Space Coast was my second full marathon and overall I had a really good time. Started off going to the expo on Saturday, which was pretty underwhelming to be honest. Not a lot of vendors or options. That may be a good thing because it meant I spent less money but I would have liked to have a better expo. I kind of expected it to be a little bigger because it's a larger race for Florida.

Race morning started out a little haphazardly because the bus drivers to and from the resorts got lost and were late arriving to the host resorts. That part could have been better as well. But once we got on site everything was a lot smoother. The pre and post race festival area was nice and an open space for runners to hang out. The space theme was very popular and they had plenty of photo ops for space related photos which was cool. Even sending us off in the corrals had a space themed "blast off" which was unique and interesting!

The one thing about the start I think they could do better is to split up the half and full marathoners on the north course. They let everyone off together, which makes for a crowded first part of the marathon. My shoe came off twice because multiple people ended up stepping on my feet, which I think could have been avoided had they had separate starts for the half and full marathoners.

The course was nice, it went by the water for the most part which led to some beautiful sunrises and dolphins playing in the water. If you are deciding between the two half courses I would recommend the south course over the north one because the north course has more hills. This course is definitely NOT as flat as it is billed, maybe to someone coming from another state it is, but for someone living and training in Florida I was unprepared for the small hills on the north course. However, it was a really good course overall and there were plenty of water stops. One thing I didn't notice that much of were medical stations. I didn't really notice any until the second half of the course. That could be because I wasn't looking for them until then, but I think they could have had more on the first half.

I would recommend this race but just caution runners to be prepared for some delays in the morning if you are taking the race day transportation and a crowded first half if you are running the full marathon.

The race was amazing and so much fun! I loved the expo, there were tons of vendors and plenty of options. The official shoe was gorgeous (so I bought it of course) and I love that Mizuno is the sponsor of this event. There was plenty of entertainment on course and it was the most well organized large 10k I've ever done. The waves had a good amount of runners in them but there were no backups at all on course and I didn't have to swerve around any people while running. I think they were very much organized by time submitted which was a good thing. The swag was good- I only wish they gave a medal instead of having people purchase it. I didn't purchase it initially because I was apprehensive about quality and lived to regret that decision because it was gorgeous! I hope they have some extras left over.

The course was really great, going right through the heart of Atlanta and had lots of cool things to see. I stopped along the way to take some pictures. There was plenty of entertainment.

Transportation was a bit hellish because there were so many people on the platforms for the MARTA and we had trouble getting on the trains. However, that has nothing to do with the race directors. I would just recommend getting to the MARTA stations EXTRA early on race day. We arrived right as our corrals were letting off and had to run to get in before they started the race. The good thing about that is we didn't have to stand in the corrals a long time before we started!

As for the post race party, it was a nice area to hold all the runners and they had lots of good stuff that they were giving out. I only wish there was an option to purchase an add on ticket if you have a spectator with you so they can get into the post race party as well. I ended up skipping the post race party because my boyfriend couldn't get in since he's not a member of the track club. But I don't think its really necessary to make everyone a member if they aren't runners. There should be an add on ticket for like $15 or $20 for non members to be able to get into the post race party to hang out with the runners as well. Maybe limit the amount of food and drink non runners can have to make it fair.

I would highly recommend this event though, as it was well organized, fun and seemed to go off without a hitch!

This was my first time in Pittsburgh and I came solely to run the half marathon. I had heard mixed things about this race from bad reviews to good, but I went into it with an open mind and wanted to form my own opinions. I LOVED this race.

The course: The course was really good- rolling hills some with varying levels of difficulty and the steepest hill at mile 11, which was tough for someone not used to hills. But the challenge of this course made my PR all the more sweet! It was definitely a hard race, but I came away with a win and loved the fact that I got to tour Pittsburgh on foot. The scenery was pretty good- its very industrial, so maybe not as scenic in terms of sunrises/really cool architecture as some other places, but the city definitely has its charm. I loved how much city pride Pittsburgh natives have. Everyone was wearing black and gold and I did too to get in the mood.

Crowd: It felt like the entire city came out to support the runners which was cool. There weren't many parts that were accessible to pedestrians that didn't have someone cheering on the street. Everyone held signs and high fived strangers. Several people were handing out gummi worms, candies, alcohol, water and other goodies to the runners should they want them. There were even a few people who came out in costume (a storm trooper and a t-rex notably).

Medals: The medal was really cool- it was heavy and pretty sizeable. I do wish they did the same thing I've seen from prior years where the city was on the medal- I think it's cool when there's a nod to the city on the race medals. However, this was their tenth anniversary which was the reason behind the large X on the medal. It's still a high quality medal in my opinion.

Expo: This was a pretty good expo. There were plenty of booths giving out free samples, they had some drink samples, there was an abundance of official merchandise to pick up and they had a cool wall where you could write Why I Run. Nothing seemed too overpriced in the official merch tents so I appreciated that. They even had their own shoes made by Brooks.

Organization: It seemed like a really well organized race. Corrals were easy to get to and even though they only had 4 corrals for 40,000 runners, it went smoothly on race morning. There were plenty of aid stations with both water and gatorade and medical personnel out on the course. They had two stations with gels in case runners needed fuel. I didn't bring my own water and was fine throughout the course. The course was very well marked and they even had cute signs welcoming you to the various neighborhoods in Pittsburgh which was nice for people from out of town like myself who didn't know where they were.

Extras: Bag check was well organized and free which is nice. There seemed to be plenty of photographers on course, but I'm still waiting on the official photos to be released to see if they got good shots of me. I don't like that they use Marathon Foto because that company is so expensive its kind of ridiculous. They had plenty of food and amenities at the finish chute and pretty clear directions on how to get to various areas after the race. I didn't visit the after party because by the time we got done waiting on our friends to finish and stopped chatting we wanted to head out.

Overall, this was a really great big city race experience and I would definitely do it again in the future!