Hills, then more hills. Steep hills, long hills, soul crushing hills. Did I mention the hills? Tough course that demands respect. Well organized, point to point race. They run buses from the finish line at College Green Park downtown out to the dam where the race starts. Most of the first mile is uphill, then the rest of the race is mostly uphill; well at least it seemed like it. Very challenging. You can make up some time on mile 5; you start it near the end of a hill (of course) but then hit a short flat stretch that transitions into a really steep downhill onto Dubuque street. I ran mile 5 about 40 seconds faster than my overall pace. Of course once you turn onto Dubuque at the mile 5 marker you have to run up another hill. There is also a nice little incline just before the finish line.

It's a nice, well run race that will challenge your endurance and mental toughness. I was 5 weeks out from my first half marathon when I ran this race so it was a great tuneup race to throw into my training cycle.