Overall: Overall I really enjoyed this race a lot. I am someone who likes smaller races and this race was just perfect for me. I might be a little biased, since it’s my marathon pr, but in all seriousness I really would recommend this race to someone who is looking for a race in Iowa or trying to BQ. This course was a flat crushed limestone trail that is shaded by trees and used to be a rail road bed which added some neatness to the race.

T-Shirt/Swag: The TShirt was a nice long sleeve tech shirt and that was about the extent of the swag. You did receive a reusable grocery bag that had some pamphlets about the local town and some places to visit and eat.

Aid Stations: Overall the aid stations were all fair. You had your standard water and Gatorade at most all of the stations that were nicely spaced out. I am a runner who runs with a handheld and carries my own energy type drink so I never had a problem with the stations in regards to Gatorade, but I did come across two stations that had run out of water and this so happened to be right around the time I wanted to take my Hammer gel, but had no water to chase it down with. I was finally able to get some water and was able to take my gel. One station happened to have regular size bags of m&ms and I gladly picked up a bag and placed them in my pocket for a nice post race treat. Several of the aid stations had some type of theme to them. One of the stations must have been zombie related and I about died when a volunteer jumped out from behind a bush and scared me. Towards the last few miles or so there was an airstream camper that looked like they had everything available. I had to fight the urge to stop for some bacon, but it smelt so good. Overall everything was nicely maned and the volunteers were amazing.

Course Scenery: I absolutely loved this course and course and would come back here it ever given the chance again. I know several people probably thought this course was boring, but for me it was perfect. The race actually started at a local high school and you ran a few miles in the local town before you were dumped on the Wabash Trace Trail. I commented several times to my running buddy how beautiful it was. I love the country and farms so seeing some older farms surrounded by corn fields was such a beautiful sight. It was so peaceful and pleasant to get away from the hustle and bustle of big city races.

Expo Quality: This is a small town race so I wasn’t expecting an expo at all and that is exactly what I got. I walked down to the local town hall and picked up my packet and shirt.
Elevation Difficulty: I would say this course for the good majority is relatively flat. There were a few rolling hills and a small hill towards mile 25 or so, but it was nothing terrible.
Parking/Access: I had no problem with parking at all. Our hotel was about a block from the finish line, so before the race we all met at the finish line and were bused to the starting line if you so wished. I noticed that several of the people who stayed at the hotel all took the bus to the start as well. If you so wished to drive to the start the high school’s parking area was big and had more than enough space to accommodate the small number of runners who drove themselves. One thing to remember if that this race is a point to point race so I am assuming that many of the people who drove to the start had family/friends drive their car back to the finish for them and to cheer them on.

Race Management: I thought the race management was awesome! Everything seemed to run smoothly and well organized. I would like to give a big thank you to the race management for having the local veterans’ shelter open to the runners so we could get showers and all that they asked was for a small donation. They were actually transporting you from the finish line to the shelter so you didn’t have to walk the few blocks with your shower gear. This was so nice since the local hotel does not allow late checkouts.