The Gobbler Grind has been going for a few decades, and is the second race in the Harvest Half Series challenge. The weather was absolutely perfect for race day.

Registration/Packet Pickup:
I registered online as part of the Harvest Half Series. The packet pickup was at Scheels, which is a wonderfully large sporting goods store. One problem with this. I did not see any kind of signs outside or inside to help show the way to the packet pickup. I even asked an employee, and he had no idea what I was talking about, even though I gave him the room name after running into a pacer that had already been there. I did finally find it on the second level, but the sign was small, sort of hidden, and was pointing in the wrong direction. I suggest that if this location is used again, to have better signage, and make sure the employees know what's going on. I wasn't late to pickup, and I wasn't able to get the official shirt. More on that later.

Parking:
The race starts and finishes in a corporate park, so there was plenty of parking available to anyone.

The Race:
The course started by weaving through the corporate park a few miles, which in itself was fairly nice. We then spent most of the race on the Indian Creek Trail, which I enjoyed quite a bit. There were some elevation changes, and some quite large/long, but nothing to crazy. The last half of the course is a net downhill, so you're able to finish strong if you're able to survive the first half of the course. It was a very nice course.

Swag:
We got a shirt and a medal. The shirt is a nice long sleeve hoodie t-shirt. However, they didn't have enough of the official design. Apparently there were two different designs, and they were out of the one that had been shown (the one I wanted of course). There should be one design, and enough for everybody, or let people choose between the designs during signup. I was a little disappointed with this.

Race Management:
The porta potties line was really long, so I'm guessing there could have been more to go around. Everything else seemed organized well, even though we started 5 minutes late. The speakers were easy to hear, so we were all aware the race would start 5 minutes late. The hydration stops were also plentiful with cold drinks. The gatorade (or whatever) seemed a little watered down maybe.

Overall:
I thought this was a great race, and will likely do it again in the future. Highly recommended.

The Kansas Half Marathon in Lawrence is part of a 3 race series called Harvest Half Series. It features 3 northeast Kansas half marathons in back-to-back-to-back weeks. The first race, which can ran individually, is the Kansas Half. This course had variety and the weather was perfect.

Registration/Packet Pickup/Expo:
The Kansas Half gave plenty of chances for packet pickup. The local running store started provided pickup on Thursday, and continued Friday and Saturday. If that all wasn't enough, then you could still get your packet on race day. I had to pick mine up on race day, but it went very smooth since I was an hour and a half early.

Parking:
There were plenty of places to park early in the morning, with multiple parking garages and street parking. All free on Sunday.

The Race:
The route started by running through the popular downtown, and headed through east Lawrence. All up and down for the first several miles. We spent a little time out in the open country before heading back into town to cross the bridge. We then spent a few miles following a packed sand trail along a dike before going back across the bridge. Though I will note the sand trail wasn't too wide, which didn't provide much room to pass with runners in both directions. We finished at the park we started at.

Swag:
I'm not sure if the in store packet pickups got anything extra, but race day was a nice clinch bag and race tech shirt. The medal was a very nice sunflower design.

Race Management:
The race seemed to be ran ok, but it did start 4-6 minutes late. That might have been to wait for the registration table to clear up, as there was still a line 10 minutes before the race was supposed to start. Other than that it all seemed to be ran very well.

Overall:
Not all courses in Kansas are flat. This course had a handful or variations in the course, which provided variety and challenge. Highly recommended.

This was my first experience with the Rock and Roll franchise. I'm a big rock fan, so it's always been something I wanted to try out. This year my wife and I decided to give it a try for our first official Racecation.

Registration:
The registration was done online per usual, and we caught a deal on price, so it was very affordable.

Packet Pickup/Expo:
The pickup was simple as could be, and we got right through. The expo was by far the largest I had been to, and we were able to find multiple items to spend money on (and we did)!

Parking:
The race was held downtown of a big city...parking isn't great. We were staying in a hotel near the start and finish lines, so we were able to walk to and from.

The Race: With lots of runners there was a staggered corral start. It was ran very well. The course starts by running towards the Arch as the suns comes up, which is a wonderful sight. We then passed by the Cardinals stadium and weaved downtown. There were bands/music spread throughout the course for varying entertainment. There were plenty of hills along the course, but plenty going back down as well. My only complaint about the course was that a section of it was out and back, so you repeated the same street.

Swag:
We received a standard tech shirt, though i wasn't crazy about the the color. The finishers medal was very nice.

Race Management:
Everything about this race seemed to be very well organized. I have no complaints.

Overall:
I would highly recommend a RnR run to anyone. It is loads of fun and great support.

Prairie Fire is about the only 26.2 race close to those in central Kansas, so it's pretty popular for us. It is part of a Spring/Fall series, with a special medal if you complete both races. This was my first full marathon, and a very good course to take my first attempt. However, the post-race support for us slower runners left much to be desired. It was for the Spring Half as well, but I thought that was a fluke until the Fall race.

Packet Pickup/Expo:
There was an expo, which was better than the Spring race, but still not very big. There was a lot of extra space in the room for more vendors. Otherwise it was very well organized and easy to navigate.

Parking (Expo and Race):
There was plenty of parking available in the immediate area.

The Race:
I have no complaints about the course. It was fairly flat and easy to run for a first time marathoner. it wasn't quite Rocky Mountain scenery, but not too bad for a city course.

Swag:
The medal was very nice, as was the finishers tech shirt. We also received a cooling towel with race graphics on it.

Race Management:
The race itself seemed to be managed well. Everything went the way it was supposed to. The added feature of RaceJoy was very handy for my wife to follow me around on the course to cheer me on.

Course Support:
This is were I have an issue with this race. I noticed in the spring race that some of the post-race support was lacking. They ran out of Mylar blankets, even though there should have been enough for everyone. The food tables were getting scarce without many volunteers. I'm not fast, but I did finish in 2 hours, so my time shouldn't have been an issue. Fast forward to the fall, and I had an even worse experience. Now I did slow greatly in the last 10 miles, so I finished in over 5 hours. However, when I got to the finish line, all of the food tables appeared to be getting packed up, or they weren't manned. Again, there were no mylar blankets given.

There were enough hydration stops, but still disappointing. The water was warm and didn't taste all that great, and the gatorade wasn't much cooler.

Overall:
I enjoyed the race, and it was a good course to attempt your first 26.2 or PR. I was just disappointed in the support given to slower runners.