This was the first time I ventured to Saint John for the Marathon by the Sea. As I'm working on completing all six events for the Ultimate Running Challenge in the Maritimes this summer, I decided that 5k would be enough for this race.

While the location of the start is quite nice, the 5k course was not particularly scenic. There were a few rolling hills and a couple of changes between pavement and hard packed trails which made a moderately difficult course - not the easiest I've done, but certainly not the hardest, either.

Parking at Lily Lake and the side roads was an adventure as it certainly did seem that car pooling was not an option taken by many people. The shuttle bus to the start location from the parking was a convenient option, but could have been organized a little better as it was not clear where the pick up was and there was a concern shared by many runners as to whether or not we would make the race start on time.

The t-shirt and medal were both very well done. The medal was one of the nicer I've gotten this year and the colour of the shirt was nice and it is certainly a shirt I have worn since and will continue to wear both for running and casual occasions.

There was actually a small fee for bag drop, which is unusual and surprising. Of all the events I have done in the past two years, this is the first time I remember having to pay for a bag check. Even if it's in support of a local charity, I feel like a donation would be better or just have the fee included in the registration. I rarely have money on me at the race start for obvious reasons.

Overall, this was a very nice event and any negatives were certainly minor and easily remedied. If I was to come back to this event, I would certainly choose one of the longer runs, as from my understanding, the scenery is quite impressive.