Independence Series - NJ

This was not a race considering no awards were given for speed, and there were literally only seven people (out of 45 entrants) actually trying to run the whole way. The vast majority of participants were walkers. The course consisted of an L-shaped road less than a mile long. Participants went back and forth of this road 28 times (i.e., 14 laps). To keep track of laps you had to stop at a table to pick up a rubber band at the end of every lap. No timing chips were used. Despite the short course, half of it was open to cars. The course was very rolling with about 1500 feet of total elevation. There were no hotels close by (they were all at least 12 miles away) and no arrangements were made with any host hotels to give a discount to participants. Speaking of costs, the registration fees were $100-150--definitely on the high side for such a no-frills event. Considering this was not a race and it involved 14 mind-numbing laps, you'd be better off driving to a state park with a car stocked with a few bottles of Gatorade and doing a run on your own, timing with Strava. You wouldn't get a t-shirt and a medal, but if you are even considering an event like this, you likely already have enough of those!

My family and I were able to spend most of the day in the park here after the race and the scenery near the course was breathtaking (it was good on the course as well). The nature of Mainly Marathons caters to joggers and walkers rather than runners but there was a water station almost every mile and I had a good time running there at my own pace. The course is moderately hilly throughout and had 12 laps.