O'Connell's St. Pat's 8K Run occurs early March and is on its 19th year in Norman, OK. Overall, it's a small, well organized race with just over 200 people racing in 2018. The small number of participants is a positive to me because no large crowds or jockeying for a position at the start of the race. The course is USATF Certified and Sanctioned. It starts and finishes at O'Connell's of Campus Corner. The course is mostly flat and snakes around the University of Oklahoma campus. There is a deceiving "hill" in the last mile of the course that looks flat but feels uphill, so be sure to save a little juice for the beginning of that last mile. The course is well marked with a water stop at the halfway point and police control at all intersections.

This race also partners with the Special Olympics of Oklahoma. The race has two starts. The first one is for the Special Olympics athletes and the second start is for the 8K race. Getting to participate with the special Olympics athletes of Oklahoma is pretty special and unique to this race.

After the race, rather than receiving another poorly made and cheap medal, runners are awarded with a ticket for an O'Connell's hamburger and one beer. After the race you can walk around campus corner, enjoy music from the DJ, shop at the local retail stores and enjoy a burger and beer. Because the race is in early March, the temperatures are typically mild and hover around 60 degrees.

My favorite part of this race is the distance. Something different from the hundreds of 5K races that seem to pop up everywhere. But not as long as a half marathon so months of training are not required to join in the fun of this race. The 8K distance is a great option if you're looking for something a bit different without a big commitment.

The Turkey Day 5K is now a annual tradition for my family. There is something special about waking up on Thanksgiving morning and running a small town 5K race with your family members and going home to enjoy the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and start cooking a family meal.

The race is small and well organized. The course takes you through residential streets of Norman, OK and finishes on the track of Norman High School's stadium. There are yummy bagels and bananas for snacks after the event. Because it's a small race and family oriented there are often young children and dogs on on the course as well. In addition to running the race, I often run in costume as well as several other runners.

It's a great, low stress and fun event.

I heard about this race and decided to run it as an meet up opportunity with Oiselle, and I'm glad I did. Having friends on the course made the out and back set up entertaining so you could still get a chance to see those friends that run at a different pace.

SWAG: The medal was really cool with a purple, yellow, and orange Phoenix and the swag was a high quality purple half zip pull over.

Aid Stations: The aid stations were available in multiple locations and had a wide variety of pretzels, candy, and other treats. Most of the after race snacks were gone by the time I finished the half. I'm guessing some of the 5k and 10k folks were able to get first pick.

Course Scenery: The course scenery led you along a concrete creek but getting to see the sunrise in the dessert was really an enjoyable part of the race.

Expo: No expo

Elevation Difficulty: The course was mostly flat except for running under several overpasses. The quick decent and assent wrecked my quads by the end of the race.

Parking: there was plenty of available parking close to the start/finish line. And more importantly was plenty of clean port-a-pottys.

Race Management: A well organized race. Route was well marked especially with the multiple distances on the route.

A great race!

Go Girl -OKC is a great bang for your buck. It's one of the best priced half marathons in OKC for the amount of SWAG. In addition, the race has an uplifting and supportive vibe. I recommend this race to all of my lady friends especially if it is their first half marathon.

T-shirts/SWAG: A technical t-shirt along with a large finisher's medal and finisher's certificate. But my favorite is probably the wine glass that you can fill with a fruit smoothie after the race.

Aid Stations: Aid stations were pretty minimal and crowd support was minimal.

Course Scenery: The course takes you through some nice neighborhoods of downtown Oklahoma City. And since the course is pretty similar to the first section of the OKC Memorial Marathon, Go Girl could serve as a great tune up prior to the OKC Memorial. Also, the course is well marked.

Expo: The expo is okay but the expo after the race is pretty enjoyable.

Elevation: A pretty flat course expect for the last few miles. It's not so much the elevation as the wind. The first half of the race is running north and the second half is running south. On one portion of the race you are bound to get a pretty strong head wind and tail wind.

Parking: The event is small enough that finding parking in downtown OKC at 6am isn't really a problem.

It's a well organized, well managed event. They even offer a lot of email interaction with you after the race to encourage participation in future events and to get your feedback. The Go Girl Series truly wants to make the race an enjoyable event.

The Manchester City Marathon was my first half marathon and it was such an incredible race and experience.

T-shirt/SWAG: A technical shirt, and great running socks that I was able to wear for at least 4 years.

Aid Stations: Aid Stations would have offered a bit more variety of fuel and been more easily accessible.

Course Scenery: The Half Marathon course winds through the east side of Manchester. It takes you through some beautiful neighborhoods of the city and looking at all of the architectures is lovely. Also, the race was in early November so if the season hits just right you have beautiful foliage to take in as well.

Expo: It was my first expo and I was a bit confused.

Elevation Difficulty: I trained for the half on the course but come race day I still wasn't ready for the all of the hills of Manchester. There are quite a few hills and they can be steep at times.

Overall, the race was well managed and a beautiful course. I want to attribute my love of half marathons to all of the fond memories I have of running this race.