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This ultra ran a 5 mile loop to start, the first mile of which was on pavement. Then followed two half marathon loops. It looped around all the trails in Heritage Park. The trails were beautiful and offered enough of a challenge to a beginner trail runner, enough elevation to be fun for an intermediate runner, and was not challenging enough that it would completely stall pace. I PRed my marathon and 50K on this race, and I consider myself an intermediate runner.
While the people were SO great at the aid stations, quick to offer support in getting anything I needed, the selection of fuel was minimal. There were Huma gels and Stinger chews, electrolytes, water, bananas, and oranges. I appreciated the gels and chews as they fit what I trained with, unknowingly. I wish there had been a more full spread of fuel options, as is common at other trail ultra races (i.e., PBJ, pretzels, more real food). In addition, someone ahead of me stopped at the aid station (there was one on the course loop) and asked for Vaseline to help with a blister forming. They did not have anything for lubricant. Could have been more prepared with first aid materials.
With a generous cutoff of 7 hours and 45 minutes, this race is great for anyone new to trail running or ultras! I do believe the distance was a little undermeasured. Many of our watches clocked in at 33 miles, which is a little bit too far for a watch's inaccuracies. Nevertheless, the trails were well-marked. Even with looping back and forth and following tight turns, there was plenty of tape and roped-off areas to make it clear where to go. A few people stopped me who had clearly taken wrong turns, but paying attention and not crossing the tape would keep you on trail.
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