SHORT VERSION: Overall, I enjoyed this race! Easy parking, nice sparkly medals, and a view of downtown Dallas at sunset.

LONG VERSION: The Trinity River Run is a night race with 3 distances - half marathon, 10k, and 5k. There was also the option to get an extra medal by doing the Skyline Challenge, which was basically any combination of the distances: 10K + 5K, HALF + 5K, HALF + 10K, HALF + 10K + 5K! The 10k had 4 different costs, ranging from $54.99-$79.99, depending on when you register. I got in at the 2nd tier at $59.99. If you also register early enough, you get your name on your bib! The bib, btw, was longer than usual - I had no problems pinning it on my shirt, but it could be kinda weird for someone with a shorter torso (I'm 5'2).

I arrived about 15-20 minutes before the 10k start at 5:30pm, so I didn't bother trying to park in one of the free lots and, instead, went to the neighborhood nearby and easily parked about 1/2 mile from the start. No problem-- short warm-up jog to the start! Each race started at a different time, which was absolutely necessary, since runners start on a bridge that can be a bit of a bottleneck at the beginning (according to the results, there were 578 people who finished the 10k). The half marathon started at 4pm and 5k at 5:45pm.

The run was entirely on pavement-- either road or sidewalks. There was just a little bit of elevation change since we ran across 1.5 bridges (the middle of a bridge was the turn-around point!) and took a sidewalk path down to a creek. There was one part of the race that had a big puddle of water - I stepped to the grass on the side to avoid it, but almost slipped in the mud (and my left shoe still got soaked). Perhaps one of those orange cones might have been good there? I typically run with handheld water bottle and don't need a refill for a 10k, but there were 2 water stops that had sufficient water/Nuun and volunteers. Although the race was at night, I didn't have any problems with light. Some people were running with headlamps, but I don't think it was necessary.

The tech tee looks pretty cool (haven't tried it on yet). I don't run races for the medals, but this race had some pretty cool looking medals, IMO! The half marathon medal is bigger than the 5k and 10k-- when I saw them at the finish, I kinda wished I were running the half, lol. They're all shiny though and have the outline of one of the recognizable Dallas buildings. There's a complimentary beer ticket attached to the bib for people who are 21+, but I didn't hang around for a beer. The race also includes complimentary photos, although there was a post-race email that said it should take ~1 month before the photos would be ready. Bummer, but I guess that's the trade off for getting free photos?

Overall, I enjoyed this race and would run it again! Maybe I'll do the half marathon next year...