Expo-Free, Nearby and Ample Parking. No great selection of vendors, but it was well organized and had plenty of volunteers to point you in the right direction. One plus was that Goodwill had a booth where they were selling clothing to use as a top layer.

Race Day parking was the same as it had been for the expo...close by, free, and ample.

The start of the race was a bit chaotic. The lines for the porta potties were crazy long, and no one could find the bag drop. The announcer annouced where it was...and said "the question of the day is." Well, that was the question of the day because if others, like me, scoured the website for the info, it wasn't there. There were also no clear signs or obvious area for this spot at the event. It looked like one volunteer and a pile of bags? Weird, considering the race was huge and the forecast was a high of 37. Good thing I'd opted not to use bag drop when I couldn't find the info. One plus to the start was that there was a table there with gels. I was able to get an extra one before the race even began. Nice!

Then the race started. They had pacers. I wasn't impressed with mine, but hey, whatever. I was on race 2 of 2 in 2 days so maybe no one would have impressed me. I kept up with him until about mile 8.

The course was absolutely beautiful. The homes you will see are worth doing the race alone. Spectators...everywhere! The community clearly enjoys having the race there. I've not felt so welcome before. Even the people at mile 12 screaming at the top of their lungs for you to keep going! Awesome.

The race ends in the Stadium. Not as great as you'd imagine, but ok. Excellent after party with more food than I've ever seen at a race. Twizzlers? Yes, please. They also had beer and an excellent live band. I would have stayed all day if I wasn't starting to turn blue from the cold and wind. Ok, magenta.