Jana Rugg's Staging Area

The Charleston University Marathon was such a fun and memorable experience!

This race had a smaller, welcoming feel that made it incredibly enjoyable from start to finish. The volunteers and race staff were wonderful — encouraging, organized, and genuinely appreciative of every runner out on the course.

The course itself offered a really nice mix of city scenery (especially the beautiful capital building), river views, and the beautiful backdrop of the West Virginia hills. There were definitely some rolling sections that kept things interesting, but overall it felt very runnable and well supported throughout.

One thing I especially loved was the atmosphere around the university and downtown Charleston area. Packet pickup was smooth, the race day logistics were easy, and the finish line experience felt personal and celebratory. The students were all out there cheering us on with enormous energy!

Most of all, I’m grateful for another state completed on my 50-state marathon journey and for the memories made along the way. Every marathon has its own personality, and Charleston delivered a warm, friendly, community-focused experience that I’ll always remember fondly.

The Maine Marathon in Portland offered perfect temps and a gorgeous, hilly route from Portland to Yarmouth and back. There were lots of spectators as well as local schools and organizations on the course which was fun and the fall colors were beginning to emerge which was beautiful. Prepare for those hills! Also, we did the early start, and it was awesome!

Fargo is a cute and quirky town, a place I had always wanted to visit as a fan of the old movie “Fargo”. There is not a lot of great scenery there but they created a course that takes advantage of what is there. The race was well organized with only one glitch. Volunteers were encouraging back of the pack runners to SKIP a two mile out and back. That was frustrating and just not right. I had already completed the out and back around mile 15 when other runners shared with me that they were told to skip it. Hopefully this issue will be corrected for future marathoners. The swag and the expo were great and the course support fantastic. I definitely recommend for your ND marathon!!! Must see the Wood Chipper at the Welcome Center and check out an original Dairy Queen in Moorhead while your are there.

This is a large and very well organized race. The expo was great and race day info very clear. I was most impressed but fun and energetic crowd support throughout the course. Finish celebration area was also fun and high energy plus we got beanies at the finish. The medal is pretty plain but nice enough.

This was a well-run race! The course is mostly downhill and you have shade until about the halfway mark and then it is mostly sun with some shady spots. Most of it is running on the side of the highway but there isn’t a ton of traffic and the scenery is so amazing that I didn’t mind. Water stations every two miles and super friendly volunteers. The medal was gorgeous and we were all given fresh flowers at the finish too, very nice touch! Very small race, under 100 women this year. The men start 15 minutes after the women which is also a unique thing about this event. I highly recommend it! Only neg is that the road slopes and the slant was a bit challenging for my legs.
While in the area, plan to stay a few days and see Mt Rushmore, The Black Hills National Park, Custer National Park, Sturgis and Deadwood. Rapid City also has a darling downtown square.

This was State #31 for me and marathon #39! I loved everything about this race! The start at the soccer park gave us awesome views from the very beginning. There are cedar and pine forests, mountain views all around, we saw whales in the bay and I even saw a moose around mile three! 90% of this course gives you incredible scenery and although there are some ups and downs, I didn’t notice any huge climbs. We lucked out with temps in the mid 50s to mid 70s. The Northerners thought it was “hot”! LOL Those of us from Oklahoma were in heaven to experience summer highs in the 70s!!

I really enjoyed this area, having never been to Delaware. The course was well marked and very flat. I enjoyed the boardwalks we ran on as well as the beach views and cedar paths. The out and back with flags from every state and country participating was really cool! And of course, the Party at the end was crazy fun!