With all of the uncertainty in this COVID environment, I applaud the Omaha Running Club and the Heartland Marathon Committee for putting on a great AND safe event for the runners and spectators. Once again, 'lightning struck' but this time it only caused a 20 minute delay. To 'BB from PA' who made comments on 2019, the 2019 event was called off due to several lightning strikes while runners were on the course. Additional lightning strikes were showing on radar. They made the correct call for the safety of everyone then as well. Hands down the best of the 3 marathons in Omaha. Accurate course, good communication, nice medals, food, instant results posted live during race and most of all the safety of runners and volunteers taken into account. This year was a 2 loop course. The volunteers were awesome at aid stations. So much better than the HITS Omaha Marathon. Sign up for for this event and support the LOCAL ALL-volunteer organization!!

The race was black flagged 30 minutes after the full marathon and 15 minutes after the half marathon started. Why? I'm not sure as 8 hours later this has been no email from the organizer and only a brief statement noting "unfortunate weather conditions" on their website and Facebook page. The unfortunate weather...rain! No lightning and temperatures in w mid 50's!! In fact within an hour of the cancellation the rain stopped and the conditions became ideal for a marathon. At the start line the MC bragged that runners came from 30 plus states to run the race. I was one of them. So for a total of roughly $1000, I got 7 miles of race support, two cups of water and a very expensive, albeit nice, tech shirt! My advice to anyone looking for a race in Nebraska who is from out of state, run any other race. My advice to the race organizer, if you need ideal conditions to stage your race, disband!!! I suppose that every runner on the course has trained in far worse conditions than we ran in today!

Although, it is a small race (just over 100 running the marathon, +half, relay, and 10k), it was extremely well organized.. The race starts next to the Missouri River and there we hit some hills running through Omaha before hitting the flats of a lot of parkland in Iowa. Indeed 21 miles are in Iowa. Frequent water/Gatorade stops were welcome. It was a good choice for me in my 50 state quest.