After hearing numerous things about how there wasn't enough water the first year, I actually thought this was a really good race. I guess they improved on the complaints from year 1. I did it in year 3, and found there to be adequate aid stations.

I didn't attend the expo so I cannot speak to that (we had a group bib pick up and our bibs were picked up by other members of the group), but race day went pretty smoothly from my viewpoint. I carpooled with friends and we found parking downtown with little issue. We parked on the street and not in the garages. Walked over to the convention center where the start line was and met up with our group for pre race photos. I loved taking pics by the giant marshmallow man!

The start corrals were a little haphazard and confusing. There were multiple places to get in but no one seemed to be checking bibs or anything. A bunch of us jumped in with our friend who was pacing the 11:00/mile group. It was crowded in the beginning but not bad. This is an odd race in that the 5k starts prior to the 15k. In most races I've done the longer distance starts first. But it was fine; it was a cool December morning and the later start didn't affect us much.

The course was ok, mostly because I run the same route all the time on Bayshore so I get kinda bored of it. There was nothing wrong with the course, I just get tired of the same route. Plus I do the Gasparilla races and those races go up and down the same route. The one weird thing about the course was there was this area where they had us snake back and forth before turning to come back towards the convention center. I'm not sure why they didn't just have us go straight up Bayshore, turn around and come back. It all worked out fine though.

The swag and finisher goodies are by far the BEST part of this race and the reason I am signed up to run again in 2019! The jackets are super comfy and warm- I wear mine all the time. The chocolate and candies you get when you finish are great as well! I definitely recommend this race for anyone looking for a really fun time!