This race was a lot of fun! It's part of a series of 3.17 mile races around Indy (317 is the area code here). All the races are on Thursday evenings, all in different neighborhoods and all benefiting different local charities. I registered for the entire series while at an expo for another race earlier last year, so registration was super easy and I received my half-zip tech shirt at registration.

Packet pickup for this race was at a local running store the night before, and was very quick with no lines. My parents were running with me since they were in town, and I was able to pick up all 3 of our packets easily. There's a lot of swag for these races: a pint glass, bumper sticker, coupon for a free Penn Station sub, and 2 beer tickets attached to your race bib.

Pre-race communications were frequent and were very useful. The race is on a Thursday evening in June, and the forecast was calling for high temps and humidity. Pre-race communications warned us about the forecast and explained how green, yellow, red, or black flags would be used on race day, as well as reminding us to bring our IDs if we wanted those free beers.

Race day parking wasn't too bad. There's a parking garage in Broad Ripple, so we used that. There were ID check stations set up pre-race so you could get your wristband in advance for no waiting post-race. Yellow flags were out due to the high temperatures, and announcements at the starting line reminded us to use caution in the heat. The race course was really flat and ran through mostly residential neighborhoods that are really pretty. There was one aid station with plenty of cold water. Post race results were available immediately by scanning the QR code on our race bibs, which is pretty cool.

The post race party is one of the best parts of these Run(317) events. Besides the 2 free beers - which are good beers from a local brewer - there is a DJ, plenty of food trucks, and the area stays closed to traffic for a good long while to allow us to just hang out. There are a couple of beer stations so lines never got very long. The race is in a part of town with lots of good local restaurants and bars as well if you want more to eat and drink. I definitely would recommend this and all the Run(317) races, and I will be running them all again in 2016.