One of the last marathons run in the calendar year, I did this race in 2017 to cross Missouri off my list for state marathons. Leading up to the race their was ample communication from the race organizers via Facebook and through email. They were also prompt to answer questions I had. Packet pickup was a breeze the day before. Parking race day morning was plentiful at Missouri State University (being the college is out for the winter break). In fact we parked very close to the start / finish line! The course itself is easy physically (very flat run around the University and local neighborhood), but challenging mentally in that you do 8 full loops for the marathon. While not like this every year, in 2017 it was freezing cold (18º with wind chills in the single digits), and that added to the challenge of the race. While there is little to no crowd support along the race route (again this could be due to how cold it was in 2017), there was great support at the aide stations though as they fought to keep the water / gatorade unfrozen and also provided plenty of other fuel. One of the best parts of the race that I will always remember was crossing the finish line and provided with a nice hot cup of chicken noodle soup in the post-race aide tent. Yum!