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Latest reviews by Chris
Chris recommends this race
(2017)
"Holy Batman! Great tough race!"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
This race offers 5K, 7mile, half, marathon, and 63k options, each starting a half hour apart. More on this later; I will do this chronologically.
The website is pretty informative with all the information you need to know for the race, but you also get an email from the RD a couple of days in advance. You have two options to pick up your race packet, which basically consists of bib and shirt. But the shirt is decent for training in. You can pick up the packet the day before (but only until 6pm, which seems a bit early) or on race day before the races.
The many distances start 30 minutes apart, and because of this, the trail is never crowded. In fact, in the latter hours, you may be by yourself for quite a time. The terrain is challenging; very challenging! Overall, it is definitely considered hilly, but there a few hills that feel like death on your last loop. With that being said, if you don't plan on winning the race, on your first loop, you climb the observation tower; if you're not from the area, stay up there for a little bit and take in the view. It's beautiful!
Two of the aid stations are just water/Gatorade, and the other two have food as well, such as chips, pickles, M&Ms, PB&Js, and gels. The aid stations are plentiful enough that you don't necessarily need to carry anything with you unless you want to. It's actually a pretty nice feature for a trail race.
The RD is a super nice guy, who genuinely wants you to have fun. I registered for this race as an impromptu training run for a 50 miler later this year. I thought the race was so good, I will probably be back next year. I feel like the course beat me this year, but I will beat it next year.
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Chris recommends this race
(2017)
"Awesome Midwest trail race for all abilities"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
This review will go in chronological order.
Unfortunately, I could not attend the packet pick-up to night before so I have no comments about Rushing Waters.
I arrived for the 50k race approximately 2 hours before race start and there will only a few parking spot left in the main lot next to the starting line; however, there was another parking lot across the street. This is just to give you an idea of when you should plan to come to park.
Registering the car for parking was simple; just pulled up to a booth and was given a ticket to display in the windshield. I was fortunate enough that there was a parking spot REALLY close to the start line; this was nice.
Packet pick up in the morning was simple; took about 1 minute. Got my goodie bag, long sleeved shirt, bandana, and I took some stickers from the table. The volunteers were super nice answering some of my questions, like how do I put on the timing chip, and where is the course.
Backrooms seemed to be ample with no line each of the 3 times I went. There is one permanent bathroom structure, and about 8 or so port-a-johns.
My wife joined me and she plopped her self down along the course; there is ample room to spread out along the course of spectators. She made for a good crew the 2 times I ran past the start/finish area.
The race begins!
The course is pretty beautiful for the midwest. The first 13 miles are singletrack (a little technical with roots and rocks along the way). If you are from the Chicago area, I would compare this trail to the trails around Bullfrog Lake. Since the singletrack does start early on, everyone is in a single file line for quite a while, which means some traffic jams around the uphills; keep that in mind, because he don't want to position yourself at the front where you're exerting too much energy and you don't want to be in the back, and being slowed down. You have about 1.5 miles or so to position yourself correctly.
Nonetheless, great trail system. And great volunteers (both road crossing and aid stations).
Then we come along to the 2 loops of the xcountry skiing trails. This is somewhat singletrack-ish. There is one definite track for most of the loop, but you can run along this track as the grass in this general area is either small or absent due to all the people walking over it. I would say these loops have more elevation change than the first 13 miles of out-and-back. Plan on getting tired. LOL.
Still, beautiful terrain and most of this loop is shaded under trees...most, but not all. It can get hot.
The aid stations in all parts were very well stocked with water, sodas, snacks (pretzels, gummy bears, oreos, etc), HEED. Additionally, some of the stations also had ice. The crew was always very quick to respond to your needs, and in one case, the volunteer even took my second bottle to refill while I was putting away the other. They know their stuff!
The finish is great! Everyone is cheering, and the announcer is naming you as you finish. Great feeling! The afterparty is also one of the best I've seen. There was food (salads, taters, burgers, brats), and copious amounts of beer. They even had live music; and the band was pretty damn good.
Overall, I fully recommend the race and look forward to registering for next year's 50 mile version. Just keep in mind when registering, the 50k race sold out in 20 minutes this year. Good luck!
Chris recommends this race
(2016)
"Great overall race experience!"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
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This was probably the funnest race I have done so far. I couldn't recommend it more! It is fairly low key; I believe the Half Marathon had about 200 runners. The 5K had more but I never saw them as they started 15 minutes later.
Preparation:
The expo isn't really much of an expo; it really is more of just a packet pickup. The Half Marathons get a cotton shirt and a light zip-up hoodie, which is nice. The whole pickup experience is very well organized and took like 5 minutes.
The staging area is great with views of the bay and damn. Very calming experience before a race.
Route/Scenery:
The route starts in downtown Green Lake, makes its way down the lake and then you run around the Conference Area for the majority of the race. This is great as the scenery there is ever-changing and pretty. It is a somewhat hilly route; there is one section of about a half mile of constant uphill.This is beautiful route though for the majority.
Run Experience:
There really isn't much support along the route, but that is to be expected considering this isn't the Chicago Marathon, but the volunteers that were along the route (probably 20+ volunteer stations) were great and very encouraging. The aid stations were setup well with water on the left and gatorade on the right; the volunteers would yell this out so you can attack prepared. One of the aid stations had gels, as well. If I had to mention a con (it's very minor but if any organizer is reading this, take note), the garbage after the gel aid station was placed too close to the aid station; I carried the gel wrapper for a mile until the next aid station.
I also loved the end. First of all, you have a ton of people cheering you on at the end. Secondly, the announcer names each finisher as they come through the finish line. Finally, the lakefront park is a great place for an after party.
The only thing is that they said the local high school would have showers available after the race, and we saw one sign pointing in the direction of the high school, but I never did find the showers. There was someone in the bathroom giving themselves a "febreeze" type shower because they couldn't find the showers either.
Chris recommends this race
(2016)
"I recommend the race"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
This is great race! The location is fantastic because it's not just flat paved road, which Chicago is pretty well-known for. The crushed limestone is really nice to run on and I like that it is very hilly. It is also organized well but I do see 3 drawbacks.
1) Why is this in July?! It can get really hot. We were actually pretty lucky this year to not be overly hot.
2) They could really use extra aid stations, especially if it was to be hot. Even this year where it wasn't horrible, I brought water with me because it would have been too difficult otherwise.
3) The run through the grass wouldn't be all bad, but it is not mowed before the race, and so you have to try to run through some really tall grass which is very difficult.
But again, I do not want to take away from it's greatness. I would definitely do this race again!
(2016)
"Low key race"
Overall
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This is a very low key race consisting of 1 loop around the neighborhood for the 5K and 2 loops for the 10K. It was kinda cool racing through my neighborhood, but as far as the ambience, you are still running through a residential neighborhood.
It is extremely flat if you are trying for a PR, but there are a decent amount of turns which could affect your time.
You do get a pretty nice t-shirt and water bottle, however. But the race is a little pricey for what it offers. You also DON'T get a finishers medal. I only got one because I won in my age group.