Expo: The expo took place at Union Station in St. Louis. I love this venue! I'm not savvy enough for street parking, so we paid to park in the lots. Parking was $1 for every 20 minutes. We took less than that and by the time we got to the front of the line in our car, we were rounded up to $2, which is not bad one bit.
The swag was perfect as usual and they always have an area where you can try on all the sizes and do exchanges so your gear fits perfectly.
The treats are always there to eat and they provide allergen information which is helpful for those with sensitivities or intolerances. Like I said, we were quick in and out and that's because this race is so ORGANIZED! You scan your QR code and pick up your bib then go and pick up your swag.

Day of Parking: So I had bought shuttle passes this year, but realized the pick up location was Union Station and I would have to pay to park here in addition to my shuttle cost. Since I thought I would take a million years, I thought I could leave super early and try to snag a street spot in Forest Park. Even showing up over an hour early, we were all guided away from the race to park. For future, the Zoo has parking and it's about 1 mile from the race start and will be $10. By the time the race is over and you've gotten back and enjoyed your treats, you could bop into the Zoo for a bit too! That thought crossed my mind but I needed to get home!

Course: The course is relatively easy in my opinion. You only have 1-2 inclines and the Muny Hill you get to go down. I walked/trotted this race and had no problems. The volunteers were AMAZING! I can't say enough great things about every part from the expo to the end. Their energy was high, especially along the course. I loved the kids before the 15/5k breakaway who were so amped. I loved it! The signs of encouragement and motivation towards the end of the race is also another fun part.

Aids: Towards the end of the race, somewhere in the 2nd mile you had your choice of NUUN, water and also chocolate pieces. I somehow missed the chocolate and grabbed a cup that had water instead on accident.

Post-Race Party: This is always a good time. All-State does a great job with having fun photo ops too. New this year was the ability to stand in front of your digital finish time and have your photo taken. My personal fave is the huge hot chocolates you can sit in.

New this year: The finishers of the 5k received medals this year which was so fun. The 15k medals are far more superior because they are a chocolate bar and how cool is that?! But the 5k are very heavy and cute and I loved having that at the end!

You also get your treats with hot cocoa, melted chocolate, marshmallow, pretzels, cookie straw, honeystinger waffle and banana (i'm sure I even missed some.) This year they came in a compostable bowl. Like I stated in my blog review, some people liked the plastic bowls and used them for storage, but mine ended up being donated most of the time and a lot of people would just throw them away. So I think this was a great change.

I love this race and always recommend it because of the quality you get. It's always a fun time and you always have people next to you! The corrals weren't even crazy this year!