Mill Creek Distance Classic Review

Hi Friends! Thank you so so much for all your wishes and congratulatory words on my second half. I read every tweet, blog and facebook comments and they all mean so much to me. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

I thought it would be fun to start reviewing my races since I guess this running thing of mine is going to become a regular gig I’m going to try and cover everything, but if I’ve missed something that you’d like to see my touch upon during my next race review, just leave me a little comment!

Mill Creek Distance Classic Race Review

Cost: $25-$30. I’m pretty sure that this is pretty cheap for a half marathon.

Race Expo: None. This was a tiny half with 326 people, so a race expo was not included (I didn’t expect one either).

Packet Pick-Up: You could pick up your packet and bib the day before or the morning of. You had to pick up your chip the morning of though (which I didn’t find out until I went to pick up my packet the day before). I had no problem with lines the day before or morning of, so it was all good.

Chip Timing: Yes — but it was a chip you wrapped around your ankle. You gave it back at the end of the race and only gun time was used — no net time.

T-Shirt: Yes — long sleeved technical shirt. I noticed that all the bags had different colors. Mine was red. And the medium was way too big but I forgot to bring it back with me in the morning to see if they had any smalls.

Bathrooms: Prior to the race bathrooms were not an issue at all. There were four porta potties and two indoor restrooms as well. That might not sound like a lot but the lines were fine. I also saw one porta potty along the course — but really, the whole course was in woods, so you could go anywhere

Bag Check: None. I didn’t really expect this either due to the size of the race, however, I wouldn’t have used it any since John was with me.

Course: 19 hills. Enough said. No, actually, the course was beautiful. The Mill Creek Metroparks really are a gorgeous place with streams, a river, and the snow covered trees were pretty too. You really should train for hills if you want to do this race though. Oh, the course was long too… about 13.5 miles. Oh, and mile markers were hardly visible. I only saw mile marker 6, yet, I know another person only saw mile marker 8. A third person, however, saw about 6 different mile markers, so who knows.

Water Stops: There were 5 water stops along the way where both water and gatorade were offered.

Volunteers: The volunteers were wonderful! There were plenty of pleasant, helpful volunteers handing out water/gatorade and directing us throughout the whole course. When I received water, the volunteers were always speaking encouraging words that were so nice.

Crowd Support: None. Other than the volunteers on the course there were no fans. The course was entirely through the Metroparks and all access roads were closed off. John and I were really hoping he could park at a particular parking lot and see me three times throughout the race — this became a bust race morning and I only saw him at the start and finish of the race.

Course Entertainment: There was a flute player that we passed twice as well as a pick-up truck with music blasting that I passed twice. I thought the flute player was pretty cute and appreciated the music from the truck.

Finishers Medal: YES! You all know how disappointed I was that there were no finisher medals at my first half, so this made me so happy.

Post Race Food: There were apples and bananas along with bread/bagels and peanut butter for you to make a sammy. There were also a post race past dinner at a local restaurant that was free for half marathoners and $5 for others. Obviously since I’m GF I couldn’t enjoy most of these foods, but I thought they more than outdid themselves.

Overall Value: $25 seems really cheap for everything I received from this race — shirt, medal, food, police support. I’m guessing it’s a cheaper race because it’s so difficult??

Recommendation: If you want a challenging course, with the weather as a surprise, this is the course for you! Also, you have to not mind basically running alone or finding a runner friend while you’re on the race course.  

Think you’d run it!? Hope you enjoyed my first race review — this was pretty fun to do!