Nothing special here, just a simple local 5K to get Murfreesboro to start off the New Year right. Race management gives you the option to pay for just the run or for $10 more, run with a shirt which is a performance long sleeve race shirt. Course is in and around Barfield park and you do have to run up and down the steep hill on the wilderness trail but the route has you coming down the steepest side and going up the more gradual incline side. One problem with the route and while not a huge deal but something one would prefer to avoid; after you are done coming down the hill and started your final sprint to the finishline (with gravity's help), you have to come off a curb. Curbs obviously aren't a huge deal typically but this one is awkward being at the end, right at the base of the hill, and you will probably be giving it everything you got...last thing you want to think about is keeping your balance coming off a curb. There is an aid station on the course that you will pass twice; once going out to Hwy 231 on Volunteer Rd (about 1.25 miles in) and then when again when you turn around and head back into the park (about 2.5 miles in). I did not go to packet pickup the day before the race because the park a little out of my way and they offered race day packet pickup so no idea if any vendors were around New Years Eve but I doubt it and nobody was there on race day. Plenty parking available at the park's baseball field parking lots and traffic seemed to move nicely in and out of the race beforehand and afterwards. The race is put on by the Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department and this is the first year so I would assume plenty will change and improve over the next few years. Communications is probably the biggest improvement I would suggest because after my race comfirmation receipt email, that was the last I heard from them and they seemed to rely information through the event's Facebook page which unfortunately I think is happening more often by race management nowadays, periodical emails would be nice.

Overall, not a bad 5K to start off the new year on the right foot for those in the Middle Tennessee, Greater Nashville area.