The Pilgrim Pacer is the third race in the Harvest Half Series. It has a wonderful path along a paved city trail, but there seems to be some logistical improvements needed.

Registration/Packet Pickup:
I registered online as part of the Harvest Half Series. I didn't have any issues with that, but the packet pickup left much to be desired. First, the pickup location was given to us less than a week to go. We were told it would be at Genesis (a sponsor), but the building at the address still had the big 24 Hour Fitness sign on the building. For someone that hadn't know Genesis bought 24 Hour Fitness they may have been confused. Once we got in, we had to wait. The team was 15 minutes late letting participants start getting their packets. The worst part was that the pickup was held in a 10' x 10' room. That's not big enough for any pickup, let alone when you have four distances trying to get packets, along with any new registrations. All four lines were trying to get into a small room with 1 door. This was not well thought out.

Parking:
There was very little parking available at the start line, so only full marathon runners were allowed to park at the location. I'll add there were still plenty of spaces available in that lot. The rest of us had to park at a corporate building a few miles away. We then had to load up into busses so we could be shuttled to the starting line. There were two busses, but that wasn't enough. We tried to be there early, and still had to wait 20 minutes, and watched two busses leave before we got on. It was 28 degrees at the time, so waiting in the shade as a little cold for everyone trying to get on a bus. I noticed across the street from the start line an empty bowling alley. I would suggest asking that business to allow parking for the race. Folks could then walk over instead of waiting on a bus.

Course:
The race started out in the Shawnee Mission Park, which is pretty massive. Almost immediately we got some great downhills to get everyone started fast. We then got onto the paved trail system, and completed the up and back route. The trail was very nice with plenty of elevation changes to keep you honest. If you were running the full marathon you had to up and back twice. It was a very nice trail.

Swag:
We got a long sleeve shirt, distance sticker, and large medal. And of course, pumpkin pie at the finish line.

Race Management:
I wasn't very impressed to be honest. The packet pickup was a mess, parking was inconvenient, little communication prior to the race, and the race started about 5 minutes late.

Overall:
The course is a wonderful trail, which would make me want to run this again someday. However, there is much improvement to be had on the logistics front.