Space Coast was my second full marathon and overall I had a really good time. Started off going to the expo on Saturday, which was pretty underwhelming to be honest. Not a lot of vendors or options. That may be a good thing because it meant I spent less money but I would have liked to have a better expo. I kind of expected it to be a little bigger because it's a larger race for Florida.

Race morning started out a little haphazardly because the bus drivers to and from the resorts got lost and were late arriving to the host resorts. That part could have been better as well. But once we got on site everything was a lot smoother. The pre and post race festival area was nice and an open space for runners to hang out. The space theme was very popular and they had plenty of photo ops for space related photos which was cool. Even sending us off in the corrals had a space themed "blast off" which was unique and interesting!

The one thing about the start I think they could do better is to split up the half and full marathoners on the north course. They let everyone off together, which makes for a crowded first part of the marathon. My shoe came off twice because multiple people ended up stepping on my feet, which I think could have been avoided had they had separate starts for the half and full marathoners.

The course was nice, it went by the water for the most part which led to some beautiful sunrises and dolphins playing in the water. If you are deciding between the two half courses I would recommend the south course over the north one because the north course has more hills. This course is definitely NOT as flat as it is billed, maybe to someone coming from another state it is, but for someone living and training in Florida I was unprepared for the small hills on the north course. However, it was a really good course overall and there were plenty of water stops. One thing I didn't notice that much of were medical stations. I didn't really notice any until the second half of the course. That could be because I wasn't looking for them until then, but I think they could have had more on the first half.

I would recommend this race but just caution runners to be prepared for some delays in the morning if you are taking the race day transportation and a crowded first half if you are running the full marathon.