Event Website: The event website is very organized and detailed. Notable are very detailed, interactive, course maps with the elevation profiles. This was very important as the half marathon course has a couple of long hills.

Facebook Website: https://www.facebook.com/redshoerunwalk. Lots of updates and post-race pictures.

Registration: I registered online, but I believe there also was a paper form. Prices were $40 early, $45 late, and $50 race day. You could also sign up for "Iowa's longest marathon" which is dual entry into this race and the Run for the School's half marathon in October for $80/$85/$90. You get an additional medal if you do both half marathons.

Packet Pick-up: 3 options. Friday at the Ronald McDonald House, Saturday and Scheel's at the Coral Ridge Mall, and race day pickup. There was a tech T-shirt included. I prefer cotton and it wasn't very interesting, so it goes in the "I will never wear this race shirt" pile in my closet.

Parking: Tons of very close parking around Carver Hawkeye Arena.

Entrants: 416

Pre-Race: Since the race started/ended at Carver, you could use the facilities inside Carver, which means no lines for bathrooms. It also meant that you could stay inside prior to the race if you desired. It was noted that there was a bag check for the race-day registration/packet pick-up, but since parking was so close, it was almost unnecessary. One thing worth mentioning is that a guy dressed up as Ronald McDonald was on the mic for the starting line announcements. He did *ok* for a guy in a clown costume, which is just inherently creepy. One thing that was slightly annoying is that prior to the countdown for the start, he didn't have the racers step up to the starting mat, so we were all 10 feet away from the starting line when he started counting down to start the race.

Race Time: 8AM Half, 9AM 5K.

Distance: 13.14 miles according to my GPS watch. So nice to have a course that is nearly right on and *not* short.

Timing: Bib chip timed via a small electronic strip pre-placed on your bib. Start and finish had timing mats. Apparently there was a timing mat at the halfway point in 2014, but not this year. You could get a printout of of your race slip inside Carver after the race, although the guy was having trouble with the software, so some of the fields (like age group placement) were missing. He was able to look up your age group place, though, if you asked him.

Course: The course is a big loop. This is not an easy course by any means. There are a lot of rolling hills, with 2 relatively tough hills on Foster Road and at the end of Camp Cardinal. Approximately 500 ft total elevation gain/lost. The race was all on paved streets, sidewalks, or running trails. Mile markers were placed at every mile, and were correct. There were volunteers at literally every turn. Many hydration stops. Some had Powerade and water on opposite sides and the volunteers would yell out which one they had. There was one goo station at mile 9ish.

Photos: There were volunteers taking pictures before the race and there was one volunteer race photographer at mile 3. All of those pictures were posted to Facebook. There was an aerial drone from Scheel's that they will be posting a video of on Facebook. I, personally, love those drone videos. I think they should be at every race.

Post-Race: Finisher medals at the finish line. Lots of food choices. Bananas, oranges, apples, granola bars, fruit snacks, bagels, chocolate milk, orange juice, apple juice, water.

Awards: Finisher medals for the half marathon. Age group awards for top 3 in each ~10-year age group. The awards didn't start until 10:30, which was quite late. They did all the 5K awards before they did the half marathon awards, so I don't think I left until after 11:00. The 5K awards were medals, but the half were generic Ronald McDonald coffee mugs with a piece of paper taped to it that said what age group it was for. It was pretty disappointing to get a coffee mug (that was not even unique for the race) for an award.

Overall: Definitely recommend. It is an interesting and challenging course. I set my PR, so I have a special place for this race. I love running in Iowa City so it had some of the same routes that I run from time to time. The organization and volunteers were outstanding.