Truth in Advertising: I might be biased - I have a tattoo of the Twin Cities Marathon logo on my leg.

It remains bar none my favorite race in the country. It's not the easiest. It's not the biggest. It isn't the perfect weather. But it is the best marathon in my opinion. I didn't grow up in the Twin Cities but Minneapolis has been my home since 2009 and I hope it will be for the long haul.

Parking around the expo is a pain but it is a big expo and a lot of fun. Race day is a breeze. The course is beautiful. Pretty flat early, rolling hills in the middle, bigger hills from 18-24, more or less downhill the rest of the way. It is almost always a beautiful weekend in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Some years are warmer or colder than other but the median temperature is pretty good.

All in all - it's just the best. Can't recommend it enough.

My last long run of training was -30 degrees; the weather in Austin was 65 degrees. Quite the change. Otherwise, Austin was a really fun experience - course is tough but we saw most of the city and it was an all around great time.

Course: The course takes you all around the city - there are a few boring sections along the railroad tracks but otherwise it's a good course. Lot of hills - rolling (and occasional big hills) for the first 20 miles or so. Then as a special form of torture the Mile 26 marker sits on top of a very steep hill which you promptly run back down on dead legs to the finish.

Lodging: We rented an AirBnB downtown. Worked out awesome.

Food / Drink: All the breakfast tacos. I love breakfast tacos so much. We went to Bufalina for our pre-race dinner and had a fantastic experience. Mean Eyed Cat had really good BBQ and we had a lot of fun at the White Horse the night after the race.

Gear: The shirt is pretty standard but it looks good. The medal is awesome. Still one of my favorites.

Overall: Just so many hills. Austin is really fun though and it was a great getaway from the winter in Minnesota.

This was a personal worst time for me in the marathon. I went into the podiatrist a week and a half before the race and he diagnosed me with a combination of plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendinitis and shin splints. But I was committed to running with a friend - unfortunately, her struggles began even earlier than mine, so we ended up walking (with some intermittent running) for the last 16 miles of the race.

Course: Super, super flat. Starts and finishes in the Fargo Dome which is pretty cool. There isn't a whole lot going on in Fargo but the section through downtown was really nice and you run through a bunch of the college campuses which were a lot of fun.

Lodging: Hotels are a little tough to come by so we stayed just outside of town but it was easy enough.

Food / Drink: Fargo Brewing Co.!

Gear: Awesome medal. It's the marquee of the Fargo Theater downtown.

Overall: Most people do Fargo for the flat course seeking a PR. I didn't do that but it's still a really nice race and really well organized.

The hills really weren't bad. But I was coming off running Twin Cities Marathon two weeks earlier. It was a really good way to see the city - there's a whole bunch of beautiful parks scattered around Des Moines.

Course: Not the most exciting course but it's really nice. The full marathon / half marathon split wasn't real well marked. I really enjoyed getting to run a lap on the Drake University track and there's a bunch of big downtown parks that you run through / along.

Lodging: Found a hotel outside of town. Worked really well for us.

Food / Drink: Exile Brewing was really good.

Gear: Nothing to write home about on the 1/4 zip or the medal. But fine but nothing crazy nice.

Overall: I didn't have real high expectations for Des Moines but we enjoyed ourselves a lot. Also, be sure to get to Raygun!

First and foremost this is just a stunning marathon. It's a real early start - gun goes off at 5:30am along the Embarcadero but it means you have the opportunity to run across the Golden Gate Bridge. This wasn't something I was terribly excited about but it was super cool. Only downside is that it means that the crowd support is a little lacking at times.

Course: It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone but there's a lot of hills in this race, but honestly I thought it would be worse. The hills up to the Presidio are real steep but they come early in the race - otherwise it's mostly rolling hills. Sometimes you forget you're running hills because of the stunning views that you are treated to.

Lodging: We found an AirBnB in the Mission which worked really well for us.

Gear: The shirt was a pretty standard long sleeve running shirt but the image on it is a good one. Medal is nice.

Overall: Do this race. It is just so beautiful and you go all over the city.