For 2018, there were 4 races you could sign up for: the 4 mile, 10k, half marathon and full marathon. I chose to run the 4 mile race because I had just come back from a stress fracture in my foot and had to take 6 weeks off running. The registration process was very straightforward and detailed on what you could expect come race day.

The packet pick-up was the Friday before the race at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne. I really enjoyed the "expo" for the packet pick-up. The expo was open from 12pm-8pm, which was perfect for me since I work until 5pm on Fridays and have about a 30 minute drive to Fort Wayne. There were a lot of local vendors at the expo talking about their products and services. I didn't end up staying long; I just wanted to grab my packet and get back home.

The 4 mile race didn't start until 10:30am so I had plenty of time to wake up and get around in the morning. Luckily, I was able to find parking relatively close to the start line (a couple blocks away) so that wasn't an issue at all. The corrals were somewhat congested, so it took a minute or so to actually get past the start line and begin running. Once I was able to break away from the crowd there was plenty of room on the course to run and it went smoothly. The course was flat the entire time and the last .5 or so miles were ran in Parkview Field to get to the finish line, which I thought was cool. There were tons of spectators in the crowed cheering you on as you finished!

At the finish they were taking pictures and had water for all the runners. I sat down in the outfield to rest and stretch while my mom finished her race. I wish they would have given out some sort of food such as a banana at the finish because I was pretty hungry! The race after-party went on until 1pm that day, so people could hang around and grab food/drinks and chat with vendors.

The swag was somewhat disappointing this year. For the price you pay for a ticket, I thought they would at least have some goodies in the bag like sport beans, gels, coupons etc. They only really provided a race map, some "coupons" i'll never use and a t-shirt. The t-shirt for the 4-mile race was red and yellow (which sadly reminded me of McDonald's) and the Fort4Fitness logo was done in a weird font.. I think they were going for a superman theme? not really sure. But other than that the race was great and I really enjoyed being a participant!

If you want to check out my full review, head over to http://whitswellness.com/2018/10/04/race-recap-fort4fitness-4-mile/