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Cleveland,
Ohio,
United States - February
- 3 miles/5K
- Road Race
- Event Website
Grant
Fayetteville, New York, United StatesOverall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Having run this race last year through the Tremont neighbourhood, I was looking forward to the downtown route they had selected for this year. It's a route that Hermes has used before with other races and takes through part s of Downtown Cleveland, around FirstEnergy Stadium and then back up near where the race kicked off.
Not so amusingly, the weather was almost exactly like last year: Cold, windy and snowing. All of those factors are why I did not take this at a brisk pace like I have with other races.
There were a good several hundred on-hand for the race which got going right at 9:30am and I wasn't complaining one bit about the slightly later start time! Some parts of the course through the city had been properly plowed by Cleveland's DOT crews however around the stadium, it was a very different story. Clumps of thick snow made for a tricky run in those parts and even more difficult up a slight hill going back towards downtown.
Yet these niggles were worth it as this year they had a finisher medal for the first time! One more piece of bling for my medal rack at home. Overall, I was very happy to come in at 29:35. My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes and for that reason, I'm happy with how it went. Hope to run it again next year too!