This was my first time to Minnesota and it was definitely an experience! This race was on the smaller side with bib pickup offered at the TC Marathon office in Minneapolis. There was nothing particularly special about the bib pickup / expo. Two vendors (Running Room and GNC) had booths outside the doors as you stood in line to pick up your bib, shirt, and cup. Out of all the races I have ran, this race definitely had some of the best swag, and one of the best shirts designs I have seen. It was really simple, and I really liked the color of the shirt. Also, the pint glass given was a nice addition for Swag for this event.

On the day of the race, there was a little bit of confusion on where the starting line was, and I saw a few comments made on social media, race day. From what I noticed, it seems the start line moved about a mile from where the race originally started before. I double checked the map the night before, and noticed the map had changed from when I first signed up for the event (luckily... whew!).

The course itself was nice. It was a giant loop course that involved running through some parks. Because the run started really early (6:30 AM start time), the weather wasn't extremely hot for the race. I did think it was a little more humid (personally, than I was expecting), but the race had a decent amount of shade. The course had only a few short hills, and was overall fairly flat. My only complaint would have been to have one or two more water stations. I don't generally carry water when I run, and I think I struggled with the water stations being a little over 2 miles a part for the long run.

One of my favorite parts of the race, was all the food at the end. I love chocolate milk, and they were even handing out popsicles and hot dogs at the end (outside of the normal bagel and bananas) to make it really feel like a 4th of July BBQ event. The after party had a slip-n-slide (from what I saw in e-mails), but I actually didn't participate in that portion of the event.