The distance for the half marathon was nearly 3/4 of a mile too long and this was complained about by every runner that crossed the finish line. Every athlete I spoke with after the course had measurements of 13.8-14.2 miles clocked in on their watches and smart phones. It is a mental block when you reach 13 miles on the course and then find out you still have almost a mile to go. (Plus the extra distance was not reflected in the course time so if you need a time for verification purposes or qualification purposes, this is not the course to do it.)

The first few miles of the half-marathon course in Wake University campus was poorly marked and with duplicate loops which confused a lot of runners. Faster runners lapped slower runners by mile 3 on a small loop, making it easy for slower runners to miss almost a mile and a half of course length. In addition, a turn around point by the middle school (around mile 7-8) was marked on the road, but staff and volunteers had had athletes turning further down the road than marked, which added extra distance.

Mile markers were consistently off starting at mile 2. Mile 2 was placed much earlier than the 2nd mile, and miles 3 on were usually .5 miles or more later in the course (i.e. mile 3 was marked at mile 3.5, ect.).

Last, water stations were not at regular intervals making this not convenient for runners. Some water stations would be a mile apart, whereas others were 3+ miles in-between stations. Additionally, though there were water stations, there few to no volunteers at the stations handing out cups. Runners had to stop to grab their own water off of the tables, and were unable to run through the course efficiently.

It is a small race but still had a finisher medal and event t-shirt. Post-race food was minimal and had the usual bananas and oranges (though by the time we had gotten to the, all the cut-up bananas were brown) but they also served McDonald's burgers at the finish line, which is definitely not something you would expect at the end of the race and was a turn-off for me. It is also a hilly course so if you are looking for a flat course, this is definitely not the race! The course was an average residential neighborhood course with nothing special to write home about.