This was a unique race. You could choose to do a trail half or the road half or both for a marathon. They started at the same time, which was a little confusing. The trail halfers and those completing both went one way through the start/finish and the road halfers when the other way through the start/finish. Once I turned around and went the right way things got better. The race started and finished on Turkey Mountain, being from out of town this name alone should have warned me that it was going to be a little hilly at some point. I completed the road half, so this review is based on that portion of the race. It was a small race so there were no pacers.
We started in the park and quickly followed a sidewalk on a four lane road to a paved trail that ran along a creek. This part was flat, we ran into non racers exercising but they all gave us the ride a way once seeing a race bib. Along creek were a few aid stations, after about three miles we reached a turn around point and headed back toward Turkey Mountain. Once back in the park we went down a very steep hill, at that point I realized I would be going up that hill at the end, Since there was a little bit of construction the course had been modified the day before and it ended up being 13.5 miles instead of 13.1 miles. The hill at the end was one of the worst hills I have ever ran, and I was told by a fellow racer at the beginning that most people don't run it because it is so steep.

The swag- I got a long sleeve cotton shirt which is ok and a half medal. (The medal as yin/yang one half for road/ one half for trail) While it is a neat concept I don't know if I will get the yin as I saw the hill at the beginning of the trail race and I don't know if any yin is worth that much.