I've had my eyes on this race for a few years and it finally worked into the race calendar this year! It is truly a small town race but don't let that scare you away! The race team is phenomenal and does what it can to make sure that runners get the best experience possible!

Since I was driving down from Green Bay the night before and was not going to be able to get to packet pick up, I was excited to see race day packet pick up.

The race starts and ends on the campus of UW Manitowoc and packing is plentiful right near the start/finish line. When I arrived on campus, I had no issue finding parking quickly and headed inside to grab my race packet. There are plenty of port-a-potty's outside for runners, but having the option of indoor restrooms is always a bonus in my book!

For any of you runners who get the most out of your money for a marathon and might need a little more than 6 hours to finish, they offer an early start! An extra half hour to finish your marathon! So if this is something that you want to take advantage of, you do need to get there early as you will be starting at 6:30am instead of 7am.

Once I saw the early start marathons off, I caught up with a few friends, finished my breakfast and go ready to hit the road.

The first few miles of the race winds through a quiet residential area before running along the canal, through a short section of downtown and then heads north on the Mariners Trail. The course is an out and back and for the half, you turn around right near the edge of Two Rivers. The entire course features beautiful views of Lake Michigan.

This year, there was a breeze off the lake that we were running straight into from mile 2.6 until the turn around, which also was slightly uphill The turnaround was welcoming as we now had the wind at our back as we cruised back into down (now going slightly downhill!). It truly is a fast course!

The aid stations are well stocked by amazing volunteers that help to keep you motivated. Aside from the volunteers at aid stations, each intersection you have to go through or past has a volunteer stationed there to make sure you can safely get where you need to go!

Check out my fill race recap here: http://ampdwellness.crazyhamster.run/when-the-stars-align-unexpected-things-can-happen/