I'm an newbie Half Fanatic, HF#12582. This being the inaugural race in my hometown, I had to do it. I'm so glad I did! What a beautiful course! Brutal, hilly but amazing scenery.

The full marathon course was broken into two halves. Anyone participating in the half was part of a team. One person ran the first half, the other ran the second half, similar to a relay. I think this was good and bad. On the one hand, the person doing the second half had a later start, but then they were also racing closer to the heat of the day.

I chose to run the first half, which consisted of several hills and lots of elevation gain! My partner was a newbie so she took the second half. Although the first half was brutally hilly, the scenery was a great distraction. I wasn't expecting to but I PR'd!!

The only portion of the course I didn't like was running on Hwy 303. This was not a closed course, no cones and there were several large dump trucks with trailers attached that drove by at 50-60 mph as we were running with our backs to traffic. It was a little scary! However, for being a first time race, I think the organization was on par with some of the best races I've done!

I believe some of the details of the race (time of year, course) are being changed as a result of racer reviews to the coordinators, which is good to know that they're taking everyone's opinions into account.

The only thing I was truly disappointed with was the T-shirt "situation". When I signed up for the half, I couldn't afford to get the shirt. I tried to buy one afterward when the organizers opened the ordering back up, I ordered one but the women's shirts got lost in the mail. The organizers decided not to reorder so I never got a shirt. In the end, I can only blame myself for not ordering when I registered.

Overall, I not only recommend this race to other runners, I plan on upping the ante myself and doing the full marathon in 2016!