Loved this race...

Expo/Packet Pickup

Expo was held at the Louisville Cardinals Stadium. Picking up packets was easy. We were able to pick up packets for our friends who could not make the expo, but were not able to get there bourbon wristbands because they needed to be there to show ID. Thankfully, they had the option to get their wristbands at the race. The expo was a little small I suppose, but that stuff never really matters to me. The race shirt was nice quality and tasteful.

Pre-Race

Gear check was easy. One of my only complaints for the whole race where is that all the runners entered at the back of the chute instead of being able to enter near your target time. The result was that we had to fight our way through hundreds of runners to get close to the pacers we wanted to follow. The bugler playing My Old Kentucky Home before the national anthem was awesome.

Race

The first 4 miles of the race were fine but fairly unremarkable as far as scenery. They were also probably the flattest miles of the race. Miles five and six had some gentle rolling hills running alongside the outer edge of Cherokee Park. Once you enter Cherokee Park, you have about half a mile before the real hills begin at mile 6.5. The first hill is probably the most aggressive, but some fairly serious hills through mile 9 or 9.5. Cherokee Park is absolutely stunning though, and the hills change up the pace. Being from central Indiana, I am a pretty terrible hill runner, but even I enjoyed it. After you exit the park around mile 10, it’s generally downhill through some gorgeous neighborhoods and stunning old homes. Another minor complaint: the aid station closest to the halfway point, maybe around mile seven, seemed really understaffed. I had to fight through other runners to get my own water from the table. Other than that, all of the volunteers were really truly amazing. The on course entertainment included brass bands, bluegrass bands and others. Really good stuff.

Finish.

At about mile 12.5, you pass the finish line, which is always really challenging for me for whatever reason. So close, yet so far. The post race party and medal were both really cool. Loud, live rock ‘n’ roll on fourth street live. Hard to beat that.

Oh, and bourbon.

Sign up was a easy. Packet pickup was great! In and out in under 5 minutes.

The start of the race was easy to find and not too crowded.

My favorite thing about the whole event was definitely the course scenery. Through downtown and then miles 2-9 were along the St Joseph river. Beauty of and shaded.

The water and Gatorade stops were just right.

Beware the gnarly hill somewhere in mile 12! Short, but very steep.

Let me get the only bad things out of the way: the price. This is my 6th half marathon of the year and it was the most by quite a bit. Lastly, I have never complained about pacers, because they are so helpful and I really like running with a pacing group. However, the group I was with (2:00) started really fast. The first three miles were all well below 9 minutes, then miles 4 and 5 were around 9:30. Just threw me off my game.

The finish on the 50 yard line at Notre Dame was every bit as cool as you might think. Amazing.

Such a great race! It's incredible how smoothly they manage to get 35,000 runners out on the course with no congestion.

Expo was easy and had lots to see and do.

Wave start was completely flawless. Look, it's a big race, so if you are slower, you will have to wait for your wave/corral, but it's better than trying to run through a massive crowd.

If you are sub 2 hour, you can be seeded toward the front. I submitted a 1:59:51 and was seeded in Wave 1, Corral D.

Course entertainment is like nothing else. Such great bands and spectators. Shout out to the 2500 volunteers!

Running on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5 miles at a slight angle) is not great, but it's such an experience that it's worth it.

The whole race experience was great! I hope the cold weather doesn’t discourage organizers from doing this in March again. It’s nice to have some distance from the Indy Mini.

Registration packet pick up were great. I don’t really care about expos, but this one seemed better than usual.

Pre-race was efficient and the corrals were well organized. I didn’t actually realize the race had started until I crossed over the line, but I probably wasn’t paying attention. I started with 1:55 pacing group, I only ran with them a few miles but Chris seemed great.

Aid stations were well staffed, mile markers were clear and incredibly accurate with my Garmin. I guess that’s more a comment for Garmin, but it was nice to actually have my watch reflecting accurate times.

It was nice to have a ton of options for refreshment at the end. Pancakes were delish!

Overall, it was really a good race. I have one minor comment. Organizers: the red barriers on the monon trail almost took me out. Whatever reason, the race was slightly congested there, and I almost didn’t have time to move out of the way of it without hurting someone else. Suggest putting some kind of sign on it next year.

Here’s a link to my run https://www.strava.com/activities/1481685134