Ran the Buckeye Half Marathon today. It's put on annually by the Summit Athletic Running Company [SARC] every fall.

Registration: $45-55. I signed up for it a week before the race, but had a $10 off code from the Akron Half marathon, so I paid $45. Cheaper the further out you register. You can choose between the Half Marathon or Relay team. You can register at pack it pick up, but not race day. Choose between a sweatshirt or a jacket. No registration race morning

Packet Pick Up: Main sponsor is Ritchie's Sporting Good Store in Tallmadge, OH, pick up was 10-2 pm on Saturday if you could make it. If not, you could pick up your things Race morning

Location: Cuyahoga Falls, OH. Starts/Finishes and runs throughout Cuyahoga Valley Scenic National Recreation Area

Start Time: 8AM

The Course: It's a 2 loop course primarily on road. The pavement is uneven in some areas and the pavement was tough this morning for some reason. There's some incline, but I guess I've seen worse. There were water stops every 2 miles or so. Since it was a looped course, you knew what you were getting yourself into the second time around. Since it was on road, we had active vehicles during the race and some people didn't slow down. There were police on course directing traffic, which was a good thing. It's a smaller race [only ~400 people and change] and very scenic, so if you're into large races, not the best race for you then. The only down side was the last 0.2 miles was on gravel because we turned into more of the park/special event areas and I felt like I had to watch my feet. If you run the Relay, the hand off is at the end of the first loop.

Post race: Medals were given right at the finish. I think there were heat sheets, but maybe they ran out before I got there. They also had some soup, bananas and bread for runners, as well as cups of water. If you placed, you got a gym bag.

A good race if you're training for a November/December race. We got lucky that we didn't get rained on today!