Race day was pretty cold. I had to go with tights and long sleeves. Pre-race included an Orange Theory trainer doing warmup, so that was actually pretty cool. Also, the long sleeve pullover is pretty awesome, and the medal is nice for an inexpensive local race.

The start/finish is at Norbuck Park, which has basically no parking, so parking was a bit of a pain. I probably walked a mile. Aid stations had Nuun, which was good, but other than that they were pretty unremarkable.

The course takes you from the park to White Rock Lake in what is mostly an out and back. Almost the whole course is part of my normal training route, so it’s both familiar and unremarkable.

Overall, it’s a good local race for $70.

I needed a race in early fall and, I picked this race over the Omaha Marathon that is one week earlier. As cool as it probably is to finish at the baseball stadium, I did that once in Akron, so I was more interested in running across the Bob Kerrey Bridge. So, a few things were really good:

1. The shirt was simple, but nice.
2. The expo speakers were excellent.
3. The organizers were so great. There was flooding on the course and they made course changes the day before the race without a hiccup (that was noticeable to us runners).
4. Running Across the Bob Kerrey Bridge was cool.
5. The bicycle crew was amazing. These folks were riding along the course wrangling runners and offering encouragement.
6. Water station volunteers were also great.

The not-so-good:

1. While I generally liked the course, there were some lonely stretches that lacked scenery. Although Ikinda liked running through the corn fields.
2. Much of the course was not closed to other pedestrians and cyclists, which was mostly annoying toward the end of the race. Having to weave among site-seers on the Bob Kerrey Bridge was not so great.
3. The pace team. The 4:15 pacer ran ahead of the 2:05 half marathon pacer for the entirety of the first 8 miles. I average 9:27/mile for the first 16 miles and never caught up with the 4:15 (9:43/mile) pace group. I checked the results and he crossed the finish line at 4:29. There's no point in having a pacer if he/she runs and uneven pace and then can't even finish on time.
4. When I crossed the finish line there was plenty of food and stuff, but it was pretty deserted. I heard there were like 700 runners total but only 117 in the full marathon. So, by the time I crossed 85th of 117, there weren't many people hanging around. I've run smaller races with more going on at the finish line.
5. Other than the speakers, the expo was pretty scant. My local run club has comparable expos for much smaller races.

Overall, the race was fine. The course was easy. The speakers were good. The volunteers were great. The race logistics were great. The expo was meh. The post-race was meh.

Bottom Line: This is a race for local runner, by local runner. If I were a member of the Omaha Run Club, I would love this race. I am a member of the Dallas Running Club and our major races are also on shared trails. So, I get it. If you live near Omaha, you should run this race. If you need a Nebraska race and you want to do it for a fair price, while supporting a local running community with great organizers, you should run this race. If you want a big race with 1000+ runners, a big expo, live music, and beer sponsors....you should pick a different race.

This race is tiny! There are no hotels in Groveton. I stayed about 45 minutes away in a very nice B&B in Kennard. There are usually close to 100 finishers in the marathon, but there were only 38 finishers when I ran. I'm not sure what happened. It did rain BIG Time the night before, but I can't imagine registered runners would skip out due to the rain. The course starts on the high school track and is a double out-and-back. There are significant portions on dirt/gravel roads both in town and in the forest. The portion in between is on an asphalt highway. The scenery in the forest is great. Unfortunately, because of the downpour the night before, the dirt road portion inside the forest, itself was pretty treacherous for a "road" race. There was a lot of hopping and some tough footing. The aid stations and volunteers were amazing though, and Steve, the RD , is super helpful. Parking is easy and there's a shower at the stadium you can use afterward. I showed up 10 minutes before gun and still had time to use the restroom! I will definitely do this race again. Can't beat the price either at just $65.

This was my first marathon in a long time, and Dallas had a new RD from the Disney series. He delivered a great race. They put WhiteRock back in the course in its entirety. The lake makes for great scenery, although it does take up 7-9 miles of the course so it does keep you from seeing other parts of the city. It would have been nice to cross one of the new bridges or run through Bishop Arts, but there's no way to do that and still get the lake in. As a local, I run the lake all the time, but I know that when I'm out of town, I appreciate courses that include a piece of where the locals run, so it's cool. The expo was great, lots of free stuff and cool booths. I wouldn't say the course is super challenging, especially because the portion around the lake is so flat, but there are a couple of steep climbs around miles 18-20 that were pretty brutal for me. I was glad to have the Start/Finish at City Hall. I thought it was fantastic.