This race was one that I found to help encourage me to run through the dreaded winter months in Iowa. I found it through a random race search on google, it was hard to find, but with it being in my hometown, I took the opportunity to run on a limestone trail with my high school cross country coach. With the race being in January, I was nervous about the weather, especially with the previous year having 5 inches of fluffy snow the night before the race. This year, however, the weather was a warm 35ish degrees, almost too warm. Snow had melted on the trail throughout the day as it warmed and the trail eventually turned to soup. The race is tough, condition-wise. Also, there was no aid stations along the route. If you wanted water, you had to carry your own bottle. There were volunteers along the course, but they were there to take pictures and point you in the right direction. The Heritage trail, the trail the race is run on, is a beautiful trail however, that winds through the woods and away from the city. The course is an overall fairly flat course, with only one small hill around mile 11ish. The course is also a point-to-point race that you are shuttled out from the expo, then when you finish at a restaurant/bar at the finish, they shuttle you back to the hotel. At the finish, they had a tab open, which you could order whatever you wanted; pop, beer, or even pizza. I enjoyed that fact because some people have different go-tos for after a race, allowing everyone to recover as they want.

For the swag, the medals were different than other ones that I have got from other races. These were pins compared to the lanyard style that you typically see. The shirts were an added cost to the already somewhat expensive race, so I went without one.

Overall this race is tough. Like I said, the conditions can vary from a cool, spring feeling day, or a blustery winter hell. I would recommend this race for anyone looking for a challenge or anyone who enjoys the winter running.

For more info and pictures check out my blog: http://theracecritic.blogspot.com/2015/01/triple-d-race-series-half-marathon.html

I ran the Gopher to Badger half in 2014 as an impulse race with my mother. We were looking for a race to do and we have family in the twin cities, which led us to this race. I really enjoyed the unique course, starting in a neighborhood in Stillwater, to country-esque roads kind of in the middle of nowhere, to crossing the St. Croix river into Hudson. There were a couple drawbacks to this however. First of all, when were were on the country-esque roads, there was construction going on and that was causing a lot of dirt to be barreled up for about a half a mile to a mile. Second, when we got closer to I-94 and the bridge we had to cross, there were a lot of bikers trying to use the same path that we were and were extremely rude about telling us to "get out of the way" and "move it". Also, as far as aid stations go, I was in desperate need of a port-o-potty, but the race only had one bathroom stop at mile 6.5. Many people ended up using peoples yards to go to the bathroom. I think at least one other stop would have been a little more convenient. Putting those issues aside, I would do the race again. I mean, the shirt and the medal were some of the cooler ones I have seen in a while. I would recommend this race to anyone looking for a summer half in the Midwest (but a final heads up for people who are not from Minnesota or Wisconsin, your bib sucks and you will be saddened to see that you do not get to pick a cool gopher or badger themed bib).

Check out my blog for more info and pictures: http://theracecritic.blogspot.com/2014/10/gopher-to-badger-half-marathon.html

This race was the toughest race I have ever run. It was not because the course had crazy elevation changes, because it didn't. This race challenged me mentally. The course is a 6.5 mile loop that you do twice. The route runs out to the middle of nowhere, then enters back into town and repeat. Of course, on race day, we did have 30 mile an hour head winds that were directly in your face for a good half of the route, and the race only had 70ish people in entirety which made it even harder because of the loneliness. It also didnt help that the volunteers on the course were somewhat unhelpful. There was a portion of the course where you made a quick turn in a neighborhood and I watched people in front of me miss the turn, only to have the volunteer start to yell at the runner to turn around.

This is not a race I would recommend to a friend as it is not well ran and it truly is a very tough course.

For more info, check out my blog: http://theracecritic.blogspot.com/2014/10/grinnell-games-half-marathon.html

I ran this race in 2014 and I am sad to see this race leave. I know there were the problems with the course being long for the half marathon, however, the course was a certified full marathon course and for this to happen, the half had to end up longer. This race, for being a local half marathon was awesome due to its larger turn out. When I ran it, there was 300-400ish people who ran, which may not seem like much, but there are many longer races in this area that have 100 or less. I will say however, this course is pretty boring. There is a portion of it where you are out in the middle of nowhere and you are surrounded by corn fields.

I hope they bring this race back eventually. I would recommend it to anyone looking to run a half in Iowa, but if you would like to run a different one in Marion, you should check out the Marion Arts Festival half, which is in early May.

This race was fun, unique distance that is not something that you come across too often (3.17k for March 17th being St. Patricks day). The tshirts given out had gender-specific fits, which was awesome because as a woman, I hate when my race shirts are baggy and dont fit. The awards were awesome too, mini pint glasses for the winners of the age divisions that were engraved with the race logo. There were no aid stations along the course, but there were volunteers all along the course that were super helpful. The course started and ended in Green Square Park and went through the neighborhoods in Iowa City. Starting in the park is fun, however, there is no parking. You either have to park in the parking ramp about 4 blocks away, or park on the streets, which is a scarce option. The year I ran it, a large group of runners, including me, misunderstood the multitude of signs on the streets and came back from running to find a $15 parking ticket on our windshields. Besides the parking trouble, the race was very well organized and was a lot of fun. I would recommend it to anyone!