This was my second year running this race and I had an absolute blast! No one puts on a racing experience like The North Face!

Every participant gets a tech shirt (men's and women's sizing) and the medal ribbon has the date, location, and distance on it.

Aid stations were about 3-4 miles apart on the course and there were 4 total. Tailwind, water, and Clif Shots at each one along with volunteers that were cheering for us the whole time.

The scenery is gorgeous! The course runs through some of the most beautiful trails in Kettle Moraine State Park and that alone just MAKES this course.

Packet pick-up was available on Thursday and Friday at the Chicago, Madison, and Brookfield locations of The North Face stores. The Brookfield store hosted a panel on Friday evening with Race Director Nick Moore, Brogan and Bojan from The November Project, and Stephanie Howe, one of The North Face athletes.

The elevation (according to BibRave Pro Angie's Garmin) was ~988 feet. The first few miles are a lot of up and down and some of that is on the steep side. Definitely a challenge for a new trail runner but not impossible or crazy hard to manage!

Ottawa Lake Recreation Area, where the Start/Finish line is, is located about 40 minutes west of Milwaukee. There is more than enough parking with Parks employees directing you to the designated parking areas.

Race management for this event is amazing! The whole vibe of the Finish Line party reminds me of tailgating! The North Face had a tent where you could play corn hole and win TNF swag, Repreve had a spin wheel where you could win prizes, Sierra Nevada had a "beer garden" set up, and there was even a Karno Kidz tent where the tiny humans could have their faces painted. This is truly an all-weekend event and TNF encourages that atmosphere.

This is one of my favorite races and I might even attempt *gulp* the 50K next year!

Overall: LOVE THIS RACE! Awesome participant experience from the course to the post-race Bourbon Bash!

T-shirts/SWAG: Bright coral-colored long sleeve tech shirt, gender specific. The shirts ran a little on the larger side (not that I care, I never wear the race shirts). The medal is an Evan Williams bourbon bottle that the Urban Bourbon staff hand-dip in wax.

Aid Stations: There were 6 aid stations on the course that had water and Powerade. The volunteers were awesome! Half the aid stations also had Port-a-Potties as well.

Course Scenery: Part of the course is in downtown Louisville which is very cool, especially for me since I was an out-of-towner. Cherokee Park was beautiful to run through and there were a lot of spectators, including some DJs set up along the course to pump up the runners!

Expo: I arrived late (damn you Indiana road construction!) so I was unable to attend the expo. However, the wonderful volunteers still allowed me to grab my packet even though I arrived 15 minutes after the expo was over.

Elevation: There were a couple gradual inclines scattered throughout the course and one steep hill through Cherokee Park.

Parking/Access: I stayed at the partner hotel (The Galt House) and the start/finish and Bourbon Bash were literally right outside. The rooms were pretty reasonable, so if able, I would highly recommend staying there.

The Bourbon Bash: The highlight of the weekend! Several distilleries including Evan Williams had tents and each participant could get 4 shots of bourbon, 1 beer, 1 slice of pizza form Bearno's, and a bowl of Kentucky burgoo stew. The Louisville Crashers were playing during the party and had the crowd dancing and singing along. There was a tent where runners could get their medal engraved with their finishing time and a massage booth.

Race management: Michael Clemons (the Race Director) and his team do such a great job at making this event spectacular for the participants and spectators. It has that easy, backyard party vibe and the variety at the Bourbon Bash encourages people to hang around, eat, and drink. The start/finish is pretty well organized (runners line up by pace, no corrals).

You can also check out my blog for a look at my race-cation weekend and more pictures!
http://www.thecaffeinatedrunner.com/2016/10/race-review-urban-bourbon-half-marathon.html

Overall: Arthur and I had a blast! This was his first 5K race experience and he was surprisingly well-behaved.

T-Shirts/SWAG: Everyone received a cinch bag with the Tails on the Trail logo and some discounts for local businesses (plus a $10 gift code for RoadID, as they provided bibs for the event). If you raised at least $50 through fundraising, you received a Tails on the Trail t-shirt. There were other prizes depending on how much money you raised.

Aid Stations: There were two aid stations and each one had the means for the dogs to also have water. There was a plastic kiddie pool with water set up around the 3/4 mile mark, which was nice for the dogs to cool off; Arthur jumped right in!

Course Scenery: The course goes through Veteran's Park and along the lakefront, which means we all got to benefit from the lake breeze on an otherwise toasty day!

Expo: There wasn't an expo for packet pick-up; you could pick up the Friday and Saturday before the race or the morning of. But there was quite an expansive choice of vendors at the race, including Ian's Pizza (my husband had a slice while he was waiting for us and said it was delicious!). It was great to see all the local businesses supporting WHS!

Elevation: The course is almost totally flat, as it is on the paved walking paths around the park.

Parking: Well, it's by the lakefront, so parking was of course a nightmare. We ended up parking on Lake Drive, which made it easy to leave after the race.

Race Management: I thought they did a great job, except that the race started almost a half hour late (the start time was supposed to be 10:00 am which I think is quite late, especially for summer) because they were waiting for Hank the Ballpark Pup to show up. I would suggest that they start earlier, as it got REALLY hot the last mile or so.

One thing I wish they did (although I'm not sure how feasible this is, since this is a fundraiser and this addition would probably take away from the money raised) would be medals, mostly because I wish Arthur had one for his first race. But I'm also an overzealous dog mom.

As part of the Oiselle Volee, we had 6 teams of 4 women running the relay. Each team of 4 members switched off every 2 laps for a total of 96 laps around the Pettit Center.

Overall, the race was a LOT of fun! There were a ton of teams who lined almost the whole track of the Pettit so all the runners heard cheering all along the track. Laps are tracked by chipped ankle strap that gets switched out between runners.

T-Shirts/SWAG: All participants got a long-sleeved (unisex) tech shirt. Also upstairs there was a table set up by a local running store (although I wasn't up there long so I'm not sure which one it was!) and MKE Running Festival had some information set up. Running in the USA had their famous running-themed sugar cookies!

Aid Stations: Around one of the turns there was a table with huge coolers of gatorade and water set up with a few volunteers.

Course Scenery: Well, you're running around an ice rink (where open skate and hockey games were actively going on) and there's spectators all along the track. While not the most "scenic" it was enough to keep from getting bored from my 2 laps/set!

Elevation: The track is as flat as it gets. Actually, I felt more sore after this than most of the road races I've done!

Parking/Access: Honestly, parking was kind of a nightmare, and I even arrived 3 hours before the race was to start. Because open skate and hockey games are going on at the same time, I would advise arriving early!

Race Management: The RD emcee'd the event and had pump-up music playing for the whole race and kept the atmosphere fun and upbeat.

I would definitely recommend this race, especially if you've never done a relay before! Yes there are a fair amount of competitive teams (and man are those ladies/men speedy!) but a lot of people are there for the enjoyment of running with friends and it's a great experience!