Expo: 5/10
A pretty standard race expo, with some unique vendors I haven’t seen at other expos (Texas Drain giving out free plungers, I’m looking at you). The system for picking up packets right when you walk in was probably the worst I’ve seen at a race - it took almost half an hour just to get through the line to pick up my packet. I would’ve liked to see more vendors and possibly a larger event space to alleviate some of the crowding.

Course: 9/10
The course is absolutely fantastic and by far one of my favorites of all the half marathons I’ve done. Even with as challenging as it is with all of the hills, it’s so scenic and takes you through a few very different parts of the city. Crowd support was great throughout 90% of the course. My only complaint is with the aid station drinks - half of the time, I could barely taste the Nuun mixed into the water, meaning there likely wasn’t much for carbs/fuel in it. While the Nuun was a unique touch, perhaps Gatorade would’ve been a more practical choice.

Production/organization of race weekend:6/10
From the expo to the finish line, this was a very well designed and organized race overall. This is one of the first races in years where I haven’t felt gridlocked until like four miles into the race, so whatever they did for start corrals worked wonders. The finisher’s area was nice and large, so there was no extreme crowding while grabbing your post-race goodies and leaving the chute. My one gripe would be with the post-race food - we only received water and then a bag with popcorn, a fruit cup, and one other packaged item. I had heard that in prior years, the spread was a bit more impressive.

Swag and medals: 8/10
The medals were next-level; I LOVE the design and the sparkles! The shirts and all the merch were made by Under Armour, which is a huge plus for me. The designs for all of the merch were a little plain, but I found plenty of things I liked and ultimately bought. By Friday at 4pm when I was at the expo though, most women’s items were sold out in sizes larger than small, and they weren’t restocked after the race when merch was for sale. Honestly, if there was enough merch in all sizes, I probably would’ve given a 10/10 in this category!

Overall: 7/10
No doubt a solid race overall. If you’re looking for a challenging but scenic course through a rather eclectic city, I’d totally check the Austin Marathon out.

Expo: 6/10
The expo was pretty standard with nothing too great or terrible about it. It did seem like there were maybe fewer vendors than usual due to some open spaces in the convention hall. Lines weren’t too long to pick up bibs or at any of the vendors, so that was nice. I didn’t notice a lot of crowding like most expos, even at what would probably be considered the busiest time to be there.

Course: 9/10
The crowd support at this race was better than at any race I’ve ever been to. I don’t think there was ever more than a half mile span where there wasn’t a group of people cheering on the runners. I really appreciated the aid stations almost every mile versus being more spread out like at other races. The course was hilly, I won’t lie, but it was so beautiful and scenic. If you’re looking for a likely PR, I would maybe choose a less challenging course, but I definitely felt like the scenery was worth the difficulty.

Production/organization of race weekend: 7/10
The expo and race were both very well organized aside from one thing: the start corrals. There’s basically a chute with a security guard checking bibs at the front to get into the start area. Once your corral was allowed to enter and you pass through the chute, it was like a half mile walk to the start line. I guess if you missed your warmup earlier in the morning, it’s your lucky day😂. There was also a cluster of people in later corrals huddling around the chute entrance, making actually getting to it extremely difficult. The corral situation was probably my biggest gripe about the race, aside from maybe the merch.

Swag and medal: 5/10
The medals were fantastic, but the swag and race merch left much to be desired. I LOVED that the race gave out a short sleeve race weekend shirt at the expo and then a finisher’s shirt at the end (the more shirts the better, right?🤪), but they were both unbranded. The race really needs to pick up a major brand sponsor for its swag and merch. I get that having unbranded merchandise makes it cheaper, but the quality isn’t there at all. I’d gladly pay more for both the race entry and merch if the apparel was from a quality brand😊.

Overall: 6.75/10
Overall, a decent race that’s definitely worth doing. I enjoyed my time in Dallas for race weekend, and I’ll likely return for next year’s race!