Great race. This was my first distance race and I completed the half marathon. You start at the Air Force Museum and run through the Wright Paterson Air Force base area. There were a few hills but mainly just entering and exiting a stretch of highway that you have to run during the beginning of the race.

The worst part was the entrance being backed up to get into the parking area. The line was out on I-75 for miles. In the end, I ended up with a great parking spot and a short walk to the starting line. Hopefully this year the parking delay will be resolved.

The best part about the race was the finish stretch as you run through a line of Air Force planes. Being a pilot and aviation enthusiast, this was the ultimate ending. There are Air Force officers that place the medal around your neck at the finish line which was a nice touch. I guess there is normally a flyover to start the race but the weather was bad that morning so the fly over was cancelled other than a few geese in formation.

The spectator area for the half was pretty much limited to the finish area as access to the base is pretty much off limits. I understand that the full marathon has a much better spectator area because you run outside of the base for a while.

The race is about 1.5 hours from my house and they do not offer an option to mail your swag bag to you so that was an afternoon spent driving over to pick that up and visiting the expo.

I signed up for the full marathon for 2014 so will update with a new review after that.