In all of the years that I’ve lived in Florida, I have never been to Fort Lauderdale, but I am aware of the A1A highway and all of its appeal. This race drew me in with the promise of an oceanside run, though I was completely nervous about the heat as I was told there was no cover. Thankfully, the weather gods were in my favor because the heat would have surely killed me. 

Pre-Race Communication was great, actually superb. I think I received a “final race information” email about 4 times. There was no way that people could say they didn’t know where to pick up their packet or what time the race started, that’s for sure. I am surprised at their lack of a presence on Instagram and Twitter as I looked there sometimes for updates, but they haven't updated in a long time.

Packet Pickup was easy. It was at the Broward County Convention Center, which you had to pay to park at (so annoying) but the hall was large and there were lots of great vendors. The swag bag was a green drawstring bag with the race logo and had protein pancake mix, olive oil, chocolate, coconut water, Lorissa's Kitchen jerky, among other things.

Parking was a breeze for me as I opted for the VIP parking pass which allowed me to park near the finish line. I took the shuttle bus to the start line and after I got off I learned that there was free parking near the start. BUT- I think the $27 was well worth the money so that I didn't have to worry about fighting with thousands of others to find a spot. The convenience of know that I had a place and could get to the start line on time gave me peace of mind. I do think it was weird that they didn't drop you off closer to the start line and you had to walk the rest of the way, but whatever. The start line had SO MANY port-o-potties, which was great. There were long lines, but that was to be expected I guess.

Bag check was pretty cool since this is a point to point race, they had UPS trucks at the back of the running corral waiting to collect our bags and then they drove them over to the finish line. 

The course started closer to downtown, worked its way to the coast, we ran through a park and then made our way back to the coast. What a beautiful coastline to run on! There was water and BodyArmor all along the course, 2 first aid tents, and port-o-potties. There were some great locals that were giving out Twizzlers and around mile 10 a family was passing out beer in front of their house.

Upon crossing the finish line, you received your medal (which is awesome!) and water. There were TONS of food options including Michelob Ultra beer, Barefoot Wine, BodyArmor sports drink, Bubba Burgers, and more. There were ridiculously long lines for everything so I just said no thank you and went to claim my bag. I would've loved to have seen some wet towels or something at the finish line to cool us off. The water was warm, which I like, but I'm sure some people would have liked cold water.

Overall I enjoyed the race.