Tatsuki Koyama's Staging Area

This is a review by a serious (not necessarily fast) runner going for a PR. I picked this race as it is known for a flat and fast course. “Having a good time” wasn’t why I ran this, so there’s no review about the scenary, t-shirts and medals. (There are other excellent and relevant reviews for those.)

1. Webpage.
1a. It’s a tiny detail, but there is an error on the marathon course map. The final 1/4 miles…. The actual course makes a left turn into a sidewalk at E 2nd st. It doesn’t really matter, but I wish the organizers paid more attention to it.

1b. Parking map shows where public parking lots are, but it fails to mention that the closest two to the start/goal line are not available on the race day. It’s probably obvious because these parking lots are on the course, but a little note would have been nice.

2. Race day logistics.
2a. Parking is plentiful. This being offseason, all public parking lots in Gulf Shores are available free of charge. I parked in the lot only 800 ft west of the start line. There were only a few cars 90 minutes before the start.

2b. There were 8 or so portable toilets at the start line, but the line was quite long around 7am. There are many restrooms in the area at the public beaches and public parking lots. It pays to study the area and know these locations. There are restrooms at Hangout, too.

2c. Being able to wait inside (Hangout) was nice.

3. Course
3a. The most of the course is inside Gulf State Park. There are very few spectators. At one point around mile 20, I didn’t see a single person between two water stops (2 miles). No fellow runners, no dog walkers, absolutely no-one. It felt like a speed work-out rather than a race.

3b. You run on boardwalks here and there. Toward the end, there is one stretch of over 1 mile of boardwalk. I didn’t mind it, but some runners complained about it after the race. You can do a test run on the boardwalk from the packet pick up location.

3c. At 7:00 ~ 7:10/mile pace, you get lonely from the get-go. It was basically a solo-run.

3d. The final 6 miles or so are shared with the half marathon course. There are some slow runners/walkers there. That itself was ok, but the boardwalk is only 6-or-so foot wide, and I had to do some zig-zagging, and I had to shout “on your left!” twice. This was a significant problem for me.

3e. Water stations are plentiful. Water and gatorade.

3f. Gels. I don’t care. You should carry your own anyway.

Overall, this was a very well organized race. A small, hustle-free, excellent race.

Why am I not coming back?

WIND. The final 3 miles were against rediculous head wind. True, the wind probably helped me earlier, but it wasn’t that strong at the start. The locals said winter wind was unpredictable, and my friend who ran this in 2017 had the same problem. So, I’m not going to take a chance and hope for a calmer weather. I will not run this marathon again.