⁃ Waconia is about 37 miles, 37-45 minutes away from Minneapolis. I attended the race because the Minneapolis ORTHO marathon scheduled for June, 5, 2016 was cancelled and I decided to make the best of a bad situation. This year's race was held on Saturday, June 4th 2016.
⁃ There is a relay, 5K, 10 miler and half marathon. I ran the half. This review is for the half-marathon.
⁃ Their emails prior to the race are very detailed and list everything and all information you would need to register for, arrive to and run the race. They have a 'virtual event bag' that has all the information necessary.
⁃ There is packet pickup on Friday, the day before the race if you can make it. If picking up the packet on race day, arrive early as lines are long, especially if you are running the relay, which begins at 7.30 am. You get a t-shirt and a running belt of some sort. The t-shirt is very good quality and looks like it has moisture wicking ability. When I went to pick up my shirt Saturday morning just before the race, they didn't have my size at that particular pick-up location. They asked me to hang on to my tear off ticket till the end of the race and see if they could locate my size. If they couldn't find my size, they told me that they would mail my shirt to me. At the end of the race, they had my size, which was excellent.
⁃ There is no public transportation to Waconia that I could see/identify. So, you have to drive there or take a cab/uber/lyft.
⁃ There is quite a bit of vehicle traffic on race day if you are driving from far away. Give yourself a bit of time. I arrived at about 7.20 am and was able to get my bib at about 7.40 am. I had a friend drop me off and they went to look for street parking. If you are driving alone, come earlier as parking is hard to come by. You might be forced to park closer to the 'city center' in Waconia. Not too far from the start line though but enough to get you nervous just before start time.
⁃ The lines were long but moved quickly. The lines to the porta johns were long but you can never have enough porta johns at a race start line. Come early if you are nervous about lines.
⁃ The bibs and their numbers are given in order of arrival, first come first served basis. They have no names on them.
⁃ It's a timed race and the bibs have chips in them.
⁃ The bibs have tear-away tags for race shirt, bag drop off, 1 meal ticket and 2 drink tickets. The 'meal' after the race consisted of a hamburger and pulled pork sandwich. Very good. The 'drink' was either a can of soda or beer. The beer was 'tap beer' but not bad tasting at all.
⁃ The announcer did a splendid job! His instructions were very precise and all people knew where they were supposed to be.
⁃ This race is part of the 'Minnesota running series' and if you run all 4 races, you get to 'win' a running jacket.
⁃ The half begins at 8.00 am. It began promptly. The relay starts at 7.30 am, the 10 miler starts at 7.45 am, so they stagger the races well enough so that runners of different races are not congested. The race crowd is optimum.
⁃ The half begins at Spruce street and snakes it's way along W Main Street before going to Burandt Blvd and Minnesota 5 For 3 miles before coming back to the start line. After that, the race basically runs around lake Waconia.
There is a small hill on mile 5 but on mile 9, the hills are kind of steep. They will slow down but the most elite runner a little bit so just be aware. It's not a flat course but it's challenging in a good way.
⁃ they do have Gatorade and water on mile 3, 5, 10 and 12 I think. Enough to hydrate you if you don't want to carry a water/ fluid bottle. The paper cups are more than enough and a lot of water stations were manned by volunteers and the local high school football team.
⁃ After mile 4, you run on a dirt trail (not asphalt or concrete) for a while. Not a big deal but you run single file, unless you want to run in the grass. On a rainy day (thank goodness it started drizzling later on) you might need water proof running shoes like goretex shoes or Zoot Solana ACR shoes. I always carry 'waterproof' shoes just in case.
⁃ The crowds along the way are awesome. The locals and others cheer you on pretty much on all mile markers and in most areas of the race. The weather also allowed for many spectators and fans. Look out for encouraging and cheeky hand signs!
⁃ It's a very scenic route as you are running around a scenic lake. For locals, it might seem ordinary but for someone from out of state, the lake views are outstanding! After mile 6, you get off the paved road and run on a 'dirt' road until mile 8 or so. Beautiful houses and if it rains, you may need better waterproof shoes. The 'dirt trail' was firm and not watery at all. No feeling of discomfort while running at all.
⁃ Once you get to the finish line, you have a finisher medal given to you for your respective race. The finisher's medal is very good quality and is also engraved at the back.
⁃ They have bananas, granola bars and water for runners at the finish line. They had a lot of refreshments that never ran out, especially for slower runners who always seem to have refreshments run out for them.
⁃ They send you your finish times via email. You can also view the results for all the runners in the race.
⁃ After the finish line, runners walk downhill for like 0.4 to 0.5 miles to Lola's Lakehouse. Just outside the restaurant is where you pick up your hamburger or pulled pork sandwich and two drinks by redeeming your tear-off tickets. It's a relatively huge restaurant at the lakefront that lends its name to the race. Perfect ambience and a place you would bring your family on race-day or any other day.
⁃ It's a highly recommended race for anyone wanting to experience a well organized race. Small enough to be well organized and have fewer chinks but large enough to have many runners and cheering squads to encourage you during the race.
⁃ For those from out of town/state and fans of Prince, his Paisley Park studios are in Chanhassen, which is on your way to Minneapolis from Waconia.
⁃ If you are doing the 50 half marathons in 50 states, this would be a perfect half-marathon to check off the state of Minnesota. I spoke to a few runners who were using it as a preparation run for the grandmas marathon in Duluth, MN on June 18th, 2016.