Amanda Stevens's Staging Area

I picked this race as it has a great mission helping the Children’s Hospital. Overall, it is the 2nd year of an “up and coming” race with a lot of potential. The post race party was amazing with a ton of food, drink, and energy. The medal is huge if you are into that.

I flew in at 10 the night before so was unable to attend the expo. I walked from the hotel to the start. There is no gear check, but they were very kind to hold onto my shirt and coat until after the race. The volunteers were wonderful.

The start and end location is very unique and I enjoyed the atmosphere. There were no suggested pace times or corrals at the start so it is a bit chaotic, and easily fixed in the future. The race is hilly, and I appreciated the change from flat races. The aid stations were great and plentiful, with Gatorade and gels. One odd thing that occurred is at one point you cross the exit of a highway, and the cop was stopping runners to let the cars through as they were antsy. The race might have to alter the course for that.

The results are posted immediately, but not age groups. In order to determine how I placed in my age group, I had to go back to the hotel and download the results into a spreadsheet and sort it myself.

I highly recommend visiting the Civil Rights Museum while in town, it was impressive and very nicely done. I’m glad I picked this race for MS!

This was my race to check off Rhode Island. It was two loops, really beautiful and weather was great. There were about 400 runners, so small but good because the trails can be narrow. Volunteers were terrific! Course is just beautiful, harbors, farms, etc. Parking and packet pick-up were super easy and right near the start.

The water stops are a bit further apart than I used to, and gels/electrolytes were only available at one aid station (run by twice). It would be better if gels were at one and electrolytes were at a different one. Even considering this, I would do it again and just prepare differently.

I’d recommend this one for Rhode Island!

I ran the back half and there were some real positives and some ‘good to know’ considerations.

The expo was fine, the shirts run very small (meant to fit tighter) and they were running out of clear drop bags, so I had to ask for one and the volunteer said – do you really need one, because we are running out. Um yes that’s what I paid for! Some at the start never got a bag for the drop and were not happy.

The course was fine, hills up and down but I liked the uniqueness. They did a great job with bussing and being able to wait inside before the race is a huge plus. I did not like finishing inside on a slippery floor but can get over it. The aid stations were great and I really liked the silicone cups. Plenty of gels too! The post race food was good.

If you run this, I do not recommend the Embassy Suites. I am a Diamond Hilton member, and although it is very convenient, my room was very old and not ready when i arrived at 4pm. Normally being top status I can easily check out one hour late, it requires payment here (first time in 5 years traveling for races once per month). They weren’t very nice, and when I left there was a septic leak in the parking garage. There are other hotels I would recommend within walking distance.

So overall it was a great race, and if you stay in a different hotel and they order enough bags, it would be perfect.

I ran the Half last year and decided to do the marathon this year. Overall, the course is beautiful, not easy for me given the climbs at elevation, but I was only using it for a training run.

Being from out of town, the expo wasn’t the easiest to find and i almost missed it as I had to go directly there from the airport. Then I asked about gels at the start(forgot mine) and the volunteers said ‘probably’. It was so late I ran around for an hour trying to find some and didn’t. Then at the start they did have them.

At the start, it was cold, and they announced 2 minutes until race time. I properly discarded the heat blanket I brought, but then we heard nothing – and the race actually started 17 minutes late. That’s a long time to wait when you’ve been told 2 minutes with no further updates. There were 6 port-o-potties at the start, which were not enough. Get on the first bus!

I was in no hurry and finished in 5 hours. The course was open for 6 hours. Even so, there is points at the end where you have to cross the road with traffic and about 1/2 mile before getting there I watched the police leave, requiring me to stop and wait for traffic. Not cool.

The volunteers are wonderful. Never short of water, power aid, or gels. The best part of the race!!

The medals are great and the shirt is okay – better last year. The womens runs small – size up.

Overall, a nice marathon, tweaking a few things could make it top notch!!

The Madtown Half was a great rolling course starting and ending at the Capitol. There was plenty of water and Gatorade at all the stations with gels at mile 8. There was no expo, just a packet pickup with no clear bag provided (provided morning of race if needed). Free race photos were fantastic!!

Overall it was a nice race with few spectators but great volunteers. We had a great time after, using the electric bikes and touring the area. It was a nice weekend!

I did the weekend series – the 10k and the Half. What perfect weather! It was such a huge production, very well done. First, the swag was the nicest ASICS jacket Ive ever received at a race, a tshirt, finisher long sleeve shirt, 3 medals and two boxes of BioFreeze. The expo had many vendors and you could test drive a BMW.

The start/finish was incredible with huge screens, cars, and great announcers. Every detail is thought about – from the fireworks during the National Anthem to the BioFreeze station. The city lights up with Marathon messages on the building and runners around Reunion Tower. So neat!

It’s a nice course with the uphill at the beginning and the downhill in the back half. I dropped a glove and someone sprinted to me to get it back – really nice runners!

It was a great weekend as well with many places to visit and easy public transportation. I recommend this one as a great destination race. I’m hoping to come back next year!

I only ran 22 miles intentionally. However, I liked the course, going through the Broncos stadium and through other points of interest. It was tough for me as I live at sea elevation, so 5k elevation with some inclines did make it notably harder than normal.

There were some places that were a little tight like the trail, but it did not impact me at all. I moved aside as the front runners were going past.

Water and Gatorade stations were frequent, gels only at 6&20 but I brought my own. I would say it had decent crowd support. Overall a fun weekend!

The organization and swag is great. I think they listened closely to feedback from prior years. I love downhill races. This felt downhill until Mike 10. I know on paper it still goes downhill but there are several ups to that as well! And it did get really hot running in the full sun. However, I anticipated that coming in and adjusted my expectations. If you’ve never run here, the scenery and course are beautiful! I would recommend it – for the challenge.