Carmel half: 3.31.18

     Jill and I traveled to Carmel, IN for the 8th Annual event.  This is one of the best half marathons Jill and I have participated in.  Even though they doubled their participants from last year to this year, it did not affect the quality and they were very prepared for over 5,000 people to attend the full, half, 8K, & 5K.
​     The week of the race I was very impressed with the amount of information that was sent via email to participants.  These included everything from the new course map, to parking, to what our race bib numbers would be. They also made sure everyone knew the expo had a new home at Carmel HS.
     The expo ran from 11-9 at the high school. It was the only way to get your shirt/bib as no same day pick up was available.  There were a lot of vendor booths set up, if I would guess probably 25.  Several of those were half marathons in the area.  There was ample  amount of parking so we had no issues at the expo.
   The race was to begin at 8 am so we left the hotel to arrive at one of the four designated parking areas by 7 am. We arrived at the lot that was an 8 minute walk to the start and it was almost full. Thankfully we did find a spot at this one.  We walked up to the start area at 7:40 and had no issues finding some space to get stretched out.  The race started right next to a large building called the Palladium. At 7:50 announcements started, 7:55 national anthem, and race started right at 8 am.  Sound system was excellent as there were several speakers to hear the music and announcements.
     The actual race was great.  Very little elevation change and plenty of Gatorade/Water stations.  Jill and I were very impressed with the amount of first aid stations, porta jons, and safety personal on bikes throughout the race.  Most of course ran through the outskirts of the downtown area through neighborhoods and city roads.  There was quite a few people out along the course cheering us on.  The course was excellently marked with arrows and mile markers and there were a lot of police officers blocking traffic.  Several roads had cars driving along side of us at low speeds. The finish line was right back to where we started at the Palladium.  We were handed our finisher medal and a bottle of water.  A Dean’s milk truck was just a bit further down and we both got a chocolate milk. There were several vendors set up after the race. I had a couple Jack’s donut holes and we both hit up the pancake booth.  That was a first for both of us and boy did that hit the spot.  We also ran into a few fellow tri-state area runners (Chastity Hertel, Lori Wagner, and Jimmy Girten).
     Overall we had a great experience and we highly recommend driving up to Carmel to participate in 2019!