I have to say I was a little skeptical when I first heard about this race. It was a week before the Shamrock Sports Festival, which is kind of a 757 institution and it was a first time race. Plus, the weather we had been having had really cut into my training.

One afternoon I noticed an ad on social media that there was a marathon relay option. This actually worked nicely as a training race, so a friend and I signed up as a two man team.

Side note: I lived in Newport News years ago and always loved it. I thought the grid of the city and its relative level terrain would make for a great run.

Well now that we are a day out, I have to say I was blown away. I liked the point to point course because it gave a great view of the city. There was really great crowd support. The water stations were very well manned and at every two miles on the course.

Since I ran the relay, I got to experience it as both a runner and a spectator. I passed off at the 14 mile mark, and we drove to Hilton Elementary to cheer on my teammate. What a fun transition point that was (and through a lovely part of the city). Then we hurried to the finish and it was a great party. I took advantage of what was the trend of the day: teams meeting up and all running the final stretch together.

Post race food was plentiful. The beer was delicious. And the post race party was a blast. So many great activities for the families and the kids. My wife attends my races all the time and she said she had never been to a more spectator friendly event.

This is a great, easy access race for someone in the mid-Atlantic and would also be a nice sestjnation race.

My only complaint was the park for the party was a muddy soup. But that was out of the organizer's control. We had drenching rains the day before. They actually made a nice attempt to put down boards to help with access. Sometimes nature just gets you.