The Hot Chocolate 15k made sure that the virtual experience was as close to normal as an in person race as they could get. Prior to race date, every registered runner was sent their swag bag with all the Hot Chocolate goodies that you would expect. Included was a very comfortable full zip hooded jacket, finishers medal, hot chocolate mix, and pieces of dark chocolate. About the only thing missing was the large serving mug that you get at the finish line.
I ran my virtual race on the scheduled race date, April 17th. I did managed to do it tied in with a 20 mile long run as I am in the middle of marathon training. If it was an in-person event, I would have changed my training to make the race work in my training schedule better. But for it being a virtual race, I made the best of it that i could.
Do I really like virtual races? Not really, they are getting very old at this time. While I do appreciate the swag, especially the jacket, I hope that the Hot Chocolate 15k races across the country are back in person next year. It just isn't the same as the in person event and I am not sure it is worth doing virtually. Like I said, love the jacket, the medal was alright, but I miss the experience this year.

This is my favorite marathon to run every year. This race is flat and fast. Not to mention it has some of the best race organizers that I have ever seen. This is one of the top marathons to run for first timers according to Runners World and its on of the 15 largest marathons in the U.S.
Monumental Marathon is held in early November every year. Usually it is the first Saturday of November, but this year it was the second due to FFA taking over Indianapolis the first weekend. The expo was held at the convention center in Indianapolis. It is not the largest expo that I have been to, but it is still a good size expo with a lot of races present as well as other companies. Monumental also beings in a special guest from the running community for a shakeout run as well as to be present and speak at the expo. This year, it was Deena Kastor. I did manage to meet her and get her autograph on my bib.

My recommendation for anyone running in the Monumental Marathon and needing a place to stay, book your hotel stay at one of the hotels right by the start/finish. We stayed a couple blocks away and I wont make that mistake again. I didn't think it would matter but with the bad race that I had, I finished later than i planned on and had to leave the finish area right away to get to the hotel to check out right away.

The course did have a couple of minor changes to it this year but unless you have ran this race several times, you probably didn't notice any of them. This was done because of the new bus line that the city put in over the past year. This is a very flat and fast course, in fact, there were more Olympic trials qualifying times run on this course this year than in the New York City Marathon. The course is beautiful with the fall leaves through some of the neighborhoods. I also felt like there was more crowd support through the communities than there was in years past which surprised me since it was a cold morning.

The Swag was great this year. I think this years race shirt is the best that they have had. And of course, as they have for many years, they gave each runner a finishers hat when they finished up. The finishers medals are in its second year of a 4 year medal series as well. When completed, the medals will spell out I-N-D-Y. This year of course was the N.

Overall, you have got to run this race if you haven't. This was my 7th straight year of running it and I will be back for #8 next year.
To see my full race review, check out my YouTube Chanel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCkpHCC402U&pbjreload=10

This was the second year that I ran the Urban Bourbon Half Marathon. The first time that I did so was in 2016. So it has been a few years and there have been a few changes since then in this race. I will get into that in a little bit. But I loved this race back in 2016 and it did not disappoint in 2019.

The race packet pickup was held at Louisville Slugger Field which is a minor league baseball stadium in downtown Louisville. It is an easy packet pickup was easy. There wasn't a real expo. There was Fleet Feet Louisville present to get your last minute needs as well as some Urban Bourbon merchandise for sale and bourbon tasting. Really, if you wanted to, you could be in and out of packet pickup in 5 minutes. What you got with packet pickup was your race number and red long sleeve race shirt. I did pick up a Urban Bourbon Boco hat and a race shirt from last year for $5.

I did get an opportunity to see some guys i know at the expo including fellow BibRave Pro Corey Queen who is the head of volunteers, Race director Michael Clemons, and Brett Albers who is now a Fleet Feet owner in North Carolina but used to be in Mishawaka, IN. Always great seeing familiar faces at races that are out of town.

While down there, the family did come along and we camped on the Indiana side of the Ohio River. This is a great way of saving some money and also making it easy to bring the family along. It was my kids and wife's fall break from school so that helped as well.

Race morning I drove to Louisville about 30 minutes away. I arrived early so that I could get in an additional 4 miles before meeting up with fellow Bibrave Pro's Stephanie, Lisha, and Linda. I was taking this race easy and just using it as a training run so I wanted to get a few extra miles in and figured it would be easier to do it before, rather than after.

After meeting up with fellow BibRave Pro's, I took my gear to gear check. What I liked about the way Urban Bourbon did gear check. You were able to bring your own bag and didn't need to use a cheap plastic bag. Since the start line and finish line were not at the same location, they made sure to get all the bags back to the finish area for the runners.

The start set up was one of the changes that was made since 2016. The course now starts right in front of the Jefferson County Courthouse and heads east on Jefferson St. to 2nd street. Back in 2016, the course took you directly to Cherokee Park. Now the course runs some around town a little more before going out to the park. Cherokee Park is my favorite part of the race. The hills are tough in this section, but it is beautiful especially with the fall leaves changing colors.

The finish is also different now. You now finish on Liberty street which is only about a block away from the start line. The big advantage of the finish area is that it is right next to 4th Street Live. The post race party is known as Bourton Bash and went until 12:30pm. Participants were able to enjoy samplings of bourbon from a number of Kentucky Bourbon Trail distiller. There was also pizza, beer, and a live bad (The Crashers).

Swag

As mentioned earlier, every participant received a free race long sleeve race shirt. This is a nice shirt and I think will be great to do those cooler fall/spring training runs. Also, at the finish you were given your finishers medal which is in the shape of a Jim Beam bottle and the Jim Beam logo in the middle of the bottle spins. Its a great/unique looking medal. Also, just two days after the race, free race photos were available that were already sorted out for you.

Overall, I cant give this race enough praise. It is really my favorite half marathon that I have ran. The race director does a great job putting this race together every year and I always look forward to the opportunity to run it. It is not a fast course with the hills, but it is scenic and a challenge that you should not shy away from. I think the changes the did to the course in the last couple years were the right ones and made the race even better. Aid stations were well staffed and the volunteers were fantastic. This race deserves all the praise that it gets and more.

I have been wanting to run the Air Force Marathon for years and I finally got the opportunity to this year. The main reason I have not ran it before is because it is on a Saturday morning and my daughters are running cross country and have meets on Saturdays. So unfortunately, It will probably be some time before I am able to do it again.
The expo is held on the campus of Wright State. There is race merch right when you enter the arena and vendors all around the concourse. Then you go down the arena steps to the basketball floor where there are more vendors and where you get your bib and shirts.
Every year, Air Force Marathon has a featured aircraft. This years was KC-46 Pegasus (re-fueler plane). The KC-46 Pegasus was featured on the shirt and the finishers medals. The shirts were very nice and comfortable. No complaints there. The medals were also huge and heavy.
As far as where to stay for race weekend, there really isn't a place to stay right by the Air Force Base that you can just walk out of your hotel and walk to the start. But on race morning, there are some parking options. The one that I recommend most is that you can go to the campus of Wright State and park at the arena to take a shuttle. You have to be there early to do so however. There is also parking at the base but traffic can be a nightmare. If you take the shuttle, it will also drop you off right by the start line.
The Start is right on the Air Force Base. Before the race, they had a flyover with the KC-46 Pegasus which was pretty cool. Unfortunately, there was a lightning delay that lasted probably 30-45 minutes. Reading one other review I think that there was confusion on why there was a delay and they did not have us go inside. While it did rain at the start, there was no lightning in the area of the start. However, if the race started, then we would be running right into the direction of the lightning which would have put runners in danger. Luckily there were plenty of tents to hide under.

It was a hot day for the race, which was out of the control of the race directors. They did have extra aid stations especially in the last few miles to help runners out as best as they could. This meant that there were aid stations every mile for the last 10k. In post race announcements, it sounds like this will be an every year thing now. The course does have a couple of tough hills especially in the first mile of the race. However, it really isn't that bad. There is actually more elevation gain in the half marathon than the marathon. The volunteers on the course were great and very helpful.

I would say the only thing that they need to work on is the gels. They were missing from the course until late into the race. The race director also admitted to messing that part up and I can respect that. Things happen. This is why you should never rely on gels being out there and bring your own.

If you would like to see my full race review, check out my YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKpupnJ2He8