Last August, the Maryland HEAT became my first 50k. I knew I wanted to tackle one of these, and am fortunate enough to have a friend on the East Coast who is an avid ultra-runner who agreed to pick out a "good" event and run it with me. My goals for this one were just to finish, and he was running the race as a training run, so we agreed to take it slow.

We had another reason to take it slow (more on that in a minute) too.

Doing a race on the East Coast also gave me an opportunity to visit DC for the first time, and see a friend from college who lives in the area. After spending a couple days in DC, and walking a solid 5 miles around the monuments the day before the race, I was ready to roll for my first 50k adventure.

For the race, were are to park at a park and ride in Catonsville, MD and get bused into Patapsco State Park. We had to be on the bus by 6 am, which meant it was an early day. Having to drive up from DC, I had one of those lovely 4 am wake up calls.

Once you're bused into the park, you pick up your race number, and get ready to go. You can pay extra for a shirt (I didn't) and you will receive that at this time as well.

The start is a pretty standard Ultra start. The race director gives you some pointers, how to run the first 1/4 mile loop around a grassy area, and we were off and running.

So here is why I get to the other reason my friend and I slowed it down. If you live on the East Coast, you may remember last August was a bit...warm. When I woke up at 4 am it was already 87 and humid, and it only got warmer. While we were protected by the woods for most of the race, any time not in shade was scorchingly hot.

The race itself is two 25k loops. This is definitely a challenging course. Single track almost the entire way, with some significant hills (gain for the 50k is about 4,000 feet). One of the hills is a steep grade, where you'll basically crawl up. Twice. Going down that hill, the race gives you the option of taking two routes. The "easy way" or the "hard way." The easy way was a little longer. But since you're doing two loops, we decided to do one easy and one hard.

Aid stations are about 6-8 miles apart, so make sure you get stocked up at each one. Every aid station was well stocked with food, water, and tailwind. They also made sure to have ice for us on such a warm day as well.

The highlight (if you will) for the course comes at miles 15 and 30. Here is where you hit the wall. And I'm not talking about "the wall" runners hit during a race (I ran into that at mile 27).

No, this is an effing 15 foot wall.

You have two options: scale the wall, or go around and into the river.

My friend, who had run this race before, did one of each last year and said going over the wall was better. So over we went. And trust me, there's nothing more painful than climbing over a wall 30 miles into your first 50k.

The post-race food and beer is delicious, plus you can hop into the river to cool off after a hot run. I felt like absolute death when I was done (maybe my longest training run should've been longer than 17 miles). But a 16th place finish, heck...a finish, was good enough for me, and my friend walked away with a personal course record here as well.

All in all, it was a good day. Definitely check out this race if you're looking for an excellent and challenging race on the East Coast.

The 2016 edition of Midnight Madness saw the race change course. Literally.

Construction on the road the course normally takes forced the race to make a chance. The new course took a larger loop through downtown Ames, and then on a second loop through the nearby neighborhood. The change eliminated the out and back, took out the bulk of the only hill on the course, and allowed for more crowd support.

Per the usual, the 10k looped the 5k course twice.So those of us who ran the double got to run the course three times.

Packet pickup and the expo was again top notch with the shoe sale from Fitness Sports. In 2016, New Balance also had a booth set up at the expo.

The aid station was nicely placed at the halfway point, if you decide you need to stop in a short race. Additionally, because the course looped through the local neighborhoods, there was a beer stop this year. If that's more your speed.

Again, medals are given for the 5k, 10k, and 15k age group champions.

This is a great race. Seriously, just come to Ames to run this.

As other reviews here noted, it was hot that day. The start of the race saw temps in the 70s along with humid weather. What was slightly worse, there was a breeze off the lake, creating the illusion of it being slightly cooler (it wasn't).

The course itself is super nice, as you start heading to the south side of Milwaukee before turning back north and going across the Hoan Bridge. It was neat to run across the Milwaukee landmark, but boy was that a tough part of the course. Heading up a bridge (I think the highest point in the city) and into that wind off the lake was brutal. At least I thought it was brutal. It did come with a perfectly placed aid station at the top, and then a nice downhill down to the lakefront.

The second part of the course weaves you through some neighborhoods before heading back to the lake. There's one hill, I think around mile 8, that comes in steep. If you don't know it's there (I didn't) and you're dying (I was) it's unpleasant. Running down by Lake Michigan and in back of the Summerfest grounds was nice, but at that point the heat was really turning up quickly.

Rock 'N Sole also sports one of the better post race shindigs I've been a part of. Free beer (in Milwaukee...of course) and access to the Summerfest grounds was super nice. It was a great place to relax after a tough race, I thought. Additionally, this race has some of the best gear to purchase out of anywhere I've been. I bought an Adidas shirt that's head and shoulders better than the race shirt.

Speaking of the race shirt, I wasn't a fan. Nice color, ugly design. But, at the expo, runners were able to pick up a pair of Summerfest socks for free, sponsored by BMO Harris. Like any runner, I love me some free socks!

I would come back to this one, mostly because this stands as my worst Half Marathon time ever. Apparently going out at a pace slightly faster than your 10k PR in 70 degree weather isn't a good plan.

Ok, so maybe my subject line is a little misleading. Even though I'm Midwest born and raised, I can adapt to running at mile high pretty quickly. So I landed in Denver on a Friday, and was set to run the Cherry Creek Sneak on Sunday.

Turns out, racing less than 48 hours after getting into Denver is a bit different than just running. But more on that in a minute.

Packet pick-up was the day before the race at one of the Boulder Running Company stores in Cherry Creek. It was efficient and easy, plus you were in a running store! The only drawback is that we didn't get (or I missed) pins. But I picked up some at the hotel I was staying at, so all was well.

You're given a ton of directions on where and how to park for the race, since the start is actually right by a mall. To this day, I'm not sure if I actually parked in the correct spot, but there were other runners parked in the ramp I did, so I assume it was fine. It was a little bit of a longer walk than I would have liked to the starting line though.

So the start. There are two start chutes (right next to each other) and you can start in either one. The 10 mile starts first, and I think the 5 mile after, followed by the 5k. I'm don't remember the order of the 5 mile or 5k, because I was already out on the 10 mile.

The first two miles of the course are a big circle and are pretty darn flat. You head past the parking ramp that you parked in (which also means leaving early from the race is virtually impossible). Then off to the north where you hit an aid station, followed by the biggest climb of your run. In actuality, it probably wasn't a HUGE hill, but on a hot day, in altitude, it sure felt big to this Midwesterner.

After going up the hill, you do another mini loop before headed up the street on an out and back. To me, this out and back took forever to get to the turnaround point. If I remember, it's a little over a mile one way. There is an aid station back here as well.

Once you're headed back, you head down the hill you ran up, and are heading directly back to the start, not on the long loop you did to begin the race. I remember consciously thinking this was a weird part of a race. The road is about 3 lanes, and it's all closed for the race. So if you're in no-man's land (a place I find myself in almost every race) it feels odd running in the road. Did I mentioned it was black topped, and a hot day?

With about 200 meters to go, you merge with the finishers of the 5 mile race. There's a lot of crowd support here at the finish, especially as the 5 mile is the largest of the three races.

The finish area is actually very substantial for a 10 mile race. Lots of vendors, food, and other such things.

A few other notes. The shirt was got in 2016 was super nice. A great royal blue with a nice design on it. One of my top 5 race shirts, easily. If you're an age group winner, you'll get your award in the mail a couple of weeks after the race.

Overall, this is a really good race! I would say it's the premier race in the Denver area for the spring, but that's not true. The premier race is the Colfax Marathon. But if you want the opportunity to run a 10 miler, it's an excellent event. If I ever find myself back in Denver on the last Sunday in April, I'll run this again.

Last year, I signed up for a spur of the moment marathon in Sacramento; mostly because I was there, and so was the race. It was the first year of the Pony Express Marathon.

You had to pick up your packet the day before the race. It was at the hotel (I think the Hilton?) right next to the Tower Bridge in Sacramento. It was a small expo, but the overall packet pickup experience was very easy. Bib and shirt are picked up there. They also give you a bottle of beer from the local brewery, named Yolo.

I stayed at an AirBnB literally three blocks from the start line, so overall it was super easy for me to get to the start. But worst case, there is a parking ramp a few blocks down from the start line that you can get to before the race, and then (more importantly) get out of after the race.

The race start was actually really neat (although it started a little late). Runners follow two horses across the Tower Bridge before turning out onto the course. I liked that touch, and you don't always see something different like that at a race.

The first mile or so of the race is run with the Marathon and Half Marathon together before the Half splits back into Sacramento. This first part is run through a more industrial center area, so the scenery leaves a little to be desired. The Marathon course then rolls you onto a loop in the country-side. You'll spend a little time by the river, and a lot of time on various country roads. For us, those roads happened to be freshly black-topped, and the temps were already into the mid-70s by the start. Needless to say, it was a little warm.

You run the loop out here and then make your way back to the city proper. To me, it felt like we were running uphill forever to get to mile 8, but my elevation chart from my watch didn't indicate that. It's definitely an incline, but not a huge one.

Back in town, you cross the Tower Bridge again, and get a little crowd support for the first time around Mile 14. Depending on where you are in the pack, you might catch the tail end of the 5k race.

You don't stay here for long, though, the course sends you down the paved bike path along the river. Definitely more scenic, but it's not as shaded as you would expect, and again it was a hot day. You can also see back to the first half of the race across the river. Mostly, I was just thinking about rolling into the river and laying there.

Around mile 20 or so, you turn back and start weaving through some of the Sacramento neighborhoods. Beautiful area, and you finally see people other than the other runners and aid stations. There's also a short, but very steep, hill at about mile 22 or 23. One runner told me after the race that this hill destroyed his will to live.

You come back around the main road and finish about a block from the start line. You get your medal (it was huge and one of my favorites) and go explore the food options available. There are massages available post race as well.

I will say, there definitely were a couple hick-ups with the race, such as the late start and the mile markers being about a 1/4 mile off, but it was the first year. Medals were great, and the age group awards were even cooler! The age group awards are a horseshoe, with whatever place you finished on a plague attached to it!!

I will note, however, that the 2017 edition of the race was cancelled this past year. It's never a good sign if a race has it's second year cancelled. I, for one, hope that the Pony Express Marathon comes back. I would run it again.