Packet Pick Up: There is no expo. The pick-up is hosted at a local running store, and this year the hours were only 11 am - 6 pm on Wednesday & Thursday for this Saturday race. They also allowed you to pick up your packet starting at 6 am on the day of the race. This appears to be what all 4,000 participants chose to do (myself included), so there were long lines and not enough volunteers. Very slow process.
Bag Check: It was 20 degrees (F) outside so basically everyone needed to check something. They had like 1-2 volunteers working the bag check tent so the line was extremely long and slow.
Race Start: There were 3 corrals for 4,000 people. My friend in the last corral only started 10 minutes after I started in the first corral. They did not space people out at all. Additionally, one of the course leader bicyclists showed up 20 minutes late. So the race started 20 minutes late! They claimed this was also to allow the ridiculously long line at the bag check to get to the start.
Course: This race had a new course in 2018. I liked some of the changes, however, the course map on the website did not designate these changes. So, I was running blind as I had no idea where it would be going and they only had small signs indicating turns. Naturally, there are always people to follow, but I like to know what to expect before starting running & normally that is not too much to ask. The 10k followed the same course at the half marathon for the first 5k. Then, the 10k runners did a u-turn and ran back along the lake front path in the opposing direction of the huge mass of runners. There were simply too many runners on the course, so the 10k runners did not hardly have space on the path to run the second half of their race.
Finish Line: They gave you a medal & a boxed water in the finish chute. Then, you could walk 300 m to some tents to get grapes, a granola bar, and Portillos Italian beef or a hot dog. The beer offered was Bud Light despite Lagunitas being advertised. There was a band playing, photo backdrops, and a few vendors at the finish line party.
Swag: I do really like the blue quarter zips they gave this year. They are a bit thin, but a nice synthetic material that will be nice to run in.
The race has potential, but unfortunately All Community Events really messed up on the management of this one.