Top reasons to run this race:
Plenty of porta-potties at the start/finish and on the course
Well-placed water stops
Great course through downtown St. Louis
The parade starts at Noon and there are plenty of food vendors along the parade route
Easy packet pick-up options throughout the metro area
Ample parking on race day
Great pre-race communication
Nice t-shirts

Full race review at: www.willrunforamedal.com

Pros:
Great pre-race communication via email and social media. Emails were both informative and entertaining. The pre-race emails were also broken into more bite-sized emails so that they weren't too overwhelming.
The expo was at St. Charles Community College, which was a bit of a distance from the actual race course, but it also allowed ample parking. Back when the expo was at Lindenwood University, I remember parking being an issue.
The expo had a lot of interesting and unique vendors. The Brooks trailer and the Alter G treadmill experience were outside in the parking lot.
You could sign up to become a MO' Bassador at the expo!
I worked the morning shift of packet pick-up on Saturday, and it seemed to go smoothly from my perspective. Some times were busier than others but I didn't really have too many questions so the process must have been pretty straight forward to runners.
Road construction affected our race day drive, but we were alerted to that in pre-race communication as well.
Shirt - The shirts this year were made by a company called tasc. The shirts were very soft and partially made from bamboo.
Super generous t-shirt exchange policy - If when you pick up your shirt it doesn't fit the way you would like, bring it to the shirt exchange tent (near the stage) at Runners Village on race day (sorry not at the ExMO'). If we don't have the shirt size you need, we will order you a shirt and get it to your local Big River Store to pick up. How many other races do that? We love our runners!
On race day, you were encouraged to arrive at the start early due to the road construction and to get good parking. We arrived around 6 a.m. for the 8 a.m. 5k and we parked right on Main Street by the shops. At that time, there was still plenty of parking available. I knew the gazebo had real restrooms underneath, so we parked pretty much adjacent to the gazebo.
I loved that this 5k was part of a longer day of races. You never felt alone because you were always surrounded by other runners and the cheering at the finish was pretty amazing! In fact my fiance and I came back around 1 p.m. and there were still tons of people in the runner's village and around the finish line.
Did anyone notice the similarities between the Rio 2016 Olympic medals and the MO' Cowbell medals?
The MO' Cowbell PR bell! I didn't get to ring it though :( At least I "won" a gold medal!
There was a coffee food truck this year!

Cons:
Love the shirt, but on race day I noticed that many of the 5k shirts were long sleeve and mine was short sleeve. There was no rhyme or reason because I saw both men and women in the short sleeve version and the long sleeve version. No one asked me at the expo what my preference was when I picked up my shirt, but I would rather have a long sleeve shirt if I had the choice. I still like my shirt and will wear it (unlike the USAF 5k shirt), but it wasn't communicated to me at all that I may have had an option.
I knew where real restrooms were located in and around Main Street, so I had no problems but the lines for the porta potties prior to the half marathon, relay, and marathon start were pretty insane. My step-dad did point out that the longer of the two lines was on the south end, probably because people were coming straight from the parking lots to the porta potties. The line on the north end was not as long, but was hidden by the runner's village. Regardless, I think more porta potties are needed. Maybe have another section of porta potties south of the Lewis and Clark statue to catch runners as they come into the park from the parking lot, but still have the section of porta potties close to the runner's village.
I know I mentioned this last year too, but the water stop on the 5k route is awkward and causes congestion because it is right at the top of a hill right where you make a hard 90 degree turn onto the Katy Trail. My suggestion would be to move it somewhere along that out-and-back before the hill. Water is definitely needed at that point in the race but the placement just isn't good.

Pros:
Three packet pick-up options
Great colored race t-shirt
Only race in Forest Park that benefits Forest Park
Pre-race Yoga
Post-race rolls, fruit, water, and COFFEE
Great scenery
Fairly flat - only a few small hills
Parking was a breeze
One water stop and bottles of water given to us along the route

Cons:
None!