This was the first time I have run The Honor Run Half Marathon and it will not be my last! This was the 5th year of this charming race. Ok, let's cover the specs:

Race Director: Scott liked my media posts leading up to the race and had asked to meet me. When I met him race morning he gave me a handshake and a hug and thanked me. A Race Director thanked ME! That was pretty cool. I thanked him for putting on such an amazing race! Scott is very active on social media and with communicating with runners, so you never felt like you were "in the dark" or just another number.

Packet Pickup: Was at the Florence Mall, right in the center (per the website instructions). Super easy, VERY friendly volunteers offering encouragement to every single runner picking up their stuff (not just, "Name, here's your stuff."). Plus, it was a mall, so if you needed ANYTHING last minute, there's no way not to find it in the mall.

Volunteers/Aid Stations: 100% the best volunteers I have EVER encountered! Considering this was a 22 degree morning that felt like 12, and dropping, not one volunteer was complaining. They all offered encouragement (not the typical, "you're almost there") at every aid station. There was even a tissue aid station (cold morning, runny noses). There was Gatorade and water and it was cold, obviously, but they even went the extra mile and made sure every station had salt to spread around, since any water on the ground was pretty much going to turn to ice.

SWAG: The medal is BEAUTIFUL, with stuff on the front and back. And your bag that you get at packet pickup is FULL of useful swag.

Post race: You cannot say you left the post race area hungry or thirsty, unless you had allergies of some sort. Skyline is there with chili coneys, and there was a local high school there with sandwiches, and they had full bottles of Gatorade (the 1 liter), bubly and diet pepsi. When I say plenty, I mean enough that they were telling us races to please take cases of the above. They even had boxes for you to stuff your things into!

The extras: At the start of the race, Scott talks about this American flag that all of the veterans that they take to the memorials touch before they go. We were able to touch this right before we headed across the start line (on my personal blog review, I will include video), and that was AMAZING. Plus I had 2 different runners give me their chili coney's and thank me for helping them finish strong (they used me as a pacer the last mile or so, I didn't even know), HOW GREAT IS THAT?!?

Bottom line, I'm already thinking about this race next year and getting as many people as I can to do it.Warning, it does sell out so when registration opens for 2019, sign up!