Re: Event Reviews

guest — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:32:57 GMT

I ran the full marathon. I enjoyed much about this race. There was great community turnout. Great bands. Great provisions: Gatorade, water, sponges and toilets. The military presence and support of them was electrifying. I was warned to get to the venue 90 minutes before the race to park, so I did. No problem.

The course was good, flat fast, interesting enough. Just one major detractor: Around mile 21, they route the 1/2 marathoners back onto the same road as the marathoners. They started an hour later, so we had a mob of 12 to 13 minute/mile halfers 15 abreast across the road, thousands of them, while us 7 3/4 to 8 3/4 per minute marathoners tried to get through them during our last miles. Nothing against the halfers, the organizer put them there. You can not have 13 minute runners clogging the road where 8 minute competitors are running. If there was a 3 1/2 rating I would give it less than 4 stars. Meanwhile the competitors in the 1/2 had their own problems, as they got off course and had to run an extra mile or so, effectively invalidating the race results.

I would not recommend this race if competing is important to you. I was 3 1/2 minutes from a 2nd Boston qual. If I didnt have stop and go traffic the last 4 miles, who knows? If it's just another stone soul picnic for you, go for it. But not good for competing, unless they fix the problems over the next year.

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Re: Event Reviews