Latest reviews by Jessica Sticklinski

(2019)
"The BEST RACE EVER!!"
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I came all the way from Dallas to run the Missoula Half Marathon this past weekend and let me tell you, it is the BEST half marathon I've ever run so far (and probably ever will run) and I've run over 30 of them so far in 19 different states. There's a reason why every state and sometimes other countries are represented at this race! Check out the many reasons why I loved the Missoula Half Marathon below.

THE COURSE:
The half marathon race course is overall a downhill course and it starts downhill, so you really build momentum right out of the starting gate. The course winds through beautiful forests, along side glacial blue waters, and past wild-flower filled pastures filled with galloping horses, complete with a beautiful mountain backdrop. The race runs on Blue Mountain Road, which is appropriately named given the surroundings. I have truly never run a more beautiful race in my life. The trail eventually spits you out into the Missoula city center, but even then it is still pretty scenic. The was very little uphill and when there was, it wasn't for very long or very steep. The majority of the race is relatively flat, aside from the downhills right at the start of the race. So be prepared for a faster race. There was also a surprising amount of local crowd support, which made the race even more fun to run.

AID STATIONS:
There were plenty of aid stations spaced out every few miles with water and Gatorade. There were also 2 aid stations for the half with CLIF SHOTS available (one towards the beginning and the other around mile 10 or 11). It was well laid out with tons of volunteers, liquids, trash cans and port-a-potties.

RACE START/FINISH:
Shoutout to the TONS of port-a-potties at the race start (not a terrible wait). The bag check was a breeze thanks to several massive UPS trucks that were set up according to last name.
The finish line festivities were great, with tons of water, gatorade, and muscle milk for recovery. A short walk from the finish line were the finishers food tent that served bananas, orange wedges, watermelon slices, bagels, pasta salad, and quinoa-bean salad. Plus several small food trucks were set up around the finisher's area so you could buy coffee and acai bowls (which we definitely did!). Additionally, you could line up to get your finisher's photo in front of the Missoula Marathon backdrop for free.

PARKING/TRANSPORTATION:
Race day parking was decent. The race director instructs you to park at the Adams Center, where you will catch a shuttle to the marathon or half marathon start (they start in different locations). There was a lot of parking at the Adams Center, but if you waited too long it would be filled up. But there was tons of nearby free street parking, which we took advantage of to avoid the parking ruckus. The buses to the start line were quick and the lines for marathon and half marathon were well marked. It was a pretty efficient system and we didn't wait more than 10 minutes to get on our bus.

EXPO:
The race expo was fairly small, but this isn't exactly a massive race. The packet and shirt pickup was easy. And there were a few vendors set up with Missoula gear for sale (not much was on sale, but that's pretty typical). We walked through everything in about 20 minutes, even with time spent perusing the gear selection.

RACE SWAG:
The race shirt was awesome! It featured the Missoula Marathon emblem. The half marathon shirts were a unique forest green and the marathon shirts were a pretty glacial blue. They came in men's and women's sizes. The race bib was unique in that it was the shape of Montana, which I thought was a special touch. And the finisher's medals were nice big medals featuring the missoula marathon emblem as well. I'm a big fan of the elk symbol!

OVERALL REVIEW:
I cannot say enough good thing about the Missoula Half Marathon! It was truly a unique and beautiful course and I couldn't have asked for a better race! I would do it again in a heartbeat!

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(2017)
"Awesome Race!"
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The Big Beach Half Marathon was an absolute blast!! It is a fairly small race, with most runners being locals or from neighboring cities, but that made it fun!

RACE COURSE:
The race course was very flat and ran parallel to the beautiful white sand beaches for a good portion of the race, with the rest of the race being in various nearby parks. I loved the course layout! The best part was when we got to run across these wooden elevated walkways inside one of the parks for a few miles. It was pretty unique. And there were NO HILLS! :) Plus, having the race in January by the Gulf Coast resulted in wonderful race-day weather!

RACE SWAG:
I also really liked the race swag. The medal was a massive wave and stands out against all my other race medals. The race tee was a super soft cotton and a lovely, unique violet-blue color. It is by far, my favorite race tee to date!

RACE STAFF/EXPO:
The race staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. The expo was inside of a local bar/restaurant called The Hangout that was really cool. The expo itself was small and didn't have much more to it than packet and tee shirt pickup.

POST-RACE:
The post-race setup was great. The Hangout provided tons of water, Gatorade, snacks and even catered "lunch boxes" for the finishers. Plus there were tons of seats inside and outside to relax post-race with beautiful beach views. And don't forget about the fun giant hand making the "shaka sign" (hang loose) and the bright blue over-sized Adirondack chair (which made for a fun and unique photo-op) located around The Hangout!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Overall, one of my favorite races I've run so far! I'd definitely run it again, if I were in the Gulf Shores area. Or heck, I'd even buy a plane ticket from Dallas to run it again! You should definitely give it a try! :)

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(2016)
"One of my Favorite Races EVER!"
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Another fantastic race! This was my first ever "racecation" trip. I specifically chose the San Francisco Half Marathon so that I had an excuse to visit SF. And I was not disappointed in my race choice!

THE COURSE:
I honestly couldn't think of a more site-seeing friendly race if I tried. I had a choice between running the "First Half" (by the Golden Gate Bridge) or the "Second Half". I of course chose the First Half so I could run the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. It was incredible! You ran along the Embarcadero and Fisherman's Wharf, up the MASSIVE hill to the Golden Gate Bridge, along the Coastal Trail by the San Francisco Bay, and then down into Golden Gate Park for the finish. I mean, you couldn't dream up a more touristy, eventful race if you tried! Getting to run across the Golden Gate Bridge was hands down the most incredible thing I've done running-wise. But be warned, San Francisco is super hilly, so it definitely was a challenging and taxing course. And the hill up to the Golden Gate Bridge was a steep, long, and very slow climb for every runner out there (but the reward of crossing the bridge is SO worth it!).

RACE SWAG:
The race shirt was a long sleeve tech tee. It fit perfectly and had a great design. It was a tech tee (not my favorite) but I didn't mind since it fit so well. And the medal is really cool and featured the Golden Gate Bridge. Another positive was FREE RACE PHOTOS! Which was huge, because most races charge you through the nose for a not-so-flattering race photo...

FUEL STATION:
There were a decent amount of fuel stations (I think 6 total, spaced out every other mile), but I sort of thought there should be a few more. Each aid station had water, electrolyte drinks, toilets, and 1 station had Gu tablets (which I made use of after surviving the GGB hill climb).

POST RACE:
There was a large finisher's festival following the race. I didn't end up going to it (I prefer Brunch to post-race food), as I had to find a shuttle to get to it first. So I'm not sure what all they had there. Immediately following the 1st Half finish, there were the standard bananas, water, and electrolyte drink. The one extra that I partook in was the boozy Irish coffee ;).

TRANSPORTATION/PARKING:
I rented a hotel room within walking distance of the race, so I'm not sure about the parking situation. I do know that they offered FREE shuttle services for finishers of the 1st half to return to the finisher festival

RACE EXPO:
The race expo was fantastic. It was located on the Fisherman's wharf the year I went and it was massive! The vendors gave out tons of free stuff, including entire Power Crunch Bars and other full-size granola bars (I took like 10, and no one tried to stop me). Absolutely my favorite race expo!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
I really enjoyed the San Francisco Half Marathon (1st Half)! It was everything SF packed into 13.1 miles and it was a blast! I hope to return to SF to run it again! And of course, I'd still do the First Half (even though I've already done it) because I loved getting to run the Golden Gate Bridge!

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(2015)
"Pumpkin Spice Everything + a Race"
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The Pumpkin Spice 5K was a quick little race (obviously, it was a 5K) featuring all things pumpkin spice at the finish. Given it was a 5K, there was no expo (packet pickup was just at a local Run Project store). The race was at the Panther Island Pavilion in Fort Worth, so there was ample parking on race day. When I ran it there was only a 5K and 10K option (it has now expanded to include a 1/2 marathon) and it ran through the Trinity Trail, so it was decent scenery. The race was put on in November so the weather was really pleasant. The race swag when I ran it was a cozy long-sleeve tee, a coffee mug, and a pumpkin spice finisher's medal. I won 3rd place overall the year I ran it and was awarded a cute little pie server/slicer with the race emblem on the handle. At the finish they had a wide variety of pumpkin-flavored foods/drinks, such as pumpkin spice hot chocolate and coffee, and pumpkiny bakery treats. Overall, it was a really fun short race with tons of great pumpkin spice themed foods/drinks at the finish. Well worth the low race entry fee!

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(2013)
"My First Half Marathon, But Not My Last!"
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The Austin Half Marathon was my first half marathon. At the time, I lived on campus so I didn’t have to deal with parking (so I don’t have an opinion on that). I LOVED this race.

RACE COURSE/SIZE:
First, Austin is an amazing city, so getting to run by the capital and by the river was really incredible and made the race views more interesting. The race is also massive, so you don’t have to worry about being out on the course by yourself, which was incredibly motivating for me! For some, size may also be a downside, as the start is crowded and there’s a lot of pushing and shoving at first (if you’re in the first corral).
The course itself, while scenic, was pretty challenging. Austin has a TON of hills and this course has a massive hill at mile 11 on Enfield. It almost killed me when I got there and I nearly blacked out at the top. It has a massively steep grade. I even trained on it weekly during race training, and it still kicked my butt on race day! You also run with the marathoners up until mile 11, so you have to be careful/mindful of the split. I remember worrying about accidentally missing the split for the half marathoners repeatedly during the race and frantically checking bibs. There could definitely be improved signage for the split.

AID STATIONS:
I thought there were a relatively good number of aid stations with both Gatorade and water. I wasn’t super observant, so I’m not sure if there were any stations with Gus/energy packets but I don’t recall seeing any. But there was no shortage of water/Gatorade at any station as there were tons of tables and volunteers churning out the cups.

RACE SEASON:
The time of year for the race is great. The race is in February so it’s chilly, but definitely manageable and actually pretty phenomenal racing weather if you wear layers.

RACE EXPO:
The expo was massive and had a ton of vendors. There wasn’t a ton of free swag or food/drink samples but then again, I’m always pretty underwhelmed by expos.

RACE SWAG:
The race gear was awesome. The medal was really uniquely Austin and the shirts were nice and fit well (although I don’t like tech tees, so I would have preferred cotton tee).

CHARITY:
Another great thing about the Austin half marathon is that it donates a portion of race proceeds to charity. I believe the year I ran it, the charity was linked to cancer research. I believe it is now a different charity program, but nonetheless a charity.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Overall, I had such a blast running it that I signed up the next year to run it again! And it motivates me to keep running half marathons. So I highly recommend giving it a try!

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