Registered for this race a couple of weeks ahead of time. It ended up selling out before race day. A good value at $40 for the half marathon distance.

Packet pickup was quick and easy. Packet pickup was next to the start/finish, and there were separate lines for the half marathoners and 3.5 mile racers. Included with the registration fee was a gender-specific, decent quality tech shirt. It wasn’t the greatest tech shirt in the world, but also not the crappy cheap kind either. It has a simple logo printed on the front and the race series that this company puts on on the back with some sponsor logos. I’ll definitely wear it on training runs. We also received a couple of Clif Bar samples. Bananas and water were available before the race.

There were a handful of port-o-potties at the start/finish, along with the park’s permanent restrooms. For about 300 runners, this seemed to work out fine.

Parking was tight, because the park isn’t very big. Definitely get there early, because overflow parking was about half a mile away, up a big hill. (We drove our RV down, so we parked in the overflow lot because it was the respectful thing to do. It hurt walking up that hill after the race!)

The race director was adamant that the race start on time, going so far as to count down by the minute. As someone who has shown up for a race early and then had to listen to long bouts of commentary before, I really appreciated the on-time start! No big fanfare to start the race, just a mention of sponsors, a quick overview of which signs to follow for which race, and an airhorn to get us going.

There was a bit of a bottleneck to get onto the trails, that added maybe 30-60 seconds to everyone’s time, but everyone seemed to be pretty settled within the first mile or so. The early part of the trails were wide enough for passing without too much trouble. The last 3-4 miles were single track, lots of roots to negotiate, and some steeper dips. Fun and challenging!

The trails at Harbins Park are well-maintained and the race course was well-marked. The half marathoners and 3.5 milers ran together for awhile, then split up onto separate trails. The trails were mostly dirt, occasionally getting technical with some tall roots (no wipeouts for me, but a couple of close calls), and some parts are covered in pine needles (so they could get a little bit slippery.) Very few parts of the race course were straight; lots of twisting and turning, seeing other runners going in the same direction nearby, but finding out quickly that they were on a different part of the course. I’m a fan of the walk-the-uphills-and-run-the-downhills method, and there were lots of both. The downhills were especially fast and fun; all the twisting and turning felt like a rollercoaster, in a good way.

One big negative (and something to be aware of) is that there are only two water stops on the half marathon course: one at about 6 miles, one at about 9 miles, and then we passed the 9 mile aid station again at about mile 12. This was something that was well-communicated by the race director, who recommended that we all carry some type of hydration system during the race, so it was not a surprise. However, this is Atlanta in the spring, so it was very humid, and I needed more fluids than usual.

As a slower runner, one of my biggest pet peeves is when aid stations run out of fluids. The first water stop had about 20 cups of water left by the time I passed it, and was unmanned. Just cups of water on the ground and a trash bag. The second water stop had just about exhausted their supply when I reached it the first time (around the 9 mile mark.) I don’t know if there simply wasn’t enough water to resupply them or if they just didn’t bother, but by the time I made it back around to them at mile 12, they had nothing left. On the plus side, the water stop folks were very spirited and encouraging.

Because this is a trail race, don’t expect to find any port-o-potties on the course. There wasn’t much room on the sides of the trails to get any sort of privacy if you require it.

The finish line was mostly disassembled by the time I made it there, even though I made it in well under the cut-off time. The timing system was still up and I was able to get an official time. No finisher’s medals at this race; finisher’s received a pint glass. (Personally, I’d rather have that than some of the more boring medals I’ve received!) The only thing left at the finish was some water and samples of beef jerky. Yuck. Would have appreciated some kind of fruit or other food and other drink (chocolate milk, Gatorade, anything other than just water) at the end of the race.

Overall, a decent race, particularly for the price. The course is what saved the overall score for me, and because of the course, I’d recommend it to a friend. I would definitely suggest bringing along your own fluids, particularly if you are slower and/or if you need more than just water to fuel you through 13.1 miles. The aid stations ONLY have water, so if you need GU or anything else, you’re on your own.