Registration- Super easy online registration. Santa Hustle almost always has a promo code floating around and hops on every opportunity to give discounts!

Race Communication- Just what’s necessary, which I really appreciated! An email confirmation of your registration and a few messages leading up to packet pick up and race day. I really appreciated that they didn’t overflow my inbox with unnecessary emails!

Expo- There wasn’t an expo for this one. I wasn’t disappointed by it actually! It kept people there for packet pickup moving quickly through the process!

Packet pick up- Awesome packet pickup! They had a HUGE setup with TONS of amazing volunteers so my boyfriend and I were in and out with all of our stuff in less than 5 minutes! The speed of packet pickup gave us more time to take pictures by the HUGE inflatables they had of Santa and his reindeer! I was super impressed with this pick up, they really had it together!! Also, as a side note, there's a ton of fun restaurants within walking distance to packet pick up- perfect for those who (like me) look forward to a big pre-race meal!

Race morning- Because of the race’s situation at the entertainment center, there was an abundance of free parking. We didn’t have to look more than 10 seconds for a spot, and no matter where you park you’re in walking distance to the start (which also isn’t hard to find because EVERYONE is dressed up as Santa). Usually I get to races pretty early, but we were running behind this race morning. Because parking was so easy and accessible, I ended up getting to the start line right on time!

There were more than enough porta potties and lines were pretty short, which was good because I didn’t know the race was taking off in waves depending on what your goal pace was (probably my fault for missing that!). The good news is that this race was relatively small for a half marathon, so catching up to your wave isn’t a big deal if you miss it.

The course- My only beef with this course was a little directional postage mishap right at the beginning. My boyfriend and I were just following the crowd and I’m pretty sure a HUGE chunk of us (like, more than half of the race participants) came up a quarter mile short because we made the first turn too early. This could’ve been our fault because we were distracted by all of the great santa costumes and festive outfits, but if you run this race be sure to keep an eye out on where to go!!

The rest of the course was spectacular. Unfortunately there is no elevation map on the website for this course, which made me pretty nervous to run it being i was unsure of what I was in for. But all in all the course was super flat. Looking back at my gps tracking, there was only 33 feet of incline/ decline over the course of the race (Min. 1,063ft Max 1,096ft). The course is an out-and-back, so the largest incline is in the beginning and the largest decline is towards the end. The course is mainly on packed dirt along the canal, there are large segments of concrete, and some asphalt, though not much. (I was going to post a photo of the medal, but I went with the elevation map instead because the race team does not have one. *Note* it is about a quarter mile off).

Aid stations- I carried a handheld, so I only used one aid station to refill, though I believe there were four aid stations in total (for an out-and-back course that totals 8 aid stations). The first and last stop had a table filled with cookies, which my boyfriend thoroughly enjoyed!

Finish- We were at the back of the pack going party pace, but even then the energy coming around the last corner and through to the finish was incredible! There were bananas and other snacks as well as water at the finish, and some booths for relevant gear and services. There was also a cute photo station to take pictures with your friends! All in all this was a wonderful race that I would happily do again!