The expo had a few local 5k races present passing out information out about their races as well as local companies. The expo was held at the Century Center which is really the only place in South Bend probably big enough to hold the expo. Participants enter a room upon arriving at the expo to pick up their shirts and bib numbers before checking out the vendors. This year was the first year that you had the option of having our packets mailed to you before the race for a fee. Also, you could select to have race day packet pick up for a fee as well. This is the first year that they did not have race day packet pick up for free. Some people were upset about the fee for race day packet pick up but I get why Sunburst went in this direction. This is a race of over 5000 people and the last thing a race wants to do on race morning is put volunteers at a table to hand out packets rather than placing them somewhere else. Also, you have vendors paying for expo space and they want people to come by and talk with them. Honestly, for a race this size, I think they should do away with race day packet pickup all together.

Race day consisted of 3 different race options, the half marathon, 10k, and 5k. This is the first year that they did away with the marathon distance. The number of people that were running the full had been in decline for a few years and it was just time to end it and focus on the other 3 distances which I think was smart. They had just over 100 last year of over 5000 total participants.
The course just seems to get tougher and tougher every year for some reason, but there really wasn't any kind of major changes to it. There are a few hills on the course including Hallelujah Hill right before mile 12. I actually like the course thought for the most part. You spend a lot of the early miles running along the St. Joseph River as it leads to the river walk of Mishawaka before going back to South Bend and heading towards Notre Dame.
I would say that the race lost something with the new finish line, which I know a lot of people will disagree with. First I feel that I need to make a little bit of a disclaimer, I am not a Notre Dame Fan. In fact, I cant stand Notre Dame. I would love to see the football team lose every game. There I said it. Now onto the finish line. This was the first time in I believe 3 or 4 years that the race finished inside of Notre Dame Stadium. Not a big deal to me, but to a lot of people, it was a big deal. Anyways, while you get to finish right on the field, you are finishing in the middle, away from any crowds or people cheering. Family and friends were allowed to come into the stadium but not onto the field. So the finish line felt dead. I thought the finish was better when you finished outside of the stadium rather than in it. There was also more of a post race party atmosphere when you finished outside of the stadium. My understanding was that this was Notre Dame's decision, not Sunburst. I am not sure what Notre Dame is concerned about considering that the field is field turf and not real grass. Cant do much damage by allowing friends and family to come on the field. Notre Dame wouldn't even allow Sunburst to hand out medals on the field. You had to go on the concourse to get your medal. If I was a big Notre Dame Fan, I would probably want to get a picture with my medal on the field. Notre Dame, your field is not that special or sacred.
Other than the finish line, I thought that everything with the race went real smooth as compared to other years. The medals this year were great and featured the skyline of South Bend overlooking the St. Joseph River. I am king of surprised there wasn't more of a Notre Dame feel to them, but that's alright. One of the new features this year was that you were given the opportunity to choose what shirt color you wanted (assuming you registered early enough).

My good friend, Paul Kern brought this race back a couple years ago and has done a great job expanding this race. There was just under 100 runners the first year, then last year there were 105 runners that competed in the race. This year, the race more than doubled in size with 225 runners.

The course was the same as last year with the start line being on the south end or Memorial Park behind Wakarusa Elementary School, made its way out for the first out and back down some less traveled roads in town, came back to the park, got onto the path around the park, hoped onto another road on the north side of the park for the second out and back, came back and finished back on the walking path in the park. It is really and easy course to follow and with all the volunteers that were on the course, it was impossible to get lost. Even with doubled the number of runners at this years race, it did not get too congested on the roads or the walking path.

Along with the higher numbers of registered runners came a lot more speed. Not that I had any chance of placing in the top 3 anyways (6 days post marathon), the larger numbers certainly did not help me at all. After winning the inaugural Maple Syrup 5k in 2016, I have come to the realization that I may never place in the top 3 again and win the big bottle of maple syrup. Also, the Fleet Feet gift cards I am sure helped entice the speed demons to run the race as well. The awards for this race cant be bear. The top 3 overall in both the male and female divisions won a large bottle of maple syrup. The top 3 in each age division won a small bottle of syrup. There is some pressure from some of the children for their parents to win the large bottle of syrup. Each runner also received a cotton t-shirt with their registration. I usually complain about this but for a cheaper race, its hard to complain about it. This year also, your tag was taken off of your race bib before the race and put into a raffle for free shirts from fleet feet, free race registrations for other races, and other great stuff related to the festival in town. Winners were drawn while everyone was running and you were able to come to the tables to see if you won after you finished.

This year, they moved the race back from mid April to late March to hope for cooler weather. In mid April in Indiana, the weather can get a little too warm. I ran the marathon in 2016 and I was able to run a course PR of 3:02:12 but it got warm that day and could have probably gone sub 3 on a better weather day. So for 2018, the race was moved to March 31st. To mark the occasion, registration fee for the first few days of registration was $31 for either the marathon or half marathon.
For the first year, the expo was held at Carmel High School Field House. There was enough space for bib pickup and the vendors who was present. It did seem bigger than at previous locations.
one of the interesting things that Carmel did this year was they took your goal time that you submitted when you registered, and made you a custom pace band that you could put on your wrist during the race. The swag for this years race featured a good looking race shirt as well as a sweet finishers medal.
This was also the first year of a new course for this race and I really liked it. I thought it was better than years past and if you avoided a lot of serious weaving, you should be able to run pretty close to the exact distance. Race date for next years race is March 30, 2019. Registration has not been opened yet but I look forward to seeing if they offer a similar discount as they did for this years race. If so, look for me to sign up for the full marathon in 2019. The earlier race date worked out well this year as temps were perfect for a marathon, cool but windy as well. Everything with the race went off without any problems and the changes that were made were awesome. Look forward to coming back in the future.