EXPO- had a long line when we arrived there, but it went fairly quickly and had a fun atmosphere (held outside too, which is a bonus!). They also had a Smores' roasting station, so that kinda makes it 5 stars in itself.

SHUTTLES- We camped at the Wahweap campground (within a mile of the finish line), so it would have made sense to take the shuttle from the finish to the start line that morning but I would have had to have gotten up at 4am (shuttle departed at 4:45am). Vacation races typically have really early morning shuttle times, so my fiance ended driving me to the start line (so much better since I didn't get up until 5, we left the campground at 5:30 and arrived at the start line by 5:45am). I had plenty of time to warm-up for a mile, porta-potty lines were relatively short, and bag check was a breeze.

COURSE- The course was so beautiful and is relatively downhill. Miles 3-5.75ish are on a singletrack dirt trail (this is the most beautiul part of the course, but it is also the most challenging)- there definitely were some bottlenecking issues going on, so just either be prepared for them or try to seed yourself before you get to mile 3. There's two short hills around mile 7.5ish and before mile 11 - nothing too crazy and they don't last long. I ended up using this race as a workout and ran a PR (which I wasn't even planning on doing) finishing 3rd in my Age Group.

Vacation races also does 5-deep age group awards, so there's even more incentive for you to gain more bling! The medals are always SO beautiful and courses are well-marked, well-stocked aid stations. This was a cupless event so I did carry my Nathan waterbottle with me, but probably would have carried it with me regardless (they also give you a hydrapouch at the expo if you don't want to purchase a hydration system).

You can read a more detailed race recap here: http://www.justkeeprunning.net/race-recaps-1/2018/10/23/2018-lake-powell-half-marathon

Link to this review