If I had to sum up this race in a few words I'd say: gorgeous and hilly!

Thankfully, I get to be more wordy here because there's really so much more to be said about the Run Inspired 10k.

The 2nd annual Run Inspired 10k in Winterthur, Delaware was held on October 15, 2017. The race benefits Operation Warm, which provides winter coats for children living in poverty. It's a great cause and one that I was happy to support.

The start and finish were in the same location, and was surrounded by the "race village" which is where the Finishers Party was held. Bib Pickup could be done on Friday or Saturday at the Delaware Running Company or (as I opted to do) day of at the Registration tent.

At the bib pickup I was given my race bib, a long sleeved poly-blend women's cut shirt, and a drawstring bag.

Parking was in a field, on a hill, overlooking the race village. There was also premium parking available a bit closer to the race village. It didn't look that much closer to me so I don't know if I'd opt in for that in the future. The only issue was this year's weather was rainy prior to the race, leaving the grass wet... which made for wet socks and shoes. Not ideal, but thankfully I prepared ahead of time.

There were 747 runners/walkers during this race (the 2016 inaugural race hosted 1,397 participants) and the management encourages both runners and walkers to participate.

Corrals are self-seeded with paces up to 10 minutes and then a "walkers" corral. A suggestion would be to extent the running corrals even further, as I know many (such as myself) employ the run/walk/run technique. The course was a bit tight at the beginning of the race and spreading paces out a bit further might assist with that.

As for the course, it was absolutely gorgeous! Hosted at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, there was beautiful fall foliage and many things to look at along the way. From reading a previous review here on BibRave, I knew that the course would be hilly (something that those from the area wouldn't automatically assume because most of Delaware is flat as a pancake). It was definitely a challenging course! I took advantage of the flat portions and the downhills as much as possible.

The volunteers stationed along the course and at the water stations were fantastic and encouraging. There were smiling faces everywhere. A portion of the course (1.5 miles) is along the road and it was clearly marked off with police officers directing traffic. I felt very safe.

The last push of the race is uphill (I wasn't at all surprised!). It would have been very easy to be disheartened but my family was waiting for me and I could see them cheering. I usually don't bring my family along to races because I fear they'll be bored but there was a great Finishers Party set up and things for them to do while they waited. I returned to find my younger son's face painted and my older son "tattooed". They also loved winning prizes at the Operation Warm tent.

As I crossed the finish line, I was given a medal and then walked through the chute to grab water and get a good amount of snacks! They had popcorn, chips, soft pretzels, cheese curls, lemonade, and iced tea. It was a great spread, especially for a 10k!

Each finisher also got a drink ticket on their bib with their choice of either beer or wine. I opted for the Dogfish Head Namaste.

The Finishers Party had food trucks, a musician, beer garden, vendors, and more. It's unfortunate that the weather was overcast because had it not been, I think we would have stayed longer. After sipping my beer and enjoying a few songs from the musician, we decided to pack it up and head back to the car.

Emails and communication were great leading up to the race. I saw many posts of Facebook; I would have loved to see more on Instagram and Twitter too.

Overall, it was a great morning and a race I'd consider returning to in the future! It was most certainly inspiring and Operation Warm is a worthy cause!

For more pictures, feel free to swing by my blog post: http://www.scootadoot.org/2017/10/18/race-recap-run-inspired-10k/