This race is one of the smaller races that I've taken part in, but it is by far one of the most fun as well. After running this race, I have decided to run it annually and for more reasons than one. For starters, the local community loves this race. Whether it be a volunteer, a race manager, a local store, or a spectator this community treats the racers as if they were all professional athletes. The community support really does make you want to stay and hang out after the race to meet some new people or go shopping down the brick road main street. The course itself is extremely FLAT! If you're looking to set a PR, this is definitely the race for you. The scenery of the course is very cool as well. The first half of the marathon is in town and there are some really cool changes to the run. For example, you're downtown, then all of the sudden you're in a park, then you're in a cornfield, and then a new small town with animal statues in the front yard... it keeps your interest the entire 13.1 miles. For the second half of the run, it turns into a little bit of a trail run, which is nice to mix things up, and you end up over the river crossing a massive bridge. As far as the SWAG goes, the race shirts are hands down some of the highest quality shirts I've received at a race. Their medals are also really cool with this year being the first of a series of 4 meals that connect. Other than the medal and the shirt, your expo bag comes with a race sticker and obviously a cowbell, but other than that there really wasn't much SWAG. The expo was about 20 minutes from downtown, which was kind of out of the way at a local college and honestly there wasn't much there to stick around for. I will probably have my packet mailed for the 2018 race.