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Latest reviews by Amy
Amy recommends this race
(2013)
"Second time Better than the First!"
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After participating in the inaugural Runner's World Half and Festival in 2012, it was the easiest decision for my husband and I to go back again in 2013. Even though we do not live too far from Bethlehem, we had never gone prior to our first Runner's World experience. We fell in love immediately with the charming, historical downtown and the cool steelstacks area. We also loved that it was an entire weekend devoted just to running and all the stuff that us run nerds can't get enough of, a romantic getaway if you will ;-) The first event was definitely awesome, however the folks at Runner's World and Bart Yasso were more than receptive to feedback and found ways to make improvements in the second year. The biggest improvement being the expo moving inside the steelstacks with way more vendors and BEER! The running movies and lectures were all great topics. My husband and I attended two movies and multiple lectures. The highlight of my weekend was definitely meeting Summer Sanders, wearing her gold medal and getting her autograph! how awesome!?! The event is EXTREMELY well organized and all about the runners.
If you are interested in more of my story, I wrote a ridiculously long race report ;-) http://runningmarathonmom.blogspot.com/2013/10/runners-world-half-and-festival.html
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Amy recommends this race
(2013)
"Plitvice Marathon in Croatia"
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This race is BEAUTIFUL! It takes place completely in the Plitvice lakes national park. It's an extremely quiet race since there really is no opportunity for spectators. I really enjoyed the solitude and quiet so I could really take in the scenery. There is also a 16Km (About 10 miles) and a 5K that coincide with the marathon. While you get a cotton t-shirt as your race shirt instead of a nice tech shirt, you do get dinner the night before the race, entry to the national park for the whole weekend, beer at the end, lunch and the race medal is actually hand carved out of wood, beautiful! Did I mention the race costs the equivalent of $20?! The course itself while beautiful, is pretty brutal. I'm not sure of the exact numbers but I'm definitely sure at least 7500 feet of elevations, it's quite possible that there is more than that. The course literally never gives you a break but that's what I loved about it was that it was a challenge. If you are ever in Croatia in early June, it's a wonderful event to take part in!
See my full report here: http://runningmarathonmom.blogspot.com/2013/06/plitvice-marathon-croatia.html
Amy recommends this race
(2012)
"Inagural Runner's World Half and Festival"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
This was the first year for the Runner's World Half and Festival. My husband and I found out about it via various internet channels. Bethlehem is less than an hour from us and we had hotel points. Also, we had just had our second child about six months prior so we were due for a getaway weekend without kids and what's more romantic than running 3 races, attending running seminars and running movies all in one weekend?!
The weekend turned out even better than we expected! Being the first year of an event can be a little rough but Bart Yasso and Runner's World had things running nice and smooth. Everything was well organized, extremely runner friendly/focused and everyone regardless of ability or race they were running was made to feel special. Aside from running all 3 races (yes the Hat Trick) we attended a movie and several seminars and met Dean Karnazes!!
So about the races. There is a 5K and 10K on Saturday and a half on Sunday. All 3 races were great! Nice scenery, some hills, enthusiastic volunteers and even some crowd support. We left that weekend knowing we would be back and if you follow me on here, you will know that I've already been back in 2013 & 2014!