The Irving marathon was my second marathon so my anxiety was super high. I had an extremely long training cycle; longer than usual, so I was ready to get the race over and done with! It was a nice start, still cool outside and the live music created a fun atmosphere. The course was an out and back for a half marathon so for the full we had to do 2 “laps”. At the turn around, no one was there to tell us where exactly to turn around. I turned around at what looked like the point based on how the cones were set up but I then heard someone yelling at me to keep going so I was a little frustrated as I went out for round 2. At the next aid station I needed water because my hydration belt was running low. The first station was out of cups and so we couldn’t get water. The next one was out of water. And at this point, it was extremely hot and no where on the course had shade. The further out we got, the more lonely it felt. There were no officials or anyone out on the course to make sure we were ok. So it was a strange and scary feeling. I would never run this course again but hope they can improve for the future races! I wish them the best.