Packet Pick up: I stayed at the Holiday Inn on Ninth Street, right across from the expo. The expo was small but I encountered no issues with packet pickup.

Starting Line: The walk was less than 10mins from hotel. Easy to navigate too. I loved being able to see the Arch, which makes for great photo backdrop.

Race Course: The 5k course had a few small hills but nothing major. Not much crown support for this distance. Nice scenery. 1.5 mile loop and back. Large number of runners but no bottlenecking along the course. The weather was great that day as the clouds provided shady cover.

Finish Line: Running towards the arch in the background was nice. I did experience slight crowding coming through the finish line. After receiving my medal there was ample Propel Water, bananas, pretzels, and chips. There was a post race concert in the park near the finish line area. Nice medal for the 5k.

Overall, great course and I would most definitely do it again.

Packet Pick up: I stayed at the Holiday Inn on Ninth Street, right across from the expo. The expo was small but I encountered no issues with packet pickup.

Starting Line: The walk was less than 10mins from hotel. Easy to navigate too. I loved being able to see the Arch, which makes for great photo backdrop. This race starts an hours earlier than the 5k does the day before. It was a little dark upon arrival to the race start line. No issue unless you are looking for someone in the large semi-dark crowd. The start line for this race is same as a the half. Corrals are easy to locate by signs. Easy to slide right into the proper one.

Race Course: The 10k course had a few more hills than the 5k course the day before. Not much crowd support for this distance either oddly. Nice scenery. Loved the bands playing at various spots along the course. Easy to locate the 10k/half split as well. water/Gatorade stops were easily accessible without crowding.

Finish Line: Running towards the arch in the background was nice again. After receiving your medal you entered the photo zone. There are volunteers passing out water as well. As you venture further down you find the Gatorade Endurance, additional Water, Chocolate milk (my fav!) bananas, pretzels, and chips. There were also ice cold towels with RNR imprint souvenir (very nice).

Overall, great course with hills, nice scenery and views of the arch= I would most definitely do it again.

EXPO/Packet pickup: pickup is located at Renaissance at Colony Park. pickup for Friday was open til 7pm. Well marked by signs. I registered for this race last September soon after it opened. once I arrived at the expo there was difficulty locating my bib. Come to find out after 5 mins that IMATHLETE was the original race site used but at some point they switched over to a RacesOnline. Needless to say none of us were every notified. Despite this, they allowed me to re-register and they provided a code to cover the current half marathon price. Due to this error, I was told to check back after the race if I wanted a shirt. The expo was composed of about 6-8 vendors. (We arrived in Ridgeland around 4pm). Ample parking. also in walking distance from the Hotel.

Hotel: we stayed at the Hyatt Place Ridgeland. Best hotel option. Start line it literally right outside the door and the finish line is less than 50ft from that.The race proved a code and the hotel total was 117 for 2 queen bed and sleeper sofa. hotel is very nice and it located directly behind a shopping area/restaurants.

Race day:
9am-7pm
Renaissance at Colony Park
Ridgeland, MS
*park at Ruth Chris, there will be signs leading you to the second floor of Renaissance at Colony Park located above the mall management offices*

Saturday, May 14, 2016 (race day)-Renaissance at Colony Park..5:00am Packet Pick Up, Bib Number pick up and Registration Opens. 6:15am Registration Ends. Half start time: 6:30am. temps started at 56 but soon increased. It turned Hot and Humid very fast.no corrals. announcer simply started fast runners to the front. I did not experience any issues. Im a 13-14min on a good day and simply stood in the middle of the pack. Scenic Courses through Ridgeland, MS. Some areas are along a paved trail. I was so surprised to see water/gatorade stops an every mile. Porty potties were available as well despite being kind of hidden in some areas. Lots of crowd support and police. Walker friendly race as well. Race distances started in waves and did not close at 11:30am, which gives half marathoners 5hrs.Headphones are allowed if used with Caution. There are some hilly portions of the race, but not as intense as other cities.

Post race: massage area. plenty of fluids (water, Gatorade, sodas), pizza, fruit, protein bars and cookies. vendor tents as well.

Overall, great well coordinated race.

additional info:
Finisher Medals to all Half Marathon, 5K, 10K and Kid's One Mile Fun Run finishers

Race Capacity
Half Marathon ~ 600 Participants
10K ~ 550 Participants
5K ~ 550 Participants

Expo: They allowed ample time for packet pickup 11:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (Race packet pick-up until 9 p.m.) I sent my registration confirmation to a friend and she was able to pick mine up without any issues. Runner packets include: race bib, timing chip, discount coupons, special surprises and important runner instructions. NO PACKET PICK-UP ON RACE DAY.

Race registration included free admission to the 901fest. (A celebration of all things Memphis! Memphis Music - Memphis Food - Memphis Merchandise and a spectacular Memphis-themed Fireworks Finale! )

Race day: parking was reasonable for those familiar with the Downtown Memphis Area. 5k started at 7:30am. Memphis got a lot of rain the three days prior to race but race day was dry and HUMID.

Nice scenery along the course through downtown. Course starts on Riverside drive overlooking the MS River. continues through downtown area, Civil Rights Museum, Beale Street and loops back to the start line.

- Relatively flat course ( one small hill on 5k course). Great course for a PR. cooling towels were available as well at the finish line.

The after party is great. SOOO much good food! Multiple area for finisher photos.There was a booth that took photos with a machine that printed a free copy with the option to have it sent to your phone as well. Other areas with finisher podium and other props. There was a ton of food. pizza, pulled pork, slaw, protein bars,brownies, chicken tenders, mini sliders, cupcakes, fruits, water, Gatorade and a few other items I may be omitting.

SWAG: shirt was a nice cotton blend with great design but ran really small. Also received a nice Nike drawstring bag. Luckily, they allowed same day exchange at expo pickup. They may want to look at a different shirt for next year. great finisher medals

Family Friendly race!!!

You could just sit, eat, drink a beer, and listen to some good music while overlooking the river.

Overall,a great race. Very humid so be properly hydrated prior to and during the race. I will most definitely register for this race again in 2017.

When I decided to begin my journey towards Half fanatic status, this race had not yet been announced. Once they added Memphis, I immediately knew I wanted to run this race. Expo was held at local Fleet Feet store. packet pickup for fast with no issues. this worked for me as I needed a few items for the race and generally shop at this location.

Pros:
-The nice quality of shirts that Race 13.1 is known for. Loved how they incorporated the microphone ( i felt this was emphasized the musical history of Memphis.)

- numerous updates via email and social media. There can never be too much communication from race organizers.

- Pace groups are offered for the half marathons if you choose to run with them. Luckily for me the 3:00 and 3:30 pacers were members of my local running group.

- Despite lack of large volunteer numbers, those who were working were very helpful

- Nice scenery along the course through downtown Memphis area along the river

- 7am race start time

- There are no set corrals.

Cons:

- somewhat hilly course. They also chose to have the course run through an industrial area. This wasn't by any means a poor decision. Just know this area was not very scenic. They did however have a High School band along this end of the course (Go Central!! proud alumni moment).

- somewhat large overpass right after mile 1

All-in-all this was an amazing race and I definitely recommend it to anyone considering running this race. If it does not conflict with 2017 schedule, I will do it again.