I ran the half marathon every year from 2010-2013 and was pleased to see TwelveOne Race Managment bring back the race in 2017. Due to racing Chicago Marathon the following week, I couldn't race but served as the 1:45 pacer. The course is challenging with rolling hills and there is not much crowd support, but it is a unique opportunity to run a point to point race from one state to another. The aid station volunteers were great and there were lots of treats at the finish line area.

I ran this race with a group of girlfriends as part of a mini-road trip. The course was really hilly and at this time of year it was still very hot. I was in the lead the whole time and although I had a bicycle escort for parts of the race, a lot of the time I was just running on my own. There wasn't really any crowd support but the aid stations were pretty good. This probably isn't a PR course but it is a fun race to run with friends!

I signed up fairly last minute to use this as a training run for a fall 50K. The course was challenging with hills throughout and it got a bit warm by the end of the race. I managed to run a negative split and had planned to stay with the 3:15 pacer but he was running way too fast in the early miles and then I eventually passed him and finished several minutes ahead of him. The expo is not too exciting and the shirts were a very thin cotton t-shirt with a hood which I thought was strange.