So I have two different opinions of the race as I had two different experiences. I ran this race with my family and girl friend in 2011 and that is the race we will never forget and we still talk about. This was a race where about 30-50% of participants felt sick to their stomach, and the majority of them were the mid-pack to back of the pack runners. In my party, 3 of the 5 felt nauseous and/or threw up. The exit was poorly executed and we felt like cattle being herded through Mandalay Bay as it took nearly as long exiting the race/hotel as it did running the race. Mind you, that again, half the people were feeling nauseous or throwing up as well. In the end we vowed to never run the race again. After a report saying the water that was used (fire hydrants) it was said the levels were fine a few weeks later, but the issue was that they had the water in new trash cans and the water station volunteers were grabbing multiple cups and dipping them into the water with their hands and pulling them out which most likely was the root of the issue. As for the course it was great when you're running on the strip, however once you leave you're running by homeless people and dark areas of North Vegas isn't that fun. So out of the 5 of us, I took RNR Vegas for their word of they fixed the problem and took the discount to return to run it again. It had improved, they changed the location of the start and finish, expanding the run into Freemont Street where they had a nice surprise. I did my best to stay away from the water stations because I still didn't fully trust them, however they went to bottle waters for filling them instead of trash cans with hydrant water. The finish was moved from Mandalay Bay to the Mirage which is in the middle of the strip and no walking through the hotel to exit was way better. I haven't returned since the 2012 race, but it's mainly because I decided I don't want to spend the money for the race. I think every half-marathon runner should experience this race as it is fun and how often does the entire strip close down, even if it is a Sunday night in the dead of winter. I may get back there eventually to help settle the score between the good and bad experience. But 2012 still doesn't fix my outlook from the 2011 race as we call that the most poorly managed race in the history of races. But that is mine and the 26,000 of the 52,000 runners that year, if not more.