The 2017 race was run on May 1. The temperatures at the start of the race were in the mid 50s and climbed up in the air and into the 80s by the time the back of the pack finished.

Registration: I believe registration was done on active.com. If you are lucky like I was you could register for the race for $26.20. This option was offered early on the registration process and at some race expo is where the race was present.

Expo: the expo was difficult to find. On the race website and all emails that we received the race expo was listed as being at a local high school. However a specific address was not given. We enter the high school into MapQuest and it took us to the wrong school. We went to One other school before finding the right school. Once you arrived at the high school finding a parking spot was difficult. There were no clear instructions on where to park and people were just park wherever they wanted to. It was a mess. We finally found street parking and we had to pay a dollar into the meter to park. Once inside the expo we were directed to packet pick up. Despite giving them our shirt sizes when we registered they asked for shirt sizes when we got there. Hopefully they did not run out of shirts for all the runners. Once we were done there we went inside the main expo in the gymnasium. There were about 20 to 30 vendors present. First stop was the official race merchandise. It was sad that you could buy a race shirt that was better than the race shirt that you got for free with your packet. Also at the expo Bill Rogers former Boston Marathon champion was present. However we arrive too late to see him.

Race morning parking: do you have two options for parking on race day. You could pay extra and park close by and get VIP parking or you could park at the county fairgrounds for free. Once you park at the county fairgrounds though you had to pay five dollars per runner to take the shuttle bus to the start. The start was about 2 miles away. We had problems buying the right entrance to the fairgrounds however others had a lot more difficulty getting into the parking lots as race time approached. Runners were instructed to arrive early which most did but still had a lot of problems parking in time. The race started 15 minutes late because of this issue. Following the race we wait in the line for 45 minutes to an hour to get onto a shuttle bus to go back to our car. After the race they only had three shuttle buses running and not all of them we're going back to the parking lot. They were either going to the football Hall of Fame or to the relay exchange zones. Parking is something that the race needs to work on in the future.

The race: One of the big positives about the race was that they were plenty of Porta potty's set up at the start area. The longest we had some weight was about 5 to 10 minutes. There was also gear check available right by the starting area.
As mentioned earlier the race did start in 15 to 20 minutes late because of parking issues. This probably would not have been such a big deal if the weather wasn't going to get so warm.
As mentioned earlier the race did start in 15 to 20 minutes late because of parking issues. This probably would not have been such a big deal if the weather wasn't going to get so warm.
The Course: The website stated prior to the race that the course was going to be flatter than in years past. If this was flatter I would hate to see what it was like before. I am from northern Indiana and nothing in my area could've prepared me for the hills on the scores. Total elevation change was over 500 feet which for some may not be bad. The marathon course was basically the half marathon course. After you completed the first half marathon you turned around and did all again in reverse. There were a couple of great sites to see on the course but most of it was in rundown neighborhoods. It was nice to see, however, kids in these neighborhoods out cheering runners on.
Aid stations: four as hot as it got there were not enough aid stations. The aid stations were about 2 miles apart. With how hot it got it they should have been 1 mile apart. Early on in the race there was one aid station that they were just setting up as we were running by. They did not have water or Gatorade ready. Plus some stations also did not have enough volunteers. There were also gels available at A couple of the aid stations.
Swag: if there was a redeeming quality behind this race it was the swag. The race had a great finishers models that were shaped like a football ticket and had a spinner on the inside where the logo was. Also instead of a heat sheet blanket you got a nice fleece blanket at the finish. Had this been a colder day this blanket would've been much appreciated. I felt that the shirts could have been better however. I like the design of the shirts and the logo on the front but I did not like the 50-50 cotton and polyester style shirt.

Post race: they really didn't seem to be much going on after the race. If you appreciate a cold beer after you finish you were out of luck. After you got your metal and blanket you could walk over to the food tent and get a banana there are some bags of chips and you could get a hotdog. there was no real post race atmosphere.

Extras: each participant got a free entry into the Pro football Hall of Fame. However due to how long it took us to get to our car because of the shuttle buses we did not have time to go. The voucher was good all weekend long.

I cannot recommend this race at this time. The course was not very scenic. Also I think the race organizers have a lot of work to do on their logistics.