This was the first year for the 5K and 10K of the Dallas Marathon and these races were run on Saturday of race weekend. The Marathon and Half Marathon were run on Sunday. With this, the Dallas marathon organizers also came up with the Weekend Series. Run a Saturday and Sunday Race, get extra bling and a jacket (get 3 medals, a jacket, a shirt for each race).

Expo: Held Friday/Saturday with any Saturday race having to pick up bibs and shirts on Friday. I got my bib and shirt right as the expo was evacuated due to what turned out to be a bomb threat. Expo was shut down and the race ended up having a race day pick up for bibs with runners being able to get shirts after the race

Race time: 8 AM

Weather: 30s-40s. Forgot Dallas got that cold. Sunny out, which was nice

The races: 10K started at 8 AM, the 5K at 820 AM. Shalane Flannegan spoke before the race and ran with the 10K. The course itself was fairly flat, minus minor hills for one of the bridges. The course ran through part of downtown Dallas and looped around Main Street and took the back way back in towards the finish (which is where we started). The first 2.5 miles were out and back and I ran .1 miles of it with Shalane, which was awesome. I wish I had a picture! The last 4.5+ miles was a loop in the opposite direction. Ended up setting a PR by 20 seconds while trying to take it easy for the Marathon on Sunday.

Post race: Medals and water right at the finish. If you were doing the series (a Saturday and Sunday Race), you picked up a black wrist band to wear and show on Sunday at the finish of your race before exiting the chute. They gave boxes of food which was a good idea, I just wish they had bananas/bagels, etc

Overall, a good race, decent course and worth doing if you're around!

First time running the Seattle Half Marathon and I don't know where to go with this. I signed up a few months ago and still ended up paying $115 with processing fees for the half, which seemed like a steep price to pay (then again, it's Seattle, everything's more expensive on the West Side).

Expo: medium sized, which I was ok with. You had to get your bib first, which was in a separate room prior to going into the main expo site. Bib Pick up is separated by last name instead of assigning bib numbers (which can be really frustrating when you have to spell your last name for everything because people never spell it correctly unless they know you). Afterwards, you head to the main expo room for your shirt and goody bag. Decent amount of vendors there to choose from, which was good

Shirts: I was expecting more from Seattle. Essentially all the shirt says on it is Seattle marathon. No artwork, nothing celebrating the city and the material wasn't my favorite.

Start Times: Marathon Walk at 7:15, Half Marathon at 7:30, Half Marathon Walk at 7:45 and Full Marathon run at 815

Course: Starts at 5th and Harrison, outside Memorial Stadium and takes you through part of downtown before you you start along I 90 and into Sam Smith Park. You hit some of the running trails, which make things congested and difficult to get through. You run along Lake Washington for a few miles before looping around and heading through the Japanese Garden, Boren and Intersaxen Parks. From there, you turn and head back through South Lake Union and over to Lower Queen Anne and finish inside Memorial Stadium. The full and the half are together for parts, but there's at least two areas where you have to watch for splits. Also be ready for hills, it is Seattle after all. I was expecting hills, but I really struggled getting into a groove. Every time I thought I was hitting a stride, another decent size hill came around and slowed me down. Weather was rainy at least the first 8 miles in some capacity, but never a down pour. Definitely a scenic course for something that's in a major city. Mile markers were hard to find the first 2-3 miles, but generally were on port a potties. Good thinking, but there has to be a better way to make them visible. Also another downside was no timers on course that I could see at least.

Aid Stations: every few miles (I'd put it 1.5 to 2). Some really needed more volunteers as people were just going after whatever water or gatorade they could get their hands on. If they could be on both sides of the road, that'd be ideal and help things out.

Finish: in Memorial Stadium. You finish and get your medal and heat sheet if you want it. They direct you inside where all the food and referents are. That was a good idea so people aren't clogging up the finish and you can dry off before heading home or to hotels.

Overall, a decent race. Still trying to decide if I'd come back for it (I really hate hills personally so I struggled with this one). IT was more of a last training running for my upcoming full marathon in 2 weeks. Some people love it and do it every year. I wish they'd have some fun with the shirt and bib designs though. It's Seattle and I eellike there's some creativity that's not being tapped into

This was my first time doing RnR Vegas in any capacity. I came out for the Remix Challenge after a conference. I arrived Friday night and ended up going to the Expo Saturday morning

Expo: Goes over 3 days, Thurs/Fri/Sat of race week. Limited opportunities to purchase bib pick up at the race itself. Plenty of vendors (Garmin, races, RnR gear, NRC, etc). You could register for future races if you chose. Pretty easy to get your bib. Had to show ID and no family member or friend could pick up for you. If you were running a Sunday race, you were given a wrist band with your 5K bib to get your remix medal after the Sunday events

Cost: pricey for a 5K. I paid $49.99 with $7 of transaction fees in June for a 5K in November if that says anything, and it goes up from there with registration in the Spring

Date: The Saturday of race weekend

Getting There: take the Monorail and walk through SLS. It gets to be a bit of walk

Security: with the recent events in Vegas, bags were searched and water was dumped out before you entered the grounds

Corrals: 24 total and you could only enter the corral on your bib or a slower corral and they were enforcing it pretty well.

Course: out and back course that starts at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds in front of the SLS. It goes down Sammy Davis Jr. Drive with a small detour down Wilber Clark Di West and back. There was only one water stop and that was at mile 2, but it wasn't even in the middle of the street for runners to hit twice, which would have been nice. There were some lights, but it could have been better lit in my opinion. The last 1/3 of a mile was in the Festival Grounds and you spent it winding around to get your last 1/3 mile in. I wish the course would have been something more on road rather than having to go in circles at the end.

Post Race After you crossed the finish, you got your medal, there was some water and some sort of supplement bar that didn't look appetizing and some pretzels and that was it. Considering the headliner concert got moved to Saturday after the 5K, it would have been nice to have some more food other than food for purchase available

Overall, it was ok. Maybe consider a better location, because you really didn't see the Vegas strip at all with the 5K. Good way to kick off the weekend though

So this was my first year doing RnR Vegas. I've done a few Rock n Roll Races this year and in the past, but never Vegas.

Registration: I registered through Raceit, but at some point it switched to active.com. The race itself is the priciest of the RnR series. When I registered, the half was $149.99 in July. If you register early (think a year in advance), it's $99.

The Expo: took place at the Convention Center Thursday, Friday and Saturday before race day. There were limited chances to purchase race day packet pick up for $40 if you couldn't make the expo. There were plenty of vendors (Garmin, local vendors, RnR gear areas, etc). Some of the vendor staff though were a bit obnoxious and too aggressive with trying to get people to stop by for their product. If I wanted to buy their product, I'd stop and talk with them. Fairly easy to get to by the monorail or an Uber

Pre Race: bag check and porta potties were available as were bananas, but the bananas were mush and not worth eating. A lot of runners were using bathrooms in the casinos before the race.

Corrals: separated into 3 waves, blue, green and yellow. Corrals were open for 30 minutes before they were closed off and waves corrals were sent off every few minutes. There were only 2 entry points (from the back and one midway through and there was security at all enterances as well as in the air, which I can't complain, however, there weren't enough entrances. People were attempting to get through to earlier corrals and stepping all over other runners. The other downside is once you were in, you couldn't get out and there were no porta potties once you got in there. Overall the corrals/start was a hot mess

The Race: flat course and easy to navigate. The start was in front of New York, New York, which was a change this year due to the Vegas shooting. The first 2.5 miles were dedicated to the Vegas Shooting victims and took you out past Mandalay Bay towards the airport before having you turn around and back down the strip. Between 3-4 miles, we passed the start and there were people still being let out of the starting gates. Between mile 4-5, we saw where we'd finish. You pretty much see the entire strip out and back if you do the half. Paris, Planet Hollywood, Caesar's Palace, all the fun stuff. We stuck with the marathoners until mile 11, where they split off. We got to the finish fairly early on in terms of groups.

Aid stations: every 1-1.5 miles or so. Water at every station and occasionally gatorade, though I wish there was more gatorade

Post race: you got medals, food, water and chocolate milk, etc. The bananas were again not worth getting because they were old. They had some sort of protein bar that didn't even look good. There was a merchandise section to buy stuff post race and areas to pick up the marathon jacket if you ran the marathon, the remix medal if you ran the 5k saturday and a Sunday race and a heavy medal if you've run more than 5 races.

Overall, I'd consider this a bucket list race. Some of the drawbacks include price and the start, as well as the amount of people. I also wish there was more gatorade involved at aid stations. If you have the chance though, do it!

Holy Hills! If you do this race, be prepared to do some hills. Usually the first weekend in October, it hit Sept 30 this year with the Spokane Marathon next weekend. Race started at 8 AM and is just north of Spokane.

Bib Pick up: at Colbert Elementary school on race morning, no expo, as it's a small race

Price: $40 includes a shirt and medal, $25 without a shirt, long sleeved this year. Jealous because it was sweatshirts last year

Course: Hills. Be prepared for them. At mile 2, a hill appears and goes up at a good 45 to 60 degrees incline for at least 0.8 miles. There were areas that were flat and then once you think you're in the clear, you get some more hills. It essentially became a forced hill work out for me. Scenic course, on pavement and gravel. Wasn't a fan of mile 6 where you went downhill on gravel side roads in Colbert, I felt like I was going to fall on my face the entire time. Miles were marked with smaller markers on the ground. Race was a loop course with the start and finish just in front of the Elementary school. Water stations were every 2 miles or so with water, but no gatorade.

Finish: timer was visible and you got your medal fairly quick. Water and gatorade were available, as were apples and that was it.

Overall, don't know that I'll come back for this one. I needed a race to help with marathon training and this one was local. Hills were crazy, too many types of surfaces that we were running on (gravel, pavement, sidewalk), on active roads and no electrolytes on course. I get it's a small race and on the cheaper side, but a little more to eat after the race would have been appreciated.