Thnksgiving. The largest running day of the year. With so many Turkey Trots to choose from, it can be tough to make a decision. In fact, in Milwaukee there are 3 Turkey Trots within the city all on Thanksgiving morning.

For this race, there is a 5k and an 8k. Both started at 8 am, and there was an additional 5k at 10:30 to accommodate the large numbers the race had in 2016.

This, the Milwaukee Turkey Trot, is run by All Community Events, which runs A TON of races around the Midwest, and I believe around the country. 2017 was the third running of the Milwaukee Turkey Trot, and the third year I've run it as well. So let's get to it.

Packet pickup is awesome. And yes, I'm partially biased here, since I'm on the race team for the store. But advance packet pickup is done as the Shorewood location of Performance Running Outfitters, which is one of the (best) running stores in SE Wisconsin. If you know your number, and it's sent to you in an email, it only takes a couple minutes to grab your bib, shirt, and go.

And speaking of the shirt. This year, we got a hoodie (again), which seems to be a growing trend with a lot of races. It's not the best hoodie, but it's soft and I've used my 2015 version on races or runs that I know will be muddy or sloppy. It's warm, and I don't love it.

The race is down at Veteran's Park, which is right next to Lake Michigan. Parking is available on the street (you'll walk further) or in the parking lot of the park. So that's kind of your choice.

This year, the course was different and the start line was moved. Now it was closer to the parking lot (hooray!). There isn't a bag drop here, but you can leave things in the car. Otherwise, I've stashed my sweats in a plastic bag and set them by a tree, they've been fine. And really, who wants to steal nasty $5 runner sweats?

The race started on grass this year, which I thought was odd, and the starting chute is probably only four wide at the start. I would think for a Turkey Trot, there would be more room. The grass is only about 20m though, and then you're back on sweet, sweet pavement.

We did one quick loop around the main driveway of the park, then came back along a parallel sidewalk to the starting line. From there, you follow the sidewalk along the Lagoon and alongside the road. So if you parked in street parking, here is your opportunity to bail on the race, get in your car, and leave.

If you choose to keep going, you'll head up the only incline/hill of the race to the entrance of the Veteran's Center, you swing a left over the bridge and hit mile two. From there, it's a relaxing downhill mile 3 along the Hank Aaron Trail. This is the part of the race where, no matter your speed, you'll pass those who booked the first two miles and are dead, and those who are kicking to the finish.

Right before mile 3, you head over another ped bridge to cross the road, then it's the home stretch!

Unless you're like me and run the 8k.

The 5k runners take a right and finish that last .1 into the finish. The 8k runners continue straight for an out and back. The out and back keeps you on that same sidewalk you were on earlier, but you're headed north to Bradford Beach. And when I say to Bradford Beach, I mean you literally turnaround right when you get to the beach.

The last mile, on your way back, sucks. Not only because you're dying (if you're like me and pace the 8k and a long 5k) but because the sidewalk gets congested with those who are running the out portion of the out and back.

When you're done, a bottle of water awaits you along with a delicious sticky bun. The bun is cold, and there are no forks. But you can take it home and microwave it to enjoy all of it's deliciousness.

I do really like this race. It's great for the serious and non serious runners alike.

My only gripe is that the 8k results almost always end up a little screwy because some runners in the 8k will quick at the 5k, but still count toward the 8k results. But that's minor. Plus, it's a Thanksgiving run, and nothing you should be taking all that serious!!

As many of my BibRave friends, and running friends in general, know; Gopher to Badger is my favorite all-time race. It's the only race I took the time to nominate for the BibRave 100 as well. This was my fourth year in a row running the race, so let's dive in to the 2017 edition of Gopher to Badger.

This was actually the first time I ever picked up my packet the day before the race. Normally I grab it in the morning on race day (which is a very easy option), but I had some extra time on Friday, so I nabbed it early. Packet-pickup was at Run N Fun, a local Twin Cities based running store. Very quick and easy pickup, and the store of obviously there if you need any last minute gear.

This is now one of the few races where you still get "things" with your bib and shirt. Of course, those things take the form of race ads, and a couple other small freebies. The four main things you'll get are your bib, timing chip, shirt, and socks. Yes, this race gives you socks. Either maroon and yellow or red and white striped socks, depending on the state you are representing.

Fast forward to race morning. It was 50 degrees with only a 52 degree dew point when I woke up, a welcome change from what I've been running in this summer. Almost everyone parks at the finish line by the bandshell in Hudson. If you arrive early, there is some super convenient street parking available, otherwise, there's a lot about a block down from the finish that almost never fills up. There are only three porta-johns at the park in Hudson, so don't plan on hitting a quick pre-race bathroom stop here. Just hop on the bus and get to Stillwater. This year, they were really pushing to get on the buses early to get to the start. Not sure why, there is plenty of space and plenty of buses.

The start line is at the Stillwater fairgrounds where there may or may not be an event going on, depending on the weekend. This year, we had the grounds to ourselves. There are a lot more bathrooms here, and the lines go pretty quick. It helps that this is a smaller race (only about 1,000 in the Half).

As the start approaches, the pacers line up in the corral and then the runners can line up accordingly. I've never seen any issues with runners lining up out of place in this one. I'm sure it happens, because it does with most races, but I haven't seen it.

I really like to break the race (mentally) into four parts.

The first part of that is literally the first half of the race. The first 6 and change miles wind you through a couple local neighborhoods. Here you'll get your fair share of rolling hills. There's nothing too crazy to climb, but you won't be spending a lot of time on flat ground; just lots of up and down running. So prepare for that. There are three aid stations with water and Gatorade in this first part of the race. You'll have a nice straight shot for most of mile 6 (down and up a gradual hill) which can be a killer if it's a warm day. Fortunately in 2017, we had sun, but it wasn't overly warm. You pass the 6th mile marker on your way up the largest climb of the course in your final neighborhood run. You end that climb with the largest downhill section of the entire course.

And that nicely takes you into part two of the course: Stagecoach Trail. That's the name of the road you'll be spending some quality time with over the next two miles. It's an almost entirely flat side road just outside of Stillwater. This section includes one aid station and you'll pass both the 7 and 8 mile flags out here. And don't worry, you can see them from forever away.

Fortunately, that's only two miles of your time before you turn off that road, hit mile 9, and descend down to the river. Over the next couple of miles you'll get a couple more rolling hills (not even as bad as the start) and will alternate between bike paths and roads. There's an aid station right at mile 9, and you don't hit another until just past 11, so plan accordingly.

After the aid station at mile 11, you'll begin your ascent to the I-94 bridge. This is a sneaky uphill that can get you at this point in the race. We had a calm day on Saturday, but that bridge is always windy. It's exposed, and you have car and truck traffic generating quite the wind. The only good part about the bridge is that it's almost all downhill (literally) from there. Coming off the bridge, you hop back on a pedestrian trail and take it the final mile and change back to the bandshell. To me, this section seems like the longest mile ever. You're just on a sidewalk going along the river the entire way. You do get some nice crowd support in the last half mile for so.

Note, this course is notorious for being long. To a T, it's about 200m long every year. Which is fine, but be aware if you're shooting for a specific official time, you'll need to run a hair faster than you think.

The post race area is normally pretty good. Water, food, and whichever sports-type drink is sponsoring the race is available. So are massages. Noticeably absent from this year's race was Goldy the Gopher (the mascot normally makes an appearance) or any likeness of Goldy or Bucky. So I'm guessing we've seen the last of a gopher or badger gracing the race shirt or medals, which is too bad.

The race seems to alternate between good and bad weather each year. This year was excellent, so I'm going to anticipate next year being absurdly hot. Still, though, this remains my all-time favorite race.

Two years ago, Grandma's Marathon was my first ever attempt at 26.2. This year, it was my first marathon that I went back to for a second attempt. You're always told to not have expectations for your first marathon, but I did, and the race didn't go well. This year, I probably should have had lower expectations as this would be my sixth race in seven weeks; including coming off of Relay Iowa last weekend.

I rolled into Duluth mid-afternoon and headed straight for the expo to get my bib. This is one of the bigger expos I've been to, and definitely the most crowded. Despite the crowds, picking up our race bib is a very streamlined and easy process. I spent some time walking around the expo, but got out of there fairly quickly. It's worth noting that there are some other things to do at the Duluth Convention Center other than just pick up your bib and shop the expo. There is a pasta feed available for runners (and only $12); I've never had the pasta there, but I've always heard good things. There is also a help station if you have questions about any logistics the morning of the race. The expo also brings in guest speakers (this year Kara Goucher was one!) and there is a bus tour of the course if you're so inclined.

It's worth talking about lodging in Duluth as well. Hotels and AirBnBs fill up VERY quickly, and aren't cheap for the weekend. Fortunately, an excellent option is staying in the dorms at UMD (UW-Superior and St. Scholastica are also options). It's an affordable option, and the UMD dorms are right next to where the shuttle leaves for the Marathon and Half Marathon start. Definitely very convenient! Those same shuttles run to and from Duluth (the finish line) until 1:30am on Sunday.

At the start of the marathon you'll find lots of people, and lots of port-o-pods. Definitely not a bad idea to get in line before you think you need to, so try to time that right! The race tries to get runners into the start corral by 7:15 (a half hour before the start) but that's not necessary. If you need to get up front, there are a couple sectioned off areas on the side where you can hustle up front. So don't stress about that! Plus if you aren't exactly where you need to be, the race is chip timed so it doesn't quite matter where you start. So don't stress about the start area!

This year it was fairly cool at the start, with a minimal breeze, but for those of us who looked at the hourly forecast, we knew the temps would turn up quick. We did get a solid 6 or 7 miles in before the sun peeked out from behind the clouds.

The first few miles of Grandma's just fly by. They're predominantly downhill, which can really trap you into getting out a little quick. Stick to your race plan, and don't worry about others passing you, or getting sucked into that pace (I need to take my own advice). It's also been my experience that the pace groups here get out at a pace decently below the pace needed for a certain time. So be aware of that if you're planning on going with a group.

I thought crowd support was extremely good this year in comparison with 2015. Lots of people out on the course, especially in the smaller towns we ran through. It's here where I'll also mention the top notch aid stations at this race. They're very long and easy to navigate. Most of them went water, powerade, then water again. Later in the race they had sponges and ice available as well. Med tents show up every 4 miles (or so) starting at 13.

The course rolls along nicely past Lake Superior, with some beautiful views of the lake when you veer closer to the water. You can also see the bridge in Duluth from about Mile 10, so that's a little discouraging. You start to get into the Duluth area around Mile 19 and it's here where the crowd support turns up, and you get aid stations every mile. And apparently Mile 21 is a rough mile (for me at least in my splits) I don't know why, but look out for that mile.

Mile 22 takes you up the most well known part of this course: Lemon Drop Hill. And really, it's not much of a hill at all. If you're ok with the other rolling hills on the course, this hill is no problem. Plus, it's basically a 4 mile downhill finish from there with excellent crowd support. Coming through Duluth really is an awesome part of this race, even if you're dying at that point. The crowd support is great from the Duluth community, family members of the runners, and a lot of the Half Marathoners come back out to watch the marathon finish. The last two miles hand you a lot of turns, so be ready to not know exactly how much you have left to run. You'll go past the Convention Center, and make a series of turns before the home stretch on Canal Street.

The post race is easy to navigate as well! You get your medal, some water, and then your hard earned finishers shirt. The gear check was great this year too! They had my bag ready because they grabbed it when they saw me walking up. Very efficient! There's also chocolate milk, ice cream, and your hard earned beer at the finish as well. If you have family or friends at the race, there's an easy meeting area just outside the finishers corral to meet up.

I've got absolutely no complaints about this race, except for the fact that I can't seem to run this course well. You always hear how great of an event Grandma's Marathon is; and it lives up to all of it's positive hype. If you haven't gotten a chance to get up to run this one, make sure you take the time to do so.

Where to begin when talking about Relay Iowa? I'm still coming down off the high and sleep deprivation of it all.

The basic premise of the race is to run all the way across Iowa, from Sioux City to Dubuque. As Bill (the Race Director) notes, this is a relay and not a race. So make it across, and have fun doing it! Most teams utilize two vans, and alternate at various points along the course. When your van is running, it's really up to you how many miles you want to tackle at a time. With the heat this year, our van stuck mostly to running 2 mile intervals, with each runner knocking out around 6 total per leg for our van. We had 11 total runners on our team, so everyone wound up with somewhere between 30-35 miles.

For the second straight year, it was HOT for the relay. We also had howling wind on Friday and Saturday, which made the heat a little more bearable. Sunday was lots of humidity and more rising temps. Of course, this made the night legs much more pleasant to run when the temps dipped into the low 70s.

Your biggest challenge as a team would likely be food and sleep. Depending on how much time you have between switching vans (and where you are) it can be tough. Example, the way our legs worked out, my van had a total of 3 meals between the start and the finish (our third meal was the post race). So bring lots of food and drink to fuel you through the day and night.

But really, if you get the chance, run this race!! As with any long race, you'll get tired and frustrated at times, but it is tons of fun. Ultimately, it is as fun as you make it. Oh, and if you think Iowa is all flat, run this race to prove yourself wrong.

I wasn't planning on making another run at Dam to Dam this year, but I got talked into it by two other members of my running group. They both wanted a 1:35, so I agreed to pace them there. So that meant my race experience differed a little bit this year, since I was working to hit paces and not go all out.

Let's start with the expo. This was the first time I've gone to the expo myself (I've had others pick up my bib in the past). There's a lot going on! Not many vendors that I saw, but lots of food and live music makes up for that. Picking up the race bib is super easy, just know your number ahead of time. You can also pick up other runner's bibs easily as well, which is great since packet pickup is only from 2-8 the day before the race. If you can't make it to Des Moines that day, just send someone to get your things.

Here is a good time to talk about the shirt. I'll go on record and say that I like the simplicity of the Dam to Dam race shirt. Just a small logo on the corner, and that's all. Simple. The colors change every year too, which is a nice touch. Last time I ran the shirt was white (the women's was yellow I think). Last year, everyone got an eye scorching neon shirt. This year, the shirt was a nice royal blue. Although some sizes had the option of a black shirt instead of blue.

Ok ok, on to the race itself. I've never had an issue getting to the start, but every year it seems like someone does. I'm normally on one of the earlier buses out of Des Moines (don't go to the other locations!) so I've never had problems. This year, it sounded like those on the last few buses had problems getting a bus to the start. The starting area itself is fine. Lots of space to sprawl out, plenty of porta-pods, and you can head over for a nice view of the lake if you're so inclined.

The issue with the start is that you legitimately need to start heading to the start line a good half hour before the race. It takes forever to get to your starting area on the dam! So give yourself all the time to work your way up to where you think you need to be. It is separated by pace signs, so that gives you a good judge of where you should be.

The race is a bit congested at the start, but breaks apart once you head down off the dam in the first mile. From there, it's a lot of running through county roads for the first 5-6 miles. Frankly, there isn't much to look at out here. But it's all flat too, so take that time to settle into your race. This is one of the easiest courses to get into a rhythm since no hills disrupt you for the first half of the race.

You start hitting some of the Des Moines suburbs about halfway through the race. Conveniently, this is also where you hit your first (of two) climbs in the race. The first hill is at about the 10k point of the race. It isn't an intimidating climb, but it lasts a little while. But you're rewarded with a long downhill on the other side! You get a lot of straightaway running on this part too, so you don't need to worry about turns for a while. Just turn off your mind and go.

The course finally takes a turn around miles 9 and 10. This takes you up your second climb (smaller than the first) and into a part along the river. This year, it was welcome as it finally gave us some shade (more on the heat later). Right when you hit the 10 mile marker you jump into a park and onto a bike trail. This section of the race is one of my favorites across any race I've done. The trees, the river, and a decently long wooden bridge. After crossing the bridge, you've got about 2.5 to go and you're in the city. Great stretch.

Due to construction, we couldn't run across the main bridge this year, so we ran on the outskirts of the East Village to get back into downtown. Again, more flat and straight, and not the multitude of turns the race normally features in the last 2 miles. I wasn't a big fan of the last two, mostly for that reason. But I like running through downtowns in general, so obviously I was disappointed that the route didn't go there this year.

The finish is a turn up 13th street and into the chute. It really snuck up on me this year since I didn't know where exactly we went with the new course. Crowd support is also excellent at the finish (and really is for a lot of the second half of the race).

Before I talk about the after-party, I want to talk about the heat. This was a warm one. It was 70 when I left my apartment at 4:15 to head downtown. It only went up from there. Since I was trying to pace my friends, the heat didn't get to me as much since I wasn't running as hard as normal. But some people were hurting, as is always the case in hot weather I guess. I thought the aid stations were good, so why did I give it a low rating? I heard that the stations ran out of cups. That should never, ever happen at a race this size. So while it wasn't an issue at the front of the race, apparently it was later on.

Also as a note, lots of folks complained that there was no chip timing this year, so everyone was gun timed. Apparently the family who was hired to do the chip timing had a family emergency and couldn't be there. It's fine, that happens. But the race did not make a mention of this until sending out results, that was also a mistake in my opinion. All it would've taken was a quick announcement at the start saying "We won't have chip timing this year due to unforseen circumstances." Literally all that was needed.

Ok, to end on a positive note. The after-party is amazing. Lots of Powerade for recovery, and if that isn't your thing, there's plenty of beer too. But the highlight is the pulled pork sandwiches. Oh man. That's seriously a reason to run the race is to finish and get some of those. I'm not even kidding. There's also ice cream, chocolate milk, and tacos. It's a pretty electric atmosphere. And while the weather wasn't great for running, it was great for the post-race.

All in all, Dam to Dam is a top tier event. They may have had some issues with the water and timing this year, but let's be real, you can't be perfect every year. Things happen. This is still an excellent event, and easily the top distance event in the state.