Registration: You could easily register online through the website or print out a form to bring to bring on race day. Price started at $50 and went to $75 on race day. Included with registration; gender specific short sleeve tech tee, bib with timing chip, finishers medal, 2 post race O'Dell's beers and a pancake from Snooze.

*I only rate the t-shirts and swag 4 stars as the shirt that was given this year must be popular. This will be my 3rd green shirt from this same company.

Expo/ Packet pickup: There was a pick up held the night before the race. There was no true expo. I had no problems grabbing my packet on race day. Just told the volunteer my name, I had an confirmation email on the ready that was sent ahead of time too.

Pre-race: There was plenty of free on street parking within the blocks surrounding the start/finish area. Port-o-potties were set up. There was no National Anthem, just a few words shouted to the crowd. Then someone said go.

Race/Course: The race was a 2 loop course around Fort Collins, including parts on the Poudre River Trail.
-Each mile was marked
-Volunteers were at every intersection, police were at intersections with heavy traffic
-Photographers on the course - posted on the FB page next day
-Aid Stations with water and Nuun in the same small dixie cup, no food on course.
-Flat, a downhill section around on each loop, and we must have climbed the rest of the miles to get to the top of that hill, didn't feel hilly.
-Some parts of the Poudre Trail were gravel trail
-The 10k was on the same route
-Scenery - portions heading west could see the mountains, but otherwise running in Fort Collins
-not a lot of spectators, mostly family
-no port-o-potties on course except for a construction one
-timing mats on course for some split timing

Finish: The finish had an arch and a timing mat. A volunteer handed you a medal. There were cups to fill with water and watermelon slices.

*I finished the same time the kids races were wrapping up, which made the finish line crowded. I had to stop immediately as to not trample a kid, it took a while for me to get a medal and get to the water.

Post Race: The results were posted as soon as they were available and awards were handed out. The race emphasizes leaving no waste, so the post race was set up with containers to dump your waste, recycling and compost. There were vendor tents set up, local companies, massage, t-shirts.

Snooze pancakes were serving one pancake to each participant, in addition to some orange slices, bananas and watermelon. There were more cups to fill with water and lemonade. The beer section was off to the side, and everyone was ID'd (make sure to have this with you.) Each runner got 2 tickets and could choose from 3 O'Dell's beers.

*I knew some volunteers who were given pancake vouchers and beer tickets, but by the time they came in there were no more pancakes. Also we waited with them and we weren't able to claim our second beers.

My race: I train mostly at 700 feet above elevation, Fort Collins is roughly at 5000 feet. I was in Colorado a few days before to adjust. I ran a 2:18, which is a fair time for me. I was really happy with everything, there were no problems and everything was easy. The race is smaller, but does a great job.

If I had any suggestions, the part where we ran the downhill was on a busy street and I felt like the course should be coned off so runners were moving against traffic.

Colorado is a great place to run!

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