Harrison Seitz's Staging Area

Expo was at the St Paul River centre, next to the Minnesota Wild arena. The shirt is a black long sleeve which few people wore. Lots of smoothie and syrup samples at the expo, as well as a company testing your hydration levels and one that promised to improve your vertical leap by shocking your muscles (I added 1.5 inches to my leap)

The race starts next to the Vikings stadium in Minneapolis and runs counterclockwise for 15 miles, straddles the Mississippi for 4 miles, then heads east to the finish in St Paul. The only real shortcoming of this race was that the gear check table was so slow. I got in line at 7:30 for an 8am start time. 20 minutes later, with no end in sight, 25 of us panicked and set down our bags in a big pile, and the volunteers processed it just fine. Why couldn’t we just do this in the first place? Another minor gripe: there are no clocks on the course except for the finish line.

But the course itself was great. We straddle four lakes in the first 15 miles, although this means high winds. There are few extended straight roads in this course, everything gently curves so you can never see more than 1/3 mile ahead. Fantastic crowd support, with some spectators bringing dogs to pet. One guy even brought his 50 inch flatscreen down to the curb and played the Vikings game on TV for the spectators! Water stops were almost every mile, which I loved because high winds dehydrate me quickly. Mimosas at mile 3, some beer at 23, and whoever gave out free White Castle burgers at mile 22, you saved me.

You reach St Paul in the last mile and there is a nice downhill to the finish. Post-race party is on the lawn next to the State Capitol. Plenty of free local beers to use your beer ticket on.

This race boasts it’s the “best big city marathon”. I got similar Midwest hospitality vibes from Des Moines and Fargo, two of the highest rated small marathons. To scale the production up to one of the largest marathons in America makes this race a great pick.

Flights, race registration, and even hotels are super cheap in Myrtle Beach, making this a very budget-friendly 50 state options. Charleston and Columbia surprisingly don’t have a race anymore, so this is really your only big city bet in SC (I’m not counting the island marathons near Charleston).

Packet pickup is at Broadway at the Beach, a group of eclectic tourist shops and restaurants around a manmade lake. You get a shirt and a bib, and that’s all. It’s in a fun multilevel sports bar called the Hangout.

My hostel was near the airport, almost 4 miles from the start line. It stormed the night before and rained intermittently the morning of. I lucked out and got a ride with a nice couple from Fayetteville. Had I left my hostel 15 seconds earlier or later, I would have had to walk the 4 miles to the line, and potentially been late because I forgot that the race started at 6:35, not 7am. People park at Broadway at the Beach, and it’s a 15 minute trudge to the start line, including a stretch through mud. Nice predawn wakeup call at 6am. Note that there is no bag check at this race!

This is the simplest marathon course I have ever run. You start and finish near 10th Avenue North, and essentially run one giant rectangle. There are very few turns here, including 8 straight miles northeast on Ocean Blvd (the main street in Myrtle Beach). It’s super flat, but today it was about 60 degrees and >95% humidity, which meant incredible fog levels hid the horizon on Ocean Blvd. Aside from miles 8-16 on Ocean Blvd (mostly running past motels, T-shirt shops, and touristy restaurants), we run into two neighborhoods from miles 5-7 and 18-19. Most of the course is on two-lane roads, but the toughest stretch is miles 22-25, where we run on a path next to Grissom Parkway, a bustling boulevard with tons of traffic that stresses an average runner out.

We finish next to the Pelicans minor league baseball stadium, and you can sit in the stands after grabbing a beer and slice of pizza if you like.

Please either Uber places or rent a car. Don’t make my mistake and walk everywhere. The buses come once an hour here, but they ain’t running on Saturday morning, so I had to walk 4 miles back to my hostel after finishing my marathon. I couldn’t even Uber because they don’t have a bag check here, so I left my backpack at my hostel. Who needs to stretch when you have another hour 20 minute walk after you finish? *_* FML

I’ve been to 44 states, but this was the first time I’ve ever rented a car, because I flew to the HSV airport and there is no bus from airport to downtown. Huntsville is a beautiful midsize town, though. Rolling hills surrounding a fairly flat city, with all the charm of Tennessee and none of the nasty Bama stereotypes. The US Space and Rocket Center is just west of town, and reportedly this town has one of the highest percentages of PhD’s in the nation, from all the rocket scientists. This city also goes *hard* on their Christmas decorations (I’ll explain).

Rain threatened all weekend, but mostly held off and let up about 20 minutes into the race. The sun came out after 1.5 hours and dried up the roads! Most runners huddled in the conference center next to the start line, out of the rain, until it was time to start. Free parking in two garages .3 miles from the start, $5 parking closer, $10 parking right outside the start line. The free parking is limited to like 20 spots, so get there 40 minutes before.

This race had some of the best scenery I’ve seen in America…and some of the least crowd support. I saw maybe 5 signs my entire run. In addition to the marathon, there are 2 half marathon choices: the front half or back half. Choose the back half!! The first 13 miles are okay, running through a bunch of gently rolling neighborhoods before returning downtown at mile 11, but the back half was amazing. We run past the US Space and Rocket Center at mile 18, running past 50-foot rockets and excited army guys in combat fatigues. Then we run through the Huntsville Botanical Garden from miles 19-21, past two miles of Christmas lights (sadly not turned on). At mile 26, you finish by running around the lake at Big Spring Park, where over 400 locally decorated Christmas trees greet you before you finish inside a hangar at VBC South Hall. You get three medals for finishing the full marathon, and postrace food is so plentiful! Chocolate milk/cola/bananas/pizza/even some chopped potatoes in a cup (??) Take some pictures with the hundreds of Christmas trees and enjoy the rest of your time in Bama!

There are 4 GU stations around the course, roughly every 6 miles. You’ll want to hit every water stop before 20 miles because they are sparse (up to 2.5 miles in between at some places). Cola was given at mile 18!!

I was hoping to see some reference to this summer’s viral country hit, “Rich Men North of Richmond”, at the race today. Sadly, I didn’t, but this marathon lived up to the hype in every other way.

The race expo was at Richmond Raceway, which is 3 miles outside downtown. It was bizarre having an expo in the infield of a racetrack, but there were plenty of vendors and even a live band, and it was a fun time.

It’s kind of difficult to get to the race by car, since so many downtown roads are blocked off. Beware that the half and full marathon start lines are 8 blocks away from each other, so don’t join the wrong line.

All said, the course is great. The race exits downtown after 2 miles and into some neighborhoods. The leaves are exploding into yellows and reds at this time of November in Richmond, and the mile-long paved riverside trail at mile 8 is breathtaking. There’s not too much else to highlight about the neighborhood-heavy course, except the hills are gentle. We re-enter downtown at mile 16 to dozens of cheering soldiers in camo, and swoop in and out of downtown repeatedly before coming back for good at mile 24 and finishing next to the American Civil War museum.

This marathon bills itself at “America’s Friendliest Marathon”. I don’t know about that, but the plethora of race snacks are clutch. Gu energy gels are offered repeatedly starting at mile 12, along with several other snacks like apple slices, gummy bears, cola at mile 16 (!), and a few shots of beer.

Y’ALL I finally had a shot of fireball today! I took one to the dome at mile 19. It burned a hole in my chest for 30 seconds, but I still got my second-best marathon time ever, so it must not be too deleterious to your performance.

lol I was so tipsy by mile 19 after a fireball and two beer shots. It’s such a flex to run right past police officers with a stupid grin, your breath reeking of God’s liquid gift to man.

(a reference to the local MLS soccer team)

Honestly one of the best produced races I’ve run so far. The expo had plenty of vendors, posters encouraging racers to write down their home city or favorite song, tons of free samples, and the sweetest golden retriever who begged people to pet him. The emerald green race shirt looked really cool.

Race started at 7am. I walked about 30 minutes from my hostel to get there, and the sun rose minutes after the race srart. Even though the website said bag check would close 30min before the race, they were still accepting bags 20 minutes before.

The race started on the west bank of the Willamette River (which splits Portland in half). We ran the first five miles in the early-sunrise skyscraper shade, and it was really cool. Some knucklehead driver got so angry at a road barrier that he actually drove into a teenage race course volunteer, hitting her in the knees twice. Stay classy, Portland.

At 5 miles, we dipped across the river to circle around the Trail Blazers NBA stadium, then ran back. We returned to the west bank, passing the finish line at 8 miles, then crossed to the east side again around 10 miles.

After a brief stint on a highway and another bridge at mile 12, we ran mostly through neighborhoods for the next 10 miles, with a beautiful tour through Reed College at mile 18. From 21-25 miles, we ran through an industrial area on the east bank, the only scenically meh part of the course. We crossed the bridge once more at mile 25 and finished on the west bank.

Sadly, I didn’t get the result I was hoping for, because I either hit the wall or hit too many hills. But the weather was almost perfect and the crowd support was great. They had GU stations at almost every aid station from mile 5 onward (never seen that before!) Every mile marker after mile 3 was clearly marked, and the race ran smoothly. This was one of the prettier city courses I’ve ever run in. Just watch out for the hill at mile 22-23, it’s a killer.

Why did this race cost $135 for virtually no production value? Expo was small and crowded; swag only included a cotton tee shirt with cringey distressed shirt decals; aid stations were too few and far between with not enough water, volunteers, or trash cans; not many spectators and no music along the course; and they didn’t even have good security near the finish line (kids and dogs wandering in front of your path in the final 200 meters).

The free postrace Grotto’s pizza buffet and THREE beer tickets sort of made up for it, though. MFs were getting plastered at the postrace party thanks to all the free booze.

Rehoboth Beach is a nice little beach town of 5k people with candy and ice cream shops, boardwalk arcades, and lovely beaches. The expo was a mile away from the beachfront, in a too-small convention center. Don’t try to park in its parking lot! Every space was full. Instead, try parallel parking on the street nearby. The street parking is free until May 15th. The swag consisted of a beer glass and, as I mentioned earlier, an olive cotton T-shirt with the shirt decal graphics butchered in a failed attempt to make it look cool. No coupons or bumper stickers or free samples at the expo. Just a glass and a shirt.

Marathon started at 7am, and I was still able to find street parking half a mile away 15 minutes before. About 500 runners. Race started and ended on the boardwalk. It was about 60 at 7am, but it had rained yesterday, and was super humid the first few miles. The highlight of the run was through Cape Henlopen State Park from miles 3-10. Absolutely gorgeous sunrise misty wetland vistas. Aid stations roughly every two miles. Didn’t seem too bad at first, but after 10 miles, things got rough.

See, aid stations often only had one table, so you could only pick up one small cup of water with like 3oz at a time. The last trash can after each table was placed far too soon, so it was impossible to finish your cup in time, leading to a lot of litter. The first ten miles was decently shaded, but around mile 12, the course spit us onto the black tar roads, where there was virtually no shade, insufficient water stops, and no respite from the black tar heat for 8 miles. It was only 72 degrees, but the sun and tar did me in and I slowed to a shameful walk around mile 17. Around mile 20, we finally got to a shaded forest with gravel, and I ran from mile 21 until the finish.

Other reviewers are talking about how easy the course was. If it had been cooler or cloudier, I would agree–it was very flat. But the sun + tar + no shade + not enough water combo messed up a lot of people.

Naturally, the weather grew cloudy, cool, and windy around 2pm. Just a few hours too late to save us.

Ah, the duality of the Kyoto Marathon: one of the best in some ways, one of the worst in others.

Sign-up is a hassle for foreigners. In August 2022 they said the application will strictly close at the end of the month, with a possible lottery. Then they extended the deadline until October because not enough runners, and made me re-sign up. The Japanese website thinks “application” means “registration”, so I kept waiting for an email to tell me that I was accepted, but then the website shut down for maintenance for SIX months and they offered no email updates. I came to Kyoto not 100% sure I was even accepted into the marathon.

As the other guy said, at the expo they make you sign health forms. Few Japanese people speak English, but I was grateful that the volunteers had tags that said which languages they could speak, so I knew who could help me in English. Disappointed that they didn’t give us a free Kyoto Marathon shirt to wear (they had some at the expo for $25, but they looked like crap, like if your mom’s church group designed a shirt). After packet pickup on the first floor of the building, you’re forced to go UPSTAIRS and weave through an endless maze of local businesses hawking their products. At every American expo I’ve been to, you can just grab your packet/shirt and slip out, but here, you are paraded along a roped-off route, past like 30 businesses, none of which even concern you if you aren’t a local.

Race day, it was raining and 55 F. Miserable rain, but pretty good temperature-wise. We started on the athletic track at Takebishi Stadium, and finished near the Exhibition Center 3 miles away. Gear check had already closed when I arrived 20 minutes before start, but they took my bag graciously anyway and transported it to the finish line.

Raceday pros:
-On the application form, they let you write your name in Katakana Japanese and print it on your bib, so several fans saw my name in Katakana and screamed my name. So cool!
-The view of the mountains and creek around 5-6K was phenomenal. Nice forest/mountain aura around 9-11K, a scenic river we cross at 20K and again around 35K, and several temples and shrines. We went through the historical botanical gardens near 27-29K, with geishas at 28K. When drummers banged on ancient drums at 11K and a few other times, that sent chills down my spine.
-Crossaints were offered several times starting at 17K. This will save you if you are a wall-crasher. Aid stations were clearly marked as to water/energy drink/food. The signs even tell you how many of each table there are (i.e. “This is water station 4 of 6 in this aid area!”)

Race day cons:
-I started with the 3:45 wave, which was gridlock for the first 4-5 miles; I couldn’t advance even if I wanted to. Probably a smart idea for them to not have a water stop until 6K. This gridlock cost me 3-4 minutes. Kyoto streets are narrow, the buildings are drab grays and browns, and there are hanging power lines everywhere in the city.
-No music playing, aside from the cool drummers.
-In America, 4 hour marathoners keep running through the aid stations and pick up water cups in stride. Japanese MFs love to slow down to walk unexpectedly at aid tables. Really chaotic when they all do this at the very first aid table, zero thoughts given for anyone behind them. I crashed into a runner who casually walked across the path without looking. I should have said “sumimasen” (sorry), but I wasn’t sorry.
-The first marathon where we didn’t run under a timing gate at the finish. Pretty anticlimactic, just a few timing pads, no speakers, no fun banners. Really sucks because there was a 30-foot Meiji-era gate that looked like 开 a hundred feet behind them, why not finish under that?!?
-Bag check at the finish line was confusing. Someone at the finish told me my bag was in zone 13, but no rhyme or reason how they divided zones. You just had to ask. And once again, after collecting your bag, you were shepherded through a tightly corralled building, through a single doorway that created congestion, past skeptical security guards, and up an escalator (?), past a floor with 200 dudes all sprawled on the floor changing their shirts at the same time, before they let you leave. Oh geez, the smell! Just let us leave already.

TLDR: Crowds were great, cool mountain, river, and temple views, moderately navigable as a foreigner, but a logistical mess in several ways that made me miss American marathons.

This race had some of the best and some of the worst production I’ve seen out there.

Race starts at 6am just outside the Husky football stadium at the University of Washington. It won’t get light for another hour in late November, and even if you are blessed with a dry day like today, the leaves around miles 8-11 will still be very slippery. We run across a bridge in darkness near mile 2 where you can see the Seattle skyline. From miles 3-7 we run on a closed down highway. Then, at mile 8, all hell breaks loose. The half marathon starts at 7am, and at mile 8 for marathon, we MERGE in with the half-ers who are at mile 2. Forget about trying to stay with a pacer. You will get stuck behind slower half marathoners repeatedly for the next 2-3 miles. Thankfully it shakes out by mile 10, but at mile 12, a new horror: you do an out-and-back for 3.5 miles each way, on a bridge over the bay. The bridge is ~12 feet wide and 7 runners could probably run side by side. But there are people coming back the other way too, so watch out! You will feel super claustrophobic and lose your pacer AGAIN since there is no room to run. Thankfully, the crowds cleared out by the time I turned around and headed the other way. But I’m sure there were 15-20 minutes of chaos as throngs of runners going out squeezed past the throngs returning.

Unfortunately, there were not enough volunteers at the aid stations (this is a recurring problem). You may have to grab your own cup from the table or bump into someone else. The aid stations had water and Nuun, but both cups tasted like water to me, and neither gave me energy, so I hit the wall at mile 23, slowed down to walk, missed my 4 hour goal, and flew back to Chicago defeated. But this race scored big production points for the ending, finishing inside Husky stadium. Although walking up the steps to the concourse was difficult after the marathon, there was SO much food including several energy bars, bananas, yerba mate, hot ramen, and hot apple cider.

This is the largest marathon in West Virginia, with 165 finishers this year. Packet pickup was in a local Baptist church just east of Marshall University. The expo was very small, but all shoes were half off (and I loved that the stereo was playing “Come Out and Play” in a church).

Race starts and finishes next to the football stadium, at 7 am. This year, it fell on the same morning daylight savings time ended. If this happens to you, keep the time change in mind so you aren’t an hour early. Plenty of free parking next to the stadium, but the gates close at 6:30.

The race started with a cannon boom (which terrified many runners). It was a double loop around Huntington, and despite it being the “Marshall University Marathon”, we only ran the last mile on each loop on the campus. It was definitely the best part. The rest of the course was on drab, old roads, many of them going past industrial buildings. This may be my first race where we didn’t run through neighborhoods. On the south end of each loop, we ran next to a park, but this was even worse because there was SO MUCH SMOG there in the morning. Remember, this is coal country. The AQI was 107–“unhealthy for sensitive groups”.

Not a great course, and the fan support was spotty outside of downtown, but I forgive them because Huntington is a small town (45,000). An aid station at mile 14 ran out of cups and had nothing to give us, but I forgive them because they acquired more cups by the time I came back 10 miles later. Most aid stations were pretty good, but bring your own gels. They don’t hand them out.

The best part was the finish: you run inside the football stadium and they hand you a football. You run to the opposite 20 yard line, then back into the Marshall endzone. That was fun! And the free postrace food was great: fresh burgers and chocolate milk and smoothie samples and beer.

I drove 9hrs here in 2021 just to get rained out, so I flew this time. I am too cheap for Uber, so I tried to walk everywhere I needed. Don’t do this. I walked about 10 miles this weekend before I even raced. The bus system only gets within a mile of the airport and the packet pickup location (Sanford Fieldhouse). Packet pickup was once again in a basketball court in the Fieldhouse. Race swag only gets 2/5 stars because WHY did they give me a black long-sleeved shirt for a race on August 28th. This was the first race I have ever seen zero people wear the shirt. Can’t imagine why; it was 69 at race time with >90% humidity.

I didn’t park, but I think there were still some parking spots at the start line (Howard Wood Field) at the start. Bag check was in the stadium, on the side opposite from the finish line. I was impressed with the Sioux Falls course, a clockwise loop around the city almost exclusively in parks, greenways, and neighborhoods. Running through Falls Park at mile 5 was a highlight, and miles 17-24 were alongside a river. There was almost no running on roads, which was great. You finish by running around an athletic track in Howard Wood Field, and the announcer calls your name. Plenty of stands to sit in post-race, but all of them are in the sun.

The course was great, the crowd support was okay, but I wish they had more water stops. They were only every two miles. And WHY do so many marathons forget to put up a mile sign in the last few miles?? There was no mile 24 marker here, just as there were none for 17, 20, or 23 in Denver. Takes a mental toll on the runner when they never see the next mile marker.

I don’t understand the hate; I thought this race was pretty good! It showed off many different parts of Denver, which was great.

Packet pickup was in the inside concourse of the Broncos stadium, which was awesome. There were so many different energy shake stands there handing out free samples and even free bags of their product.

Start and finish was at City Park on the east side of Denver. We ran west, mostly on Colfax avenue, for the first half, and then east for the second half. We run on the river greenway around mile 4 and again on miles 20-22, Sloan Lake from miles 8-11, and even downtown from miles 22-24. Cool moments including running through a Denver fire station with a dozen cheering firefighters at mile 4, and running onto the edge of the Broncos field TWICE at mile 6 and mile 20. There were several young Chinese people doing a dragon dance at the edge of Sloan Lake, and they brought SO much energy to their dance, I loved it. I yelled ”你们都很漂亮!” (you are all so beautiful!) as I ran past, but they couldn’t hear me over the drums. Oh well 🙂

Plan for the sun: you run west and it will hit your neck for the first half, and you run east and will need sunglasses for the second half. Hills aren’t bad here. For flat state runners worried about the altitude: research says you will only get 83% as much oxygen in each breath at Denver’s altitude compared to sea level. However, this Illinois kid had no problems with it. I think it’s because I was never really running at full oxygen capacity. Your mouth dries very quickly if you mouth breathe, though. And altitude effects may affect different runners differently. I’m just saying that for me, it was not a problem.

Two things I loved about the production were the 6am start for marathoners, and splitting up marathoners and half marathoners. I loved that they knew it could get hot, so they started the race at 6am, the earliest I’ve ever seen. I was so grateful at the finish. And it was nice to have elbow room at the start because the half marathoners weren’t there. One thing I did not like: mile markers 17, 20, and 23 seemed to be missing. It’s demoralizing to run far more than a mile past the last marker, and still see nothing.

My first Rock n Roll race. They definitely brought a great party atmosphere to Nashville. We started near Broadway in downtown, and ended next to the Titans stadium. I can handle hills, and to a lesser extent the heat, but the combo of heat (up to 80 F) and hills today was too much for me to handle. I slowed down at mile 21 and walked most of the rest of the way. And I had never slowed down to walk in a marathon before (this was my 10th).

What a great tour of Nashville, though. The course did a great job of touring the city, hitting up Broadway, the State Capitol, the riverside, Belmont/Vanderbilt, and finally the Titans stadium. Plenty of DJs and a fair amount of live music, and the volunteers did their best with water/gatorade/iced sponges/water-soaked towels. Just beware, we run into a park around a lake called Shelby Park from miles 20-23, and this park CLAIMS LIVES. Specifically, there is a hill we must run up twice that is like a 30 degree angle. Please save some energy for this park.

Parking is first-come first serve in the Titans stadium parking lot. Marathon started at 7:20 am and you could still find a spot almost up to start time. There were about 23,000 total runners across the races, I believe.

The packet pickup is adjacent to the capitol, but “Capitol Green” might not show up on Google Maps and the capitol security guards don’t really know either. (Pro tip: follow the music). The marathon course is a double loop around the town. The first two miles are in downtown, then we head out past Jackson State University. We run north, mostly on 40 mph hilly roads, and through one neighborhood, before coming back to the capitol. Roads are in phenomenal shape, and the police did a decent job of directing traffic. Previous reviewers complained about mile markers being off and unclear directions, but this year there were separate mile markers for loop 1 and loop 2. They fixed this issue. And I never was confused on the direction. Just follow the orange and/or yellow cones and you’ll be fine. I would advise you to drink at every aid station, because they are only every two miles, even in the home stretch.

Big ghost-town vibes in Jackson. Virtually nobody out downtown on Friday night or race day. This means almost no fans or supporters besides water stations. There were 2-3 blues musicians, but not quite the Beale Street-like blues atmosphere I hoped for. No loudspeaker music on the course except the start/finish line. I only saw one homemade sign (“May the course be with you”). A fire-and-brimstone preacher yelled at me that I would someday stand before God in judgment, coupled with signs of photoshopped abortion images too horrible to repeat. Really nauseating to see that 10 miles in, and AGAIN at 23 miles.

Rolling hills, comparable to Tulsa but slightly easier. Post-race food was small cups of beans and rice which was tasty. Some guy postrace said his watch only registered 25.84 miles, and I see another review that agrees the actual distance is sus. This marathon is still a BQ, but if that really bothers you, go somewhere else in Mississippi. I like running in big cities, and Jackson is by far the biggest in this state, but good grief it was lonely without the support. That’s my main reason for 3 stars.

I woke up at my home in east Illinois and drove to Indy the morning of. Very bad idea. I forgot the time change, so instead of an hour to spare, I had 3-5 minutes before the race started. Thank goodness for the parking right next door to the race! There is a parking garage at 220 North Senate Avenue that is 3 stories and free all day, and there were still multiple spots minutes before race time. Park here if you’re from out of town!!!

We hit all the Indy landmarks either at the start of the race (Colts Stadium, Monument Square) or the end (State Capitol). In between, we mostly ran through nice neighborhoods and along roads with moderate traffic. It was indeed very flat, like other reviews say. 2 or 3 hills around the 10-15 mile stretch, but that’s it. Since there are 4000+ marathoners, be prepared to weave constantly for the first 7-8 miles. I missed my PR by 40 seconds and that might be why.

The coolest part of the race was miles 17-18, where we ran through a gate and into a sculpture park that turned into a business park. Everyone was saying “Boiler Up!” which annoyed me because I’m a University of Illinois grad student. I said “Go Illini” back to one of them, and he burst out laughing. What’s so funny?!?

Crowd support here was decent, but I think it was better in Fox Cities, WI and Portland, ME. We ran past Butler University on mile 17, and feeling lonely, I yelled “Go Bulldogs” at some guys wearing Butler shirts. THAT got them cheering for me like I was one of them 🙂

Hoosier trivia from miles 19-21 was cool. Signs with fun facts about famous Indianans definitely took my mind off the pain for a few miles.

Overall a solid race, and it dwarfs every other marathon in Indiana in size, location, and importance, so put this one on your 50 state bucket list. This was marathon #6 for me, and it was great, but nothing really special. My one complaint is the roads. Pretty much every road in Indianapolis is cracked and spitting out pieces of asphalt and ugly. I wish they would fix the roads, but that’s Indy’s problem, not this marathon’s. We ran past the Governor’s mansion around mile 15, and I yelled, “Mr. Governor, please fix the roads!” I hope he heard me.

I traveled from central Illinois to run this race. This is the only marathon in Maine that’s accessible by public transportation. Everything else, you’d have to rent a car to get there.
If you’re a low-budget travel runner like me, fly to Boston-Logan airport first, then take a bus up to Portland ($25 or so each way). There is only one affordable place to stay within 5 miles of the start line, and that’s the Black Elephant Hostel, about 1.2 miles away. Everywhere else on the Portland peninsula is like $300/night for some reason. Since the Black Elephant was the only cheap place in town, there were 3 other marathoners also staying in my room!
If staying at the Black Elephant, book EARLY! Reserve a spot in June or July. They were sold out when I called on August 18th. Luckily, one bed opened up a few weeks later.
If you do have a car, there is tons of free parking at the Hannaford supermarket right next to the start line.
It was drizzling and ~55-60 F almost all race. You start and finish at the Back Cove park on the north side of Portland, and you run north for 6.5 miles if doing the half, 13 miles for the full. Running within a few hundred feet of the coast the whole time, with plenty of trees on either side of you. It was beautiful. Some minor hills, but nothing crazy. And for every uphill, there’s a downhill.
There was a minor sideways gradient on some of the road for a few miles around 7-10 and 15-18. Take this into account for your stride, so you don’t hurt your ankles/knee ligaments by running unevenly. But it’s not that steep. Just a small consideration.
Overall, I loved this course! You run past so many houses, and everyone comes out to cheer you on. Considering Maine is a small state, the crowd support here was awesome, and it feels soooo good to transition to gravel/dirt paths for the last mile into the Back Cove, which takes stress off your knees.

I drove 9.5 hours from eastern Illinois to run this marathon. The night before the race, there were record floods, and the morning of the race, they cancelled the full marathon because many parts of the back end of the course were flooded. I was devastated and I felt sick. 625 miles of driving alone, for this.
They still ran the half marathon, though. I shrugged and decided to run that. I took all the energy I’d been saving for my marathon, and ran a 12 minute PR for the half. Oh well.
The half course was pretty good, though. You run through downtown a few times, and loop past Falls Park, which is Sioux Falls’ pride and joy. Great crowd support and the finish line was on a track, with the announcer yelling your name. Most of the course was parks and downtown, so you don’t really run through neighborhoods at all.

*a month later, I wondered, why did they have to cancel the marathon? Why couldn’t they have just run the half marathon course twice over?

This was the final race of my career with HPU club running (and my last race for two years). I did the half marathon, and somersaulted over the finish because it was grassy. It was a trail marathon, with some very narrow dirt trails here and there. I think they could have used another water station or two (there might have been three total?) and definitely one more near the end. I was pretty gassed because the bumpy trails do a number on the knees. But this is a general trail run gripe, nothing specific to Owls Roost. Maybe I just hit a wall, but I SWEAR the last two miles was more like three miles. I was running FOREVER before I finally got to the finish. And my time showed it. I usually run like low 1:50’s for half marathons. Oh well. Nice trail run, but no extraordinary scenery. Just classic NC forests.

*TONS of free canned beer at the end though. A lot of rarer craft beers too. I grabbed four or five different brands on my way out 😉

This was my first marathon, and I had never run more than 18 miles. I rode 4 hours here with my running club team from High Point, NC, and we rented a vacation home on the beach and hung out all weekend. Race expo was in a local middle school, and had plenty of vendors and merchandise.
As the title mentions, I did a floss dance before the start of the race for good luck, and miraculously I finished. My IT band in my hip was so tight for a few miles, but I ate a Gu for the first time at mile 7 and everything healed like magic. Also, someone gave me Mountain Dew when I was struggling at mile 21 and the pure sugar was another magic energy boost. The crowd support along the course was average, but we finished in downtown Manteo and there was definitely a party going on there.
Scenery included running past the Wright Brothers Memorial around mile 8, a forest from miles 10-13, some nice coastal neighborhoods from miles 16-20, and a two-mile bridge from miles 22-23. Everyone said it was a steep heartbreak bridge that forced you to walk, but maybe that Mountain Dew kicked in because I crushed it. On the bridge, I saw pelicans diving headfirst into the water below to catch fish, a pretty scene that still brings a smile to my face. The last mile was suspiciously long (seemed more like 1.2 or 1.3), but otherwise it was such a beautiful, emotional experience.

Starts and ends in downtown High Point, and since it’s the second Saturday of September in North Carolina, expect a cooker. Other than downtown, you get some nondescript 30-40 mph roads to run on, and a few decent hills. Not too memorable. I just remember that I was in an all-out sprint with my running club teammate (and roommate) to the finish, and I beat him by two seconds. You can pick up your packet on race day, and free parking is just a short walk away. Probably some Gatorade and chocolate milk at the finish line, I can’t remember.

This race was both a 7 miler and a 30K. Salem Lake has a 7 mile loop, so the 7 mile race=1 lap. It’s a strange distance. Most of the first 6 miles is packed dirt trail near the lake, and then there is a MASSIVE hill in the last half mile that many people walk up. But if you survive that, the downhill will cannonball you to the finish line. It’s so satisfying to finish in an all-out sprint, and I overtook one woman in the last hundred meters when I ran this in 2017. In the heat of competition, I growled, “I’mma hunt you down” right before I passed her. Afterward, I cringed at my monstrous muttering. Adrenaline will make you say weird things.

Beautiful trails, but not a whole lot of markings showing which path to take. Not a whole lot of race production (the only time I’ve ever had to stop at a stoplight during a race, because traffic was not blocked off.)
It was pouring rain the last two miles, and I don’t recall very clear markings on which way to run. I just guessed at a trail or two in the last few miles.
And this is a 20k, not a half marathon. The race website says 20k, which is 12.2 miles. I thought it was a half marathon when I ran it, and was confused when I saw my time, which was 5-10 minutes faster than I knew I was capable of running in April 2017.

How did I even run this race? Still waiting for the ESPN documentary on my comeback…

I pulled my quad muscle in my right thigh BAD, a week before the race. I was part of High Point University club running, and I consulted the team physical therapist 2 days before the race, who said I had a pulled quadriceps but didn’t ban me from running it. I went for a run that evening, and I was pretty much crying from pain and gave up at mile 4. My gait was so uneven, I limped like a rocking horse just 48 hours before race time. And yet, I got up, ran the race, and everything was perfectly fine. Whatever lol

Enough about me. Early December race, and it was right around freezing. My 2017 review has better detail, but we ran in neighborhoods for 4 miles, crossed into Wake Forest at mile 5, went down a huge hill at mile 6, went back up it at mile 8, Wake Forest again from 8-10, wound past a school and some houses before finishing next to the YMCA. I only got 1hr57min, but I was stunned that I even finished.

My first half marathon. I was 18 when I ran this, and actually I started a minute or two late. My back left knee ligament hurt all race because I undertrained. But it checked all the boxes of a big city race. Starts and finishes downtown, runs through a few scenic neighborhoods, plenty of water stations and music on speakers, cars rushing past you on a half-closed road. I think we ran around Uptown for the first five miles, then ventured into Myers Park between 5-10, before heading into the city the last three miles. Myers Park is one of the prettiest neighborhoods in Charlotte, so enjoy. Back in my day (2015) it was called the BB&T Corporate Cup. Only two finishers in my age group (about 1200 finishers total), so I stood on a podium at a postrace ceremony with some kid who had beat me by 40 minutes.
*My ears were more sensitive back then, and my funniest memory is that some dude was CRANKING “Pour Some Sugar On Me” on a speaker at mile 11, so loud that I could feel it vibrating my ear drum. I actually ran faster, to get away from the deafeningly loud music!

3rd year in a row running this in 2014. A lot of my memories for this one blur with 2012 and 2013, but once again a nice day, great turnout, start and finish in downtown Davidson, run through a greenway and a few neighborhoods. I think Run for Green has been around since 2006, so one of the classic LKN 5k races.

I ran this again in 2014. Got a disappointing time again. Oh well. The charity was a great cause, and the production was great, with a block party feel in the parking lot of North Meck High School. IIRC, you start on Alexandriana Road and cross the I-77 bridge almost immediately, then run on Mt. Holly-Huntersville to Old Statesville, and finish up on Hambright Road by sneaking in the back entrance of NMHS.