I mean, come on, it’s the Chicago Marathon. It’s an amazing experience. Just put your name in the Lottery and keep your fingers crossed. Get your name as soon as registration opens. It fills very fast! I have nothing bad to say about the race, other than the complexity of maneuvering around tens of thousands of people. If you can handle that, then the race is golden. 2017 was the 40th anniversary of the race, plus it was on my 40th birthday. What a birthday treat.

Springfield Missouri is the home of Bass Pro shops and the proprietor of this race. They take ownership of this race and knock it out of the park! The race is managed like a well oiled machine. All details are covered in this odd sized race. I say odd sized because this race of (I'm guessing) 5000 people, is bigger than many smaller races, but smaller than most big city races. But don't be fooled, it acts like, and achieves the quality of a major big city marathon! Bass Pro has a very large parking area and I have never had any difficulty parking on the property. The start has an adiquate amount of port a potties and space for lining up in front of the iconic Bass Pro headquarters front doors. There are pace groups for just about every goal time to join in with and make new friends. The start is quit a celebration. The course is mildly hilly so be prepared for that. The course winds through the towns and you get neighborhoods, downtown, through the campus of Missouri State University, and more neighborhoods. It's okey. Of course being from the area it's nothing new to me, so a new person to the town would be more interested to see the sights. The aid stations were adequate and plentiful with water and Gatorade. There were sports beans given out at various points of the route. There is not much crowd support. Other than the start, aid stations, relay points, and finish, onlookers are few and far between. The expo is top notch and equivalent to big city marathons. Lots of stuff to do and see. The expo is open Friday and Saturday prior to the race on Sunday. Ample time for packet pick-up, which is smooth, quick, and well staffed. The shirts are top quality tech long sleeve. The design on them is good. I'm sure most people will love it, but personally I wasn't blown away by it. I still wear it a lot though. I say this with a lot of confidence, the medal is probably one of the best in the country, seriously. If you are a bling chaser, stop reading this and sign up immediately. It's that good. Overall this is a race worth traveling for. You also get much more than a race. If you have never been to the Ozarks, this is a definite runcation destination. You get Bass Pro Shops and are only an hour from Branson for pre/post race vacation and entertainment. Put this race on your calendar sooner rather than later.

I hope you like corn, because you're going to see a lot of it. The Nebraska State Fair Marathon advertises itself as the flattest course in the country. I ran the half, so I can't speak for the full, but at the end of 13.1 my Garmin read 0 elevation gain. It most certainly is flat. I signed up for this race to PR in the half, and I did by 12 minutes! This is an uber fast course. The management is pretty good. This is a newer race that has some things to improve on. Race day was perfect, but pre race communication needs improvement. The Facebook page needs more attention and runners need more email communication. I signed up very early and among my many races I sign up for, I sometimes lose track of my races. A few weeks prior to the race I hadn't seen any Facebook posts or emails so I checked with race to see if I was actually signed up. I was promptly responded to that I was. Kudos for that. The expo was not interesting. I picked up my packet quickly and promptly. A quick glance of the 8 or so booths at the expo provided no interest to stay and visit them. The packet was very nice with a course map for your distance and a nice long sleeve tech shirt. The shirt was off brand, but is decent quality with a nice design. The entrants are given a wrist band to get into the race, and attend the State Fair too. That's a nice touch. The start was nicely produced and was exciting. The course was not interesting at all, but that's not the point, it's meant to be flat and fast. One thing I was totally impressed with was the crowd support. The locals came out and cheered the runners on! It was awesome! Tons of crowd support for a smaller race. The aid stations were plentiful and had the normal and expected hydration requirements. The finish had good post race amminities. Not great, but I was satisfied. One thing that could be improved was the finisher medal. The half and the full received the same medal. The race needs to have race specific medals for the participants. Overall this is a race for someone looking for a PR. I would also recommend this race for someone wanting to get their BQ. It's flat, it's fast, it's a great race!

This is one, if not the only, certified 25K courses in the state of Missouri. Because this is a smaller race and an odd distance, here's your chance to get into the state record books for your age. It's a very unique race in another sense that you don't know where the starting point will be until the night before. What!? This is a point to point race that will start at either the Carthage High School, or the Sarcoxie High School. The finish will be at either. The name of the race is derived from the variable starting points and depends on the direction of the wind. The start will put the wind at your back for a faster time. Pretty neat! There are shuttles available to take you back to your car. The race is put on by the Joplin Roadrunners and managed by TwelveOne Race Management. It is organized well with no issues I was aware of. Parking is easy and close because of the start/ends being at schools. The course can be broken up into thirds. The first and last sections are very flat and fast, while the middle is quite hilly and will make or break you. I'm a good hill runner and that's where I picked off most of the carnage. The course is open farm and pasture land and is quite pleasant to run through. The course is open to traffic, but their is not much to worry about. There is virtually no crowd support in this race with the exception of aid stations and maybe an intersection where a runners family has parked to cheer someone on. The aid stations are basic with a couple of locations along the route with water and sports drink. I'd recommend using a handheld if you need extra fluids. There is no expo, just come and pick up your bib before the race and hang out with awesome people. The shirt was an off brand tech shirt that was good quality with the race logo on it. Unfortunately, it was baby blue and I hate the color. It immediately went into my race shirt pile intended for a race blanket in the near future. The medals were alright but more of an economical one most likely to offset the cost of the tech shirt. This is a low cost race to enter. This isn't a bling chaser event. This is a running purist event. Overall its a pretty cool low key event. If you are competitive in your age group then you might have a chance for a Missouri State record. IMPORTANT! This is Missouri in February. You never know what the weather will be like. in 2016 it was 20 degrees at the start. In 2015 it was 75 degrees. It could be raining, sunny, snowing, sleeting, or sharknados in Missouri during the race.

This was my first Ultra, and was everything I expected an ultra distance event to be. The overall feeling was relaxed and chill. Myself and many others were running their first 50K. This event is perfect for that because it was a rails to trails path. This equated to a very flat run and welcoming to those attempting a new distance. The management of the race is top notch with no details overlooked. I wanted for nothing either at the start line, aid stations, or finish line. The event starts at the Municipal Park in Carthage, MO in a nice building to stage runners and drop bags. Bathrooms and showers were available. There is more than enough parking immediately next to the building. I didn't rate the expo because there wasn't one, nor a need for it. The course is nice. The trail is variable in quality from well traveled packed gravel in the more heavily traveled areas to loose bigger rock in the remote areas of the trail, some areas of the trail had light vegetation growing in it. The loose stuff was more difficult to run in for sure, but I signed up for a 50K trail race so no complaints here. The trail has trees along both sides but from time to time will open up to get a view of the surrounding farmland. The aid stations were top notch and stocked with everything I could want. The volunteers were properly instructed or knowledgeable on how to assist runners. Water bottles were filled for us and words of encouragement were given. I think 6 miles was the farthest stretch I went between stations on this out and back course. Be prepared to carry a handheld or other source of water to get you by. Runner received a long sleeve cotton T that was distance specific and decent. I think 50K deserves a tech shirt, but this race was not expensive to enter so I get the economics. Finishers were awarded a very high quality plaque instead of a medal. Two thumbs up for that. I love it and it is displayed proudly above my medal rack, kudos! Overall it was great. I'm not an Ultra veteran, but it was exactly what I expected an ultra to be and would recommend the race to anyone.