The Tupelo Marathon is a great small race give or take 300 full and 150 half participants. The weather was a dream for August in MS, mid 50s to start the day. A lot of the first half is run in darkness (a headlamp would be beneficial). The marathon is a double looped course. The good news is that given how dark the first is they are almost unrecognizable. (race volunteers light up very dark areas of the course with lamps)

The new Race Director for 2017 did a great job. This race had the best case scenario of any marathon I've run. The team hotel is walking distance to the start line. Parking is just as easy as checking in the hotel. The people who run this race are all very experienced. I had great conversations with the many Marathon Maniacs, 50 staters, and others on the course. You also get very courteous course etiquette with a field like this.

EXPO - very quick, located in a local running store. about as easy and basic as you can hope for.

Parking - Event parking heaven, free, close, no hassle

Race Management - there's a reason this race is well known. Great Race Management and organization.

Elevation - this Marathon has hills on repeat. I used this as a training run for another marathon and it was a superb warmup. I ran 20 miles at pace and coasted into the finish at a much slower pace.

T Shirts/SWAG - This race is known for its Tye Dye long sleeve race shirts and creative race medals. This year's medal was an oversized Skull with a spinning sign in it's mouth. BBQ and Beer at the air conditioned finish line. Plenty of room for friends and family.

Aid Stations - With a slogan like "Trample the Dead, Hurdle the Weak", I was expecting sparing water breaks at the 5k marks. This race came equipped with bananas, orange slices, gatorade, freeze pops, cold towels, you name it. They really went above and beyond.

First off, this is the hottest I have ever been in my life running.

The Rock N Roll Nashville Staff did a fantastic job of address the weather to make this work. They added extra water stops, cold towel stops, sponges, you name it. They moved the time of the race up to keep us away from the heat as long as possible. Given that this race draws 30,000 plus runners total, they did a fantastic job at managing the event.

Expo
it is a little tough to get into the venue. Parking is tough, but once inside bib pickup is very smooth.

Swag
great tech t-shirts, a brooks finisher's jacket, and a medal that lights up.

Elevation
This course gets such a bad rap for being so hilly. I don't think it deserves that. There are hills, but it is nothing that will hurt your performance. The heat is the real tough part of this race. The back half, especially the last 4 miles are relatively flat which was very nice.

Finish Line
The Staff helping everyone was fantastic and quick. The heat was really knocking people out and these people were the difference.

Crowd Support
This race has the best crowd support, on the first half especially. I didn't expect that for a Rock N Roll race.

First off, this is the hottest I have ever been in my life running.

The Rock N Roll Nashville Staff did a fantastic job of address the weather to make this work. They added extra water stops, cold towel stops, sponges, you name it. They moved the time of the race up to keep us away from the heat as long as possible. Given that this race draws 30,000 plus runners total, they did a fantastic job at managing the event.

Expo
it is a little tough to get into the venue. Parking is tough, but once inside bib pickup is very smooth.

Swag
great tech t-shirts, a brooks finisher's jacket, and a medal that lights up.

Elevation
This course gets such a bad rap for being so hilly. I don't think it deserves that. There are hills, but it is nothing that will hurt your performance. The heat is the real tough part of this race. The back half, especially the last 4 miles are relatively flat which was very nice.

Finish Line
The Staff helping everyone was fantastic and quick. The heat was really knocking people out and these people were the difference.

Crowd Support
This race has the best crowd support, on the first half especially. I didn't expect that for a Rock N Roll race.

First off - it was VERY Cold for March. 20 Degrees the whole way.
The Parking is located at the finish with Buses to the start line. Make sure to get there early to avoid getting the bus driver to pull over and sprinting across the Mall straight into your corrals (guilty). The first half is a beautiful area of D.C. Once you leave that bridge and start the second half it isn't the same. It's all along the Potomac, an empty unknown part of town with little support. The wind off the river really makes it tough. The only elevation is at mile 22, and it is straight uphill until 23.5 miles.

Swag - Great Brooks Race Shirt and Finisher's Jacket. Clean looking Finisher's Medal!
Expo/Post Race - Great as usual from Rock N Roll, if you've run one it is the same setup. The Expo is inside of a government armory so you do have to enter through security stops.
Parking - mentioned above, only bad part of parking is it is at the bottom of the hill. The post race is at the top, dead legs make it tough to hobble down to your car. Plenty of Parking for Marathon participants. You do have to reserve a spot beforehand.
Aid Stations - there weren't many and there was only ONE energy stop.
Be sure to checkout of your hotel or get another night. It's tough to get back to your hotel from the finish line. Shuts traffic down on that side of town.

All of that being said, i was able to get a 18 minute PR down to 3:48. which is all that really matter right?

T Shirts - weren't the best this year, but i constantly wear all my other Mercedes shirts from this race more than other races.
Medals - a great Mercedes Hood ornament, great looking medal
Finisher's Gift - they throw in an extra gift at the finish line, this year It was a bag for the Half and a Buff Bandana for the Relay

Aid Stations - Plenty of stops, great support on the back Half, extra stops from supporters as the race continues.

Expo - easy to navigate, quick bib pickup.

Post Race is in the same spot, easy to find family afterwards. Offer free post race massages afterwards. There is a BBQ lunch provided to runners, local Brewery has a great open bar for runners as well.

Parking - never been a problem, nothing to write home about

Elevation - first half of the race is in a flat downtown area, second half has some rolling hills. I was still able to run a 2:00 min faster pace on the back half.