This was my 3rd time racing this event, and 1st time racing the half marathon. Previous years I have been happy with the race (did the 10k) however I don't really care to run it again after this year. I received no communication via email leading up to the race, the Facebook page hasn't been updated in a year so there were no motivational posts or anything to amp up the excitement, packet pickup was a joke... Dark, depressing room at Cliffbreakers with no bag, no advertisements, no samples... Just unceremoniously handing me my bib and shirt before pointing out the safety pins. The tshirt was the same design as last year, just a different blinding color. Same for the medal... exact same design as last year.

Being from Rockford my entire life, I knew where parking was so that part was easy. There are multiple garages and street parking areas nearby the start and finish.

Then comes race day. No national anthem or amping up the runners before the start, the first water stop was unmanned, and the next water stop ran out of cups! Seriously?? You know how many people registered, have enough for everyone. I hope they were stocked again for the marathoners coming back through a second time. Supposedly there was gu at a water stop, but I never saw it or was offered any (thankfully I had my own from home). Again, I feel bad for the marathoners who need that gu more than I did and might not have ever gotten any.

Being my first time running the half, I failed to check out the elevation for the first half of the race. Around mile 7 or 8 the course completely flattens out with the exception of an uphill right before the downhill sprint to the finish, but YIKES the hills in the first half weren't fun. The pacer I stuck with (2:45 pacer Laura Swearingen) helped me through those hills and I am seriously thankful. The pacing company that brought her on should be very proud of her. She was friendly, chatted about all kinds of things to help distract me, and gave me advice to help my breathing and posture. I wish I could have kept up with her, but she was going just slightly too fast (I finished in 2:48, she finished in 2:41).

I saw two photographers during the race. One around mile 12 who was on top of it and friendly, the other was at the finish. He glanced up from his phone when I crossed the finish, but never lifted the camera for me or any of the others crossing ahead or behind me.

Water at the end wasn't easily seen, I had to go back and search out a bottle of water and eventually found a bucket nearly stashed behind an empty table.

It really felt like the race organizers just didn't care this year. The volunteers were friendly and law enforcement help was greatly appreciated with their cheering while stopping traffic. If the race is back in 2017, I'll save my money for a better organized race.