Expo - There is only one day for packet pick-up, thankfully it is a weekend. I got there fairly early as I was helping out at the pacer table. Packet pick-up was divided by race; however, within the race there was no indication of where to line up for your bib. I of course went to someone several bins away from the bin that contained by bib. They scaled back on the goodie bag this year, only a t-shirt and your bib. No poster or pamphlets this year, they moved to the virtual goodie bag. The t-shirt is nice, I personally preferred the long sleeve offered last year. Packet pick-up and the start/finish are both at the iWireless so this is a great opportunity to know where you are going if you are from out of town.

Race day: I was there early (6:15 - race start 7:30) for the pace team picture. There was plenty of open parking when I arrived. All three years I've done the race we've been able to park in the main parking lot. The exit from IA does start to back up as it gets closer to the race time.

This is not a large race so they still use the open corral method. I agree with a prior review it does get a bit crowded and if you are near the back it is hard to hear the announcer. Unless you are an elite runner or manage to squeeze to the front, do not expect your first 1 - 2 miles to be quick. Between the normal start line shuffle and the tight course across the first bridge it is hard to get a solid pace. Shortly after mile 2 there is a decent hill followed by a few rolling hills. After about mile 5 the course is pretty flat. You will run on various terrains - gravel, paved road, bridge grates.

Do not come to this race expecting a ton of crowd support. There are certainly areas on the course that have a lot of spectators but there are also a lot of areas that do not. The views however are pretty amazing early in the morning running across and then along the Mississippi.

There were two areas where they were handing out Boom energy gels. I've never tried them so I took the ones I brought myself. I do think it would be helpful if there were a couple more aid stations, but I've been to races with fewer. I think this one the stations are about every 2 - 2.5 miles. It definitely gets warm if the sun is out, a number of uncovered areas.

The finish line is stocked... you should be able to find whatever your stomach needs for recovery! The medals are always quality, they do not skimp there.

Overall, I enjoy this race and keep coming back. I think it is generally well organized and ran. This year I watched the race director out near the finish line giving high fives to the half marathon finishers that were coming in post 3 hours.

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