The Columbia Run Hard event allows participants to race in a 26.2-mile marathon, a marathon relay, a 13.1-mile half marathon, and a 5-kilometer race. For this year’s race, I took part in the 5k (3.1 mile) race.

The Run Hard Expo was the day before the race and took place at a church a couple of miles north of where the Run Hard itself would take place. Parking at the Expo was relatively easy. You could park in the church parking lot, or park across the street with no issues. Packet pick-up was very easy; they asked for my name and they got my bib and shirt ready while handing me my goodie bag. There were several vendors there to include Fleet Feet and a table for the South Carolina Governor’s Cup Road Race. My shirt (the 5k shirt) was a red tech short-sleeve short which felt really nice and I wore around later that day; the blue shirt looked the same, but was reserved specifically for the half-marathon and above crowd. My goodie bag consisted of several coupons, vouchers, and ads for various races and local businesses. Of note, I had a card promoting two races in Nashville but the prize in my eyes was the day pass for one person to the Whitewater Park in Charlotte, NC. Chick-Fil-A also had card in the goodie bag that was good for a free chicken sandwich or chicken nuggets.

For race day itself, parking was mostly easy to deal with since everything happened downtown. There were several public parking garages that are free on weekends and parking on the side streets that weren’t directly involved with the race were available and free as well.

The starting line was on the east side of the State Capital Building and easy to spot. In fact, if you walked from Main Street down to the building, you would have seen several runners warming up and several volunteers and vendors setting up at the finish line in front of the State Capital Building. We walked from the finish line to where the start line was and met up with several of our friends who were taking part in the half and full marathons. It was a rather chilly 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) around 7 AM and you could see a lot of runners doing what they could to warm up before the race. The long-distance racers took off at approximately 7:30 AM which gave me 30 minutes to walk around, enjoy the sites, and talk with random participants. At exactly 8 AM, the 5k race started and I took off.

The 5k course consisted of a boot shaped loop. We started the race just outside the University of South Carolina’s Horseshoe. We ran by several USC buildings during the first mile, which was relatively flat. The crowd at the beginning of the race was plentiful, but it didn’t feel too crowded; I could easily navigate between groups of runners as I moved up from the back of the group. Once we turned off of Main Street and hooked a left onto Blossom, we hit a nice downhill that felt like it was speeding my pace up. My Strava app later showed that I significantly sped up here around here. However, it was the left turn onto Lauren Street where the uphill battle started. There was still a small group of runners nicely spread out around me, but almost all of us were feeling the burn of going uphill. A nice highlight for me was that I got to see a train come out from behind the trees and cross the road as I ran parallel past the railroad tracks. Once I hit the second mile, I was basically back on relatively flat land with two left turns left. It was here along the course that racers got to see one of the more interesting art pieces for Columbia, a 40-foot-tall silver fire hydrant. Once I hit Main Street, I was greeted by Chick-Fil-A cow mascots who kept cheering all of us on. Volunteers manned each intersection from the Main Street turn point to the finish line and they definitely motivated each of us to keep going.

Once I crossed the finish line, volunteers handed out the finisher’s medal, but unlike the several races I did, a volunteer actually put the medal around my neck instead of handing it to me. I was very appreciatively of that.

The post race area consisted of several pop tents where Panera Bread handed out free bagels, scones, and cups of coffee; you could get your race results, and get your chicken sandwich (reward time!) for completing your race from Chick-Fil-A. The awards ceremony happened on the steps of the State Capital Building, and I was surprised to learn that I placed in my age group.

Overall, this was a great race. There were over 250 participants running, walking, rucking, or strolling but at times, it felt like there were a lot more people out there, but in a good way. Everyone was so friendly out there: the supporters, the racers, the volunteers, and the organizers.