I travelled to this race and stayed at the host hotel, where the expo was held. The expo was small, but well organized. I got my bib and shirt with no problem. There was a small snafu with the parking pass because the woman couldn’t find my name (in her defense, it’s a rough name to spell). After that was ironed out I was good to go. They and anything you might have forgotten at home at the expo plus some local vendors and Jeff Galloway was there.
You had to be at the parking lot by 5:30 which I wasn’t thrilled about and on my first pass at the lot they wouldn’t let me in. I had to turn back and get on line. I didn’t have my pass in the windshield but no one asked me for it, they just yelled and waved me on!
We parked and sat in the car for 40 minutes and still had almost an hour til the start. There was a tent set up that was a little warm and we hung out there until it was time to go.
The race started on time and we were off, the first and last 2.5 miles are on the roads and the rest is trail. The road portion is slightly hilly, which is a subjective term! I didn’t mind them but if you train on flat roads they might seem difficult, especially coming back. The trail portion was hard packed dirt and perfectly lovely. There are parking lots and roads to cross so plenty of places for spectators. The water stops were well manned and some had gels and some had stroop waffles which I loved!
At the finish, someone announced your bib number advice you crossed and the RD shook your hand! The medal was gorgeous.
Post race food was chocolate milk, pizza, beer and Irish soda bread! Yum!
If you BQ they announce it as you finish and you get a special finisher shirt. I love these little extra touches!
Overall a great race!