Brooklyn is always an expierence! A HUGE race with one of the most fun finishes (Coney Island Boardwalk). It tends to be in May so weather can be hit-or-miss. Ran it 2 years in the rain and one year in 80 deg heat (got a sunburn).

The course is decent. Once you get out of Prospect Park, it's a breeze. It can get really quiet and lonely on the trek out to the boardwalk and with little shade it can be brutal in the sun. While it's fun to feel like you've travelled during the run (as opposed to a shared/nearby start-finish line) getting home from Coney Island can take a while. If you have someone who will meet you out there and pick you up - great! Hubby did that the first year and then said "never again" haha.

Expo is usually very lively but can also be a pain to get to if you're not using public transportation. And iirc, there's no pick-up morning of which for a procrastinator like me who has to drive an hour to the expo it's a little inconvenient. But I keep signing up for it! It's nice to have a Saturday race option in the area.

Very easy to get to with ample parking- out and back course on the Bronx River Parkway which many know from Bicycle Sundays or the trail that runs alongside it. If you've run the trail, you know how crowded it can get so running on the actual parkway is a lot of fun. The hills were a little tough - it was also my first 10k in 2016. But they're not as intense as some other courses I've run. A nice, quiet atmosphere that doesn't really feel like a traditional race since it is on the smaller side but fun nonetheless!

We needed a proof of time for a fall half and this one fell on a weekend we could actually make before the cutoff. We travelled from downstate since it seemed like a really unique opportunity for a cool concept race.

The two loops of the park & surrounding area was fun. I have to be honest, after doing runDisney races and some others in zoos/stadiums, I have to say, I dislike the "behind the scenes" portions. I know it's unrealistic to think that you can fit the entire race into the park but some stretches seem like forever when there's not much to look at. I'm also not a huge fan of repeating loops. The announcers at the loop start were very encouraging and fun but a lot of the course was quiet. Some team members from the park were on the route cheering but it would have been cool if they allowed spectators.

It was a very warm day and the hot, red powerade was a bad choice. The lack of port-a-potties made this an issue. Even though we started well before park opening, we still had to wait in the staging area for the actual park to open. We took a walk back to the car to get our clothes and what not before heading in. The lack of changing places left something to be desired. I can't recall if someone tipped us off or we stumbled upon it but we ended up at the water park's bathrooms which gave us an opportunity to rinse off and get dressed. By the time we were done the lines were crazy!

The ride option was fun - they even gave a list of how many times you'd have to ride each coaster to meet your 5k distance of track. Everyone wanted to ride the Comet since it's nearly a mile long and you could bang out your 5k quick. As the other commenter wrote, it was down for most of the day. Some just stuck it out and waited in line while others rode smaller rides just to get their millage in. We were somewhere in the middle, did our shopping/eating first and when we exhausted those options we returned back to wait for the Comet to open. Hubby's not a big coaster fan so the fewer rides, the better. Thankfully we got right on as it reopened and were even able to stay on for one of our other rides since a lot of people weren't aware that it had opened.

We decided to leave after that and also had an issue with "leaving" just to "re-enter". Feels like that could have been streamlined a little more or the coaster verification could have just be set up inside the park somewhere. Overall a few hiccups but a lot of fun. Probably wouldn't do Lake George again but would definitely do the series in another park.