn but the 3:30 pace group quickly corrected me since they made the same mistake).

The course was kinda hilly but not too bad (I live/train in Chicago for reference). There weren’t a ton of spectators but the ones who were out (including cops and volunteers) were great and so encouraging and I loved the signs that Garmin made for the volunteers that were Wizard of Oz themed 🙂 It would have been cool to have a yellow brick road carpet at the finish line.

Running through the forest preserve and on the trail was pretty and I wish we could have run there more rather than through neighborhoods.

The weather was cold and windy at the start but I warmed up quickly with the sun out. The website says no headphones but a lot of people wore them no problem.

The medal is really pretty and sparkly which I love! The expo was small but had the essentials for a marathon.

Overall I wouldn’t do this marathon again but I did have fun despite running one of my slower times. I imagine it’s one of the better marathons in Kansas for anyone looking to do 50 marathons in 50 states. It was well run and I loved how the t-shirts (you had to buy though) had the name of everyone who ran the marathon and the half on the back!

I know they don’t do this race in Chicago anymore, but I had a ton of fun running it as my first half-marathon in 2015! The course was flat, the music was great, and Andy Grammer was at the end performing. Perfect! It was hot but I was just happy to finish. The swag was good but nothing special.