When I signed up for the Manitoba marathon, I was looking for the following:

1. A small, low-key race
2. An interesting course
3. A fast course with a chance to PB
4. Good weather for a June race

The Manitoba marathon delivered on all these fronts, and more.

The shirt was great, the medal was great, finishing in the CFL stadium was very cool.

The CFL stadium is used for pre- and post- race. Real bathrooms! Easy bag check! And the finish recovery area for full marathoners is right on the field by the finish line, so that was nice. Bag check was a breeze. My partner also saw me cross the finish line from the stadium seats and meeting up afterward was super easy.

Because there are only 700 participants in the full marathon, the course can be sparse and there weren't a ton of spectators, but I was never alone and the spectators that were out were A+. Plus they run a relay alongside the full marathon, so every 10ish K or so, there was a big group of people to run through.

The weather was perfect for running, 13 degrees Celsius and cloudy. The course is great, takes you through downtown and through a couple beautiful parks. There are a few annoying roadside segments, but they are fine.

Things to note:

They only had pace bunnies for 3:30, 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 5:00 and 5:30. I wanted to run 3:45 so ended up solo for most of the race. NBD for me but noting if this is important for others.

The expo and start/finish are not the easiest to get to if you don't have a car. I stayed downtown and took cabs for this - this was no problem but was about $20 a cab ride each way. Something to note if you are coming out of town.