The 500 Festival Mini-Marathon is the largest half marathon in the country. It is held the first weekend in May every year.
What's Hot:
*The expo is amazing. Lots of vendors with lots to buy! It definitely gets you in the mood to run.
*The corral system is one of the best I've seen. Volunteers check your bib to assure that runners are in the right corral. There are still corral jumpers, but not as many as other races.
*Running around the Indy 500 track. Neat experience and historical. This year was especially historical with it being the 100th running of the Indy 500.
*Marsh Supermarket gives away plastic bags at the beginning of the recovery food. This way you don't have to hold your gatorade, your banana, your cookies, etc. all in your hands.
*The mile marker signs are easy to see and all give the running time of the race. There is a timer at the start line so you can easily see how many minutes have passed since the clock started running. Great for those not in corral A.
*The family reunion area has a lot of tents. Local running groups and stores have tents that welcome all the runners. Many supply food and drinks. Bands play in the beer garden. This is also good for the family members waiting on runners.
What's Not:
*The race is entirely too crowded. Being stepped on and pushed is par for the course well into the race. The track is the midway point and I was still being stepped on at that point. Very few runners in the race are even considerate enough to apologize. BIG NEGATIVE.
*The finish line did not have a medical tent nearby. You had to get through medals, recovery food, and pictures before the medical tent was available. It was a large area, but it was far into the family reunion area and not easy to locate. At the finish, no medics were around directing runners to the medic tent if they needed it.
*Traffic getting to the race is tough. It's at a stand still from all directions of town. If you get a meter, you only have four hours which doesn't really let you enjoy the experience of the race when you have to rush to the car after the race. If you can wait through the traffic to get a parking garage, it's not as bad.
*Beach balls being thrown into the corrals just before the start. The minutes prior to the race are for mental preparation, not for play, in my opinion.
Final Verdict:
Would I run this race again? No. Should you? Yes. Everyone should run this race at least once. The hoopla and the track are worth it once. Past once or twice, the crowd is too much to go through year after year.
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