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, which comes with a half-zip tech pullover. You can also get the pullover if you do a mini-series of any 3 of the races, but you don't get it with an individual race.

Packet pickup for this race was at a local running store the night before, and was very quick with no lines. There's a lot of swag for these races: this one had a wine 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. Emails and posts on social media let us know about packet pick-up, suggestions on parking, told us about the different vendors that would be at the race,and reminded us to bring our IDs if we wanted those free beers.

Race day parking was pretty easy The Circle is in the very center of downtown, so there are lots of nearby parking garages and surface lots, as well as metered parking on the street. There were ID check stations set up pre-race so you could get your wristband in advance for no waiting post-race. Vendors, games, and a DJ were all set up well before the race start time and lots of people were hanging out. It was already a party atmosphere. The race had additional t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats available for purchase as well.

The race course was really flat and ran south to Lucas Oil Stadium then back north by Circle Centre Mall and under the Arts Garden. It was fun running through downtown with all the people out shopping, dining, or just walking around. We had people cheering us on the whole way! 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. 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.