I've wanted to run this race for a few years now and finally did this past weekend. I didn't run this as a race at race pace, but approached it as a long run part of my training season and came in near the end. Beautiful course! There was a lot more shade and flat areas than I was expecting. Nice surprise! -About the first 4 miles are in Ashland neighborhoods. -Just before mile 5 you venture out onto some rolling areas among farm land. You're in the sun. -Around mile 6 you go through another little neighborhood and get some shade again. -After about 6.5 you're back to the large open farm lands and back into the sun with some little pockets of shade from random trees. -Around mile 8 you get some shade back here and there. -Mile 9 is sunny -Mile 10 takes you back onto the shadier areas for the rest of the course, few pockets of sun. -Mile 11 brings you a hill. From then on I feel the course had a gentle incline after the larger hill at mile 11. -A good number of people line the course towards the second half of mile 12 to help bring you to the finish line. Lots of friendly volunteers! There was a group of young ladies at the water stop just before mile 8 as full of energy as could be. They brought a large smile to my face with their loud chant of "MILE 8, DOIN' GREAT!" Thanks ladies! You should win the volunteer spirit award :) No fuel is given out on the course, make SURE you pack your fuel. From mile 10 on there is a water stop in every mile with both water and sports drink. This is a GREAT alternative to large city/suburban road races. There were 1,238 runners this year according to the results. Highly recommend this race. read more

A very well run race (no pun intended) and the price was not outrageous. Ample parking, chip timing, nice technical race T-shirt, enthusiastic volunteers at water stops, scenic (to me) course, and nice finish line amenities. The course was flat for the first mile and then it was rolling hills. You benefited from some downhills on the course and there was a good amount of shade too. Some suggestions for improvements would be additional porta-potties, more flavorful energy gel on the course (I didn't like the taste of what was handed out) and take out the mile long hill, haha. I would run this race again and plan to next year! read more

This was my 6th half marathon. The volunteers were great and the race was well organized. However the lack of entertainment on the route and the 'no headphones rule' made this race much more difficult than it should've been. The scenery was 13 miles of corn fields, while beautiful, is not very stimulating. I understand the rule against headphones since there were cars driving on the route; I would suggest having local bands or churches provide some entertainment at points during the run to encourage runners. read more