My first run in New York! I am a veteran halfer and this race was so disorganized that I was in disbelief that it was their 10th year. I assumed a bunch of non-runners put it together. The Expo was not descriptive of which building (out of a lot) they were in. There was no signage, and when we arrived for packet pickup, they were out of most shirt sizes, and all the free giveaways were gone. Nothing. The swag bag consisted of my race number and a shirt that didn't fit (that I was told I must take). For the price of this race I expected a little more than that.

The start line was complete chaos with 3 blocks-long lines that no one knew what they were for, except to get it. There were no signs, no people directing and no port-o-potties. Luckily we didn't have to go. The lines ended up being to get into security, depending on your race length and wave letter. We waited 45mins in the wrong line only to have to get into another long line. Once we got through security (they were serious with metal detectors, which I actually liked), I hit the potty, then was getting read to warm up and stretch...when security started yelling "start the race! Just go!" Even though we were not warmed up, and our wave wasn't supposed to start for about 20 more minutes. So we started.

The views were gorgeous and the crowds- oh man! I felt like I was in my own NYC Marathon. The crowd was inviting and wild and FUN! They made the race- it was incredible and they were so welcoming and happy to have us in their hometown. There were some bands and performers along the way, which were awesome. There was a section of cobblestone street that was killer on the joints, but also a neat experience.

The aid stations were ridiculous. The volunteers were awesome and cranking out as fast as they could with so few of them, but they water tables were after a curve, every single time and they were not consistent on which side of the road they were on. I missed so many because I couldn't get over in time.

The hills....oh man, the hills. I saw the elevation chart and it didn't seem like much, but on the course I (as well as a lot of others) were just dying. These hills were not something you could quickly overcome. They were long and slow and painful. People would shout "downhill from here", but only to my demise, it would be more uphill after a few minutes at a flat road. Very challenging.

The finish line was a cattle rush. Only water on one side of the chute, which, when you have that many runners, does not make sense. Obviously I couldn't make it to the water, but luckily was on the one side they were handing out medals. I finally was able to shove my way to some Gatorade at the end of the chute to realize they were not diluting the mix...I almost lost my stomach contents on poor runners, but luckily kept it together.

Overall, the race logistics were awful- enough to make me not want to do this race again, but the crowd and scenery were the only positives- thank goodness they were INSANELY awesome!

Side note: they did have a guarantee on shirt sizes, so I emailed them. They sent me my correct shirt size, however, even though it was labeled the correct size, it was the same measurement as the one from the expo... $200 for some memories, a (great) medal and not even a wearable shirt.