My friend and I traveled to MA in order to cross off this state. The expo was easy to find, as it was at the same hotel as the start/finish. The rates for the hotel were INSANE, so we stayed elsewhere. Parking was easy, both at the expo and for the race itself.

My complaint lies in the way that we were treated by some of the expo staff. ZOOMA used to have a "PR" program, where if you ran a PR at their race, you got an extra medal. My friend and I had signed up for the program, thinking that we'd have a good shot at it. But then life happened, and we both felt that we weren't in the shape for it. When we tried to tell the person that no, we didn't wish to get our PR wristbands, as it would make us feel bad, she gave us a long lecture and made us feel even worse. We left the expo not really wanting to get up for the race the next morning.

But, we did. I can't say enough nice things about the course. The scenery was breathtaking. The volunteers were, for the most part, very nice and encouraging. We did have an issue near mile 11 where they were packing up the aid station - our finishing time was very slow, but still within the course limits, and there were several people behind us. Luckily they just poured water from a jug into my friend's bottle, so we were set.

The finish line was still intact when we crossed it. The medal was a piece of jewelry - which was exactly the same as the one I got for Chicago. That was a little disappointing. It didn't have the name of the city on it or anything. The other swag was really high-quality, except for the yoga mat which was gigantic and could not fit in my carry-on. I left it in the parking garage at Logan Airport, so hopefully it found a good home.

Overall, I liked this version of ZOOMA, but I still think that the price tag is way too steep for this kind of race. The 10K people are much better taken care of than those running the longer distance. Tip: look up the ambassadors for the race, link to their blog, and there is usually a discount code posted.