My issues with this race are more about how it was run/organized rather than the race itself. It was the first year, so maybe (hopefully) there will be improvements next year.

Getting to the race isn't difficult but there are issues. The start is at Hecksher State Park and public transportation is not an option. There was still plenty of parking when we arrived, however it took a SIGNIFICANT amount of time to get to the lot and they only had one lane of one road open to get to it. Then the walk to the start was long. I should have had my Garmin on to measure the exact distance, but I didn't. The end result of this was being one of the last people to cross the start line.

They also have a marathon option and both races started with parallel start lines. There were no corrals, so it was based on the honor system. It's essentially an out and back course.

The race is "in support of our veterans" so there were veterans out cheering, running some of the water stops, which was great. The beginning stretch of the course takes you out of the park and on/along a highway, so there isn't much crowd support and there isn't much scenery, but the course is relatively flat.

Around mile 4 you enter the town and the crowd support is GREAT. Lots of cheering, lots of signs, lots of people handing out water and other race goodies. Again, not particularly scenic, but the crowd support more than compensated for it.

At mile 6 is where the turn around is and you run in St. John's Long Island campus. It's pretty, lots of trees, but this is where there was a major issue (for me) with the race. As you exit the campus, there was a water stop, but they ran out of water. Correction. They had plenty of water, but they ran out of cups. So they were able to refill water bottles if you had them. If you didn't you were screwed. Although I am a slower runner, I was within the course time limits and so there is no excuse that I couldn't get water. The weather (hot and humid) did not help this issue.

Fortunately, as I had mentioned the crowd support was amazing and there were people handing out cups of water as well as full bottles of water. Miles 4-8 (minus the mile you're in St. John's) were the best part of this course because of the amazing people.

After mile 8, you were back along the highway. After mile 9 there's a break from the highway with a detour through an arboretum. This scenery was beautiful, plants, trees, views of the water. However, and this was not mentioned anywhere prior to the race until you got to this section, you started running on a trail. It was narrow, with branches, rocks, etc. and had you not been paying attention, there could have been some serious injuries. A trail section is not a huge deal, but the runners should have been made aware of this prior to the race.

The "home stretch" is again back through the park on/along highway with not much crowd support.

When you finish the race, you are given a medal. There was water, bagels, apples, bananas and THE BEST BROWNIES EVER available and given to the runners. That brownie alone was worth the 13 miles.

After the finish, there was a farmer's market type after "party" for the runners and family to attend feature local food and beverage merchants. I admittedly did not stay for this.

Trying to leave the park was an absolute nightmare. Because, again they only have one road open, it took approximately an hour to get out of the park and be able to get onto a main road/highway. The way out was at an absolute standstill.

Overall, the race itself was OK. Nothing spectacular (other than the stretch of crowds), but getting to and from the race is a nightmare, no water at water stops is unacceptable (if within the time limits) and there is a trail stretch.

I know a lot of people love this race, but I am not one of them (don't ask why I keep signing up for it). There are a lot of positives, to this race, but a lot of negatives too.

Let's start with the expo. They advertise it as a huge party and they do try and make it one. They have food trucks and drink options. The merchandise available is surprisingly small, but it is honestly a hassle to get to. They hold it on the waterfront in Brooklyn, which allows for amazing views of the Manhattan Skyline, but also involves a 1-2 miles walk from any subway station to get to it. At least this year they did put up signs near the subway when you get off to let you find it easier (last year they did not). For the record, you can pick up other people's bibs provided you have their number and a copy (on paper or on your phone) of their photo ID.

This race is huge. It is one of the largest in the country. This leads to 2 different feelings. Excitement for being part of something on this scale and then annoyance for the hassle this causes. There are metal detectors the runners have to go through to get to the corrals which causes congestion. Once you get past there, there are 30 corrals divided into 2 waves. Depending on when your corral is, you could possible end up starting an hour after your wave started. Not to mention, once the wave begins, all the corrals are released at the same time so you have this slow moving herd to get to the start.

This race is often advertised as a nice flat course, which is true, after mile 5/6, once you leave Prospect Park. I don't know how it's possible but that park is entirely uphill. It's scenic and pretty and has great crowd support, but it's all uphill.

Once you're out of the park, you head down Ocean Parkway for pretty much the remainder of the race. Ocean Parkway is flat and wide open so crowding isn't an issue here. What is an issue is the water stops. There are plenty of them, but they are only on one side of the 4 lane road. And that one side is the side opposite of the side with the shade. So basically if you wanna run down the left side of the road, you need to zig zag the entire time (about 8 miles) to get to the water/fuel stops. As I mentioned, Ocean Parkway is wide so it's a little bit more of a bigger deal than usual to have to do this.

You end the race running on the Boardwalk at Coney Island, which is great and I love it and is my favorite part of the race. However, you spend about .1 of a mile running on the Boardwalk. I would love to cover more distance on the Boardwalk.

After you finish they give you a cup of water. Not a water bottle like every other race. A cup. So you can't re-hydrate at the end of the race at your own desired pace. This is a major pet peeve of mine.

Also, if you are planning on meeting up with someone at the end of the race, be very specific about meeting times and locations because there is no cell phone service at the finish line. All the phones are tied up and it is pretty much impossible for a phone call or text to get through when you send it.

Basically, this race is cool and has it's moments, but honestly, I can't say I would recommend this race. It's not cheap, not a great course, and rather poorly thought out in some aspects given it's size.

In Queens there tends to be only one location for a race and that is Flushing Meadow Park. Prior to running this race, I had run here multiple times for other races. Of all the Queens races I participated in, this one was my favorite.

This was a smaller race than the others I ran here, but very well organized. The course is flat (with an occasional overpass). Due to the timing of the race, the scenery was perfect. When I participated, it was in September. The plants were green and the flowers all bloomed making for some scenic views. I believe this race has now been moved to April so I'm not sure if this is still the case. I've run this same course in March and it was absolutely dismal, so the timing makes a huge difference.

The course is 2 loops around the park. As it was a smaller race, the course never felt crowded. There were water stops every 1-1.5 miles and running out of water was never an issue (I was one of the slower runners on the course, so if there was water for me, there was water for everyone). The volunteers were great and supportive.

The race was also rather inexpensive which is hard to come by in NYC (I believe they increased their prices slightly when they did the race in 2015). I would recommend this race and would definitely do it again (if the timing allowed).

This race is about 10 minutes from where I live. It's in Flushing Meadow Park. And while the race cost is cheap, the shirt was great and the medal is awesome (every medal should also open bottles), this race has some issues.

This isn't necessarily an issue, but there are no corrals for this race. Sometimes that works out better, sometimes it doesn't. You have to just kind of guestimate where belong at the start.

If you're looking to do a race in Queens, specifically Flushing Meadow Park, there are other, better options to choose from. This race is 2 laps around the park, which is not my issue. And with the exception of the occasional overpass, the course is flat. If you're looking for a race to do and just get it over with, this is it.

However, if you're looking for a race to enjoy, this is NOT it. For starters, the race is in March. In March, nothing is Flushing Meadow Park is in bloom. It's dismal and depressing. All the plant life is asleep and so you have nothing to look at. Nothing. (Again, I've run here in the spring, such a difference in your surroundings.)

Aside from the lack of aesthetics, there's a lack of safety. The park has plenty of roads that take you around, yet, for some reason, a significant number of times on the course, they have you run up and down over curbs to cut across corners of these roads. If you're running and not careful (or accident prone like me), you could easily hurt yourself. Not to mention, the condition of the roads isn't always spot on. Unlike NYRR which had volunteers and/or cones to indicate potholes in the roads to avoid injury, there was no one there to help you.

Overall, this race is lacking. It's cheap, so it's not so bad, but there's nothing to look at, which works out well since you need to spend the entire race looking at the ground to make sure you don't hurt yourself. This isn't the worst race, but there are better races at this location.