The Two Rivers Meet has been around for a while but this year the new leadership opted to change the date from the Saturday before Memorial Day to May 14. Not sure why the date was changed but the race did seem a little smaller than its been in years past when we've run it. There is a kids fun run (approximately 1 mile), a 5k, a 10k, and a 15k.

There was packet pickup Friday night at one of the organizations the race was supported and everything seemed to be well organized. There were gender specific shirts in a 50/50 poly cotton blend. Come to find it when we got home that the women's specific shirts ran EXTREMELY small. (I was reached out to by the race that I could switch shirts if I wanted as they had some extras). the 5k packets had a water bottle, several race flyers and a coupon for fleet feet. The kids fun run packets had a water bottle and some candy, bubbles, and some finger paint.

The race started with the kids fun run at 8 and I ran with my younger daughter. The course ended up being 0.85 miles but we were warned that the course was a little short of a mile so that was expected. There was chip timing for the kids fun run and every child who finished received a medal.

The 10k and 15k started at 8:25 and the the 5k started at 8:35. I was running the 5k with my older daughter and told her we'd be running at her pace and I would keep up the best I could lol. The course started on Main Street and had at least one lane blocked off for all the roads we had to run on. There were plenty of volunteers to make sure you'd turn at the correct time and emergency management did a great job keeping us safe from traffic. The course wove through some of the parks and along the river. It was a cold and kinda rainy morning so it wasn't the best running weather (gotta love northern Indiana in May). The 5k had two water stations located fairly close to each other (I'm assuming the second one was more for the 10 and 15k runners).

After the race there was water, fruit snacks, granola bars, pretzels, cookies and bananas. Age groups were every 10 years and only gave awards to the top three overall male and female and then the top person in each age group. Awards were unique; had gift cards to a local bike shop, Starbucks gift cards, pies from a local restaurant and more that I can't remember - we didn't stay long after we finished as we had some cold kiddos.

Overall, it was a nicely run event, Just wish the weather had been a little nicer.

Carmel is just outside of Indianapolis and is known to be a little more upscale in terms of housing and shops. The expo was located at the Monon Community center and had a decent amount of races and vendors to check out while getting your race packets.

The day of the race was absolutely beautiful but you could tell it was going to get warm as it was nearly 50+ degrees at the start of the race - not a good sign. Especially since we haven't had that kind of weather yet throughout our training. I was able to run with a friend and was hoping to get a PR for the day.

The course was mostly flat with some steady mild inclines throughout the course. The marathon and half were together for the first fourish miles and then the half did a turn around while the full went straight. When we got to the bike trails the full joined back with the half which I'm sure was annoying for the top marathoners having to weave in and out of the slower half runners on a somewhat narrow bike path.

Not to any surprise the temps got really warm and the water stations were few and far between it felt like (had it not gotten up to 70+ degrees, I'm sure the amount of water stations would have felt fine) and so I felt the effects of dehydration because I opted not to take water at the first few stations - trust me, I learned my lesson lol.

One thing Carmel did this year was the sprint to the finish.... They compared your overall pace for whichever race you did to the last half mile of the race. Whoever had the greatest pace increase was awarded a prize. For me this was a little odd... So a person could walk the half marathon with a 20 min pace (there was a six hour time limit) and then book it that last half mile to win the sprint to the finish challenge. It wasn't for me but I'm sure others enjoyed it so to each their own I guess.

After the race there were lots of food options: water, bananas, pretzels, donut holes, pizza, cookies, fruit snacks, and of course, chocolate milk.

I did end of PRing even with the heat and I'm sure I could have done better if the weather hadn't gotten above 70 degrees... But the one thing you can never predict is the weather. We hope to go back in the future.

The race was resurrected after several years of not having one. We decided to make it a family event and had our daughters (8 and 9) also run the race. Since it's a small town race and we knew probably about half the people running we felt comfortable letting them run solo for the first time (they've been bugging us to do so for a while lol).

Packet pick was the morning of and we got in and out fairly quickly. We're able to talk to some friends and do a little warmup along the "walking path" that goes around the park were packet pick up was located. Parking was a breeze since there is an elementary school right by and we could use their parking lots.

Race started on time and the course was a little uninteresting because of the local festival going on and not being allowed to use certain parts of the town for the race. There were three out and backs which were a bit of momentum killer but overall it was great for what the director had to work with.

No chip timing but did the Popsicle stick method of keeping places which worked well. The top three overall males and females received a large bottle of maple syrup and a gift card for road ID and then top three in each age group received a smaller bottle of maple syrup. Our family made out pretty as my husband got first overall male, the girls got first and second in their age group and I finished third in my age group.

I great small town race with a ton of potential!