This race was SUPER fun but also INSANELY hard. It is one of three races in the series, which I heard all have their own challenges. After racing this one I would really like to do them all next year!

The swag included really nice free race photos (my favorite form of swag!), a medal, a drawstring bag, and a nice hooded long sleeve shirt.

They had plenty of aid stations and they included EVERYTHING! Full packages of Honey Stinger chews & waffles, Coke & other sodas, sports drinks, candy, pretzels & more, and at least one even had bacon!

The course scenery was wicked pretty! All of Mount Killington's wilderness was amazing, especially at the peak!! It was also really exciting to see the trail system it was being held in was large enough to allow for 25k of unique trail so the course wasn’t just multiple loops of the same trail. The terrain varied between deep thick mud, tall thick grassy (vertical) fields, paths made of fist/baseball sized rocks, and technical wooded paths.

I didn't make it to the day-before packet-pickup even though they generously left it open until 8PM. In the after party Under Armor showed it definitely knows how to pamper you. They had a whole recovery station with all sorts of rollers, yoga pads, hammocks, and Normatec leg compression sleeves.

The elevation was INSANE and almost constant straight up and down with barely any flat. You also didn't just go up and down the mountain, but up and down multiple times/peaks.

Race parking was super easy. It was in an actual gravel parking lot, right where the GPS address said it would be, and SUPER close to the start line! The race venue also had great service which is always nice since I am directionally challenged so there’s no way I’m finding my way back home without a GPS or directions.

The race management was excellent! It was nice to see there was no line at day-off packet-pickup/resgistration. I had a problem with my registration but they were able to quickly and painlessly fix it for me. I also overheard another woman had forgotten her previously picked-up bib at her hotel and they quickly replaced it for her. In the end my bib actually got messed up, but that's honestly just my luck lol.

Other random notes:
This race seemed extremely supporter friendly. Not only did they have a supporter tent that had bells and sign making stuff, but they also had multiple supporter viewing points along the course. I didn’t have anyone with me since I always feel bad having people sit around for hours to only see me at the start and finish so I don’t know exactly what it entailed. I did see supporters at multiple points up the mountain and people in the gondolas though so I’m assuming they were providing transport to these spots for the supporters.

There were multiple timing pads for your bib chip placed throughout the woods/mountain. I thought that was pretty neat!

The course was well marked where you could basically always see a ribbon so even when I was alone and started doubting myself I was quickly reassured I was on the right path.