Early in May, I had the opportunity to run the 2022 Providence Half Marathon! I've been wanting to run this race in person for several years, but due to COVID and scheduling issues I hadn't been able to make it happen until 2022. I'm so glad I did this race because I had an absolute BLAST!

Right off the bat, the Providence Half Marathon has a huge check mark in the "positive" column for me. This race offers to have your bib mailed to you ahead of time which was so fantastic for me because this race just so happened to fall on the busiest week of the year for me at work. There was absolutely no way I would be ale to make it to the expo during the allotted times, so having that assurance that I would be able to have my bib for race morning and not have to coordinate with someone to pick it up for me was such a weight off my shoulders. I received my bib on the Wednesday before the race, so plenty of time before the race to have some peace of mind! While it was an extra charge to send the bib through the mail. the convenience far outweighed the extra few dollars. I really wish more races offered this for folks who are busy around race weekend and can't make it to the expo for one reason or another.

This race was a lot larger than I expected, which I loved! There was such great energy at the start/finish line to get you pumped up for the race ahead. They sent the full marathoners out about a half hour before the half marathoners, which made the organization of the morning much smoother. Everything was so well run at the start/finish area, so hats off to the race management team!

The race itself was such a blast. The course brought you through so many different areas of the city and really gives you a great feel of what Providence has to offer. There were also so many cheering spectators throughout the course, and you never really felt like you were running by yourself at any point of the race which is what I prefer for a race atmosphere. The volunteers on the course were all so friendly, and I appreciated that there was both water and Nuun offered at nearly aid station.

One thing to be aware of is that even though Rhode Island is the Ocean State, this course is particularly hilly! There's specifically one killer hill right before mile 13 (and right before mile 26 for the marathon) before you turn to a downhill for the finish, so make sure you're mentally prepared for that! Even though there are a significant amount of hills, they're totally doable and they never last for too long which is nice. There's also plenty of downhill and flat sections to make up for it! Coming down too the finish line was so exciting -- there's a great crowd there and everyone is cheering so loudly for the runners. It felt like the finish of a much larger city marathon! Providence gets a big boost in my opinion on the crowd energy alone!!

I think the only thing that I didn't enjoy about this race was the swag and the medal. It seems like there are a series of races managed by the same company that are offering the same exact swag and medals at every race they manage, and Providence was included in this batch of races. I ran another one of these races in February and I have the same medal, but with he different race's logo on it. Same thing with the swag. While I understand it's easier on the companies managing these races, it makes the experience a bit less special for the runners who may be participating in multiple of the same races. I hope this is the only year they take this approach and they put a bit more effort into the medal and swag designs so they're more unique to the race they are commemorating.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time at the Providence Half Marathon! It's so great to find a race that is local that is as much fun as this one is! I can totally see myself making this an annual race for myself. I highly recommend this race to anyone who might be seeking out a Rhode Island race, or is local and looking for something to do on a spring weekend!