Lola's Lake Waconia Half-Marathon

This was my first time running Lola's, in part because this is only the second year of the half-marathon's existence. Those who ran it yesterday were reminiscing (not particularly fondly) about last year's weather, which was hot and humid. I suppose one benefit to our slow summer warm-up this year was a beautiful Saturday morning for a very challenging course.

Starting and finishing in downtown Waconia, blocks from Lola's Lakehouse, the course is hilly. I thought the Minnetonka Half was hilly. Nope, not by comparison. Lola's is just packed with rolling hills, sharp inclines, and miserable grinders. But you've also got a beautiful view of the lake for a large portion of the race and a comfortable number of participants.  My only complaint was the starting procedure.  As Lola's hosts a half-marathon, a 10 miler, a 5K, and a half-marathon relay, there are a lot of moving parts to understand race day morning. The half-marathon and 10 miler started 10 minutes apart.  I had friends who did the ten miler and their experience was that they "wandered/ran several blocks before running over the starting time pad." They didn't really understand where/when the race actually started.  The half-marathon start was a bit smoother but we still wandered around some before actually arriving at the start line.  I'm not sure what the remedy would be, fewer individual events, better directions about starting locations...

I liked the size of Lola's.  Some half-marathons are so huge they're unwieldy and the check-in and get-out processes are just a nightmare.  But Lola's is a smaller race with the same amenities (if not better) as the larger races.  The race shirts were cute, the medals were nice, the water stops were stocked and supported by friendly faces. All racers were invited to a post-race celebration at Lola's for drinks and lunch, something that is untenable with the larger races. It makes for a friendlier, small town feel, and that's a welcome comfort after battling those gnarly hills! This is one I will definitely do again.

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