Before I found this race, I had never heard of a quarter marathon. 10K? Sure. Half marathon? Of course! So registering for this uniquely characterized race was awesome on its own. What made it even better was that a medal is involved. Medals for races under the half marathon distance are a rarity in Connecticut, so that drew me in for the race even more.

The race offered packet pickup at the race location the day before, but unfortunately the location of the race was a little vague. Runners were only given a location of the West Hartford Reservoir for the pickup, and there are more than one locations in the GPS with that name. The location my GPS picked was the wrong one, and sent us on a forty minute chase around town. Once we finally found the location, we were good to go for the next morning.

The race entry included long sleeve tech shirts that were really nice along with the standard RoadID bib. Race morning parking was exceptionally easy, despite some concerns that a shuttle might be needed to cart runners from an offsite parking lot. The walk to the starting area was nice, with easy access to restroom facilities.

Bag check was waiting right at the starting line with bags for runners who might not have brought their own. This was a major plus considering the temperature warmed up quickly before the start of the race, leaving me able to shed a layer without any worry.

The race had a very comfortable registrant pool size, and didn’t try and cram more runners into the area than it could handle. Small corrals were even lined up by pace time, making it easy to fall in. The course was a two-lap course around the West Hartford Reservoir, all on a paved path so traffic was of no concern. It really was the best starting area experience I’ve had possibly ever at a race.

The course was extremely challenging. The first two miles were pretty much all uphill, and just as one uphill ended, another was there waiting for you. What made that a bit worse was knowing that you’d have to do it all over again on your second lap. The third mile of the course broke into a fast downhill, but this was made a bit treacherous due to machinery that was working on the surrounding trees that had left the paved path severely muddy and broken up. With the speed of the downhill and the rough terrain, the potential for a major injury was high.

Aid support was on the course around the 2-mile/5-mile mark, and then at the 5K/10K mark. Port-o-lets were aligned at the 5K/10K mark as well, something that isn’t often seen on a course of this distance. One of the absolute highlights of the race was the post-race snacks. If you named it, chances are it was there. The race organizers even had taken requests from runners before the race to accommodate any special requests for post-race refreshments.

Overall, this was a surprise hit of a race. Everything was so smooth and so well put together. I was most amazed that the race was in its 8th year, and I had only just heard about it. It is definitely a sleeper hit of a race.