I enjoyed this race and would do it again. The course begins and ends in Marion City Square Park, and takes place the first morning of the art festival. Most of the course goes through residential areas, with the middle section in neighborhoods with new and ongoing construction. The course was well marked, with volunteers guiding runners on turns and intersections. There are hills on this course, as you would expect in this part of Iowa, and much of the last 1/2 mile was uphill.

Aid stations with water, Gatorade, and GU every 1.5-2 miles.

There were a couple of shorter segments where runners ran an out-and-back segment, but there was plenty of room for runners going each way.

At the finish, plenty of bananas, watermelon slices, and orange sections, sodas, water, gatorade, Arnold Palmers, as well as Great Harvest fresh baked bread and butter, and Zio Johno spaghetti. Free massages. Tech tee, but no other swag (that's OK with me). The weather was upper 40's, rainy, and windy, so I really appreciated the volunteers and the amenities that much more. There were far more spectators on the route considering the weather, and they were great! Funny signs and cheering really helped on the uphill and windy segments.