Jeff Rohleder's Staging Area

Ran the half marathon. Some random thoughts before race review.

Would be interesting to hear race directors thoughts on having a marathon in the middle of July.

Came to town 2 days before race to try to get use to the 9,000 foot elevation. Didn’t help much.

Aspen is a really nice small town with beautiful scenery but very expensive. Can see why the hotel / food prices would deter some potential out of town people from entering.

Now for the race.
Weather – marathon started at 6. Half marathon at 7:30. Clear and low 50’s for both with temps rising about 6 degrees an hour once the sun came up – about 8 am. Rather warm and sunny for back half of course.

Start / logistics – race director did an amazing job. Full started in a park in downtown Aspen. Started right on time. Half started about 8 miles out from downtown. Shuttles were provided to start line and ran smooth with no delays. Half started right on time.

Race / course – first 2 miles pretty much downhill then gradual downhill for about 7 more miles. Then at mile 9 to 11.5 some pretty nasty uphills. My garmin ended up clocking in at 13.5 miles. They changed the course a couple of days before to end in a new park. They claim the distance was the same but not so sure.
Course runs along a paved path along the river and was what you would expect scenery wise. Really nice river views, Mountain View’s and homes.

Finish / after party – finished in a new park. Really nice area. Food was great and beer available. Shuttles back to town were right on time and easily available.
Race workers / volunteers were nothing but great.

So final thoughts.
Excellently run race with 3 races starting in three different places all starting at different times without a glitch.

Course length? Would like a double check.

And finally for the bling. For a half marathon I really don’t care if we get a medal. But thought the medal was really pretty small and cheap looking. Thought the full marathoners deserved a better finishers medal. Running shirts were nice.

So glad I ran it but not on my repeat list

See my review from 2019. Same race, same course. Didn’t have it due to Covid last year. Great year end race. Good to have it back live.
Once again everything was great except the hey stopped the beer mile. But the chili and beer at the after race were good.

Grand Circle Trailfest is 3 trail races in 3 days on three different terrains on the edge of three National Parks.

The races are limited to 650 people and it sells out within a month so if you are thinking of doing it register early.
The race hq is a park in Kanab Utah. Kanab is used since it is approx an hour to an hour and half away from the start of each race. Lodging is camping in tents set up on the baseball fields in the park. So after an early morning drive to the start line (if you don’t have a car you can buy a shuttle pass and ride a shuttle to the start lines and back). So following review of all three courses.

Day 1 – Bryce Canyon. Really interesting run. The course is length was listed as 12.6 miles but ended up as 14 miles. During the next day course briefing the race director tells you that the length of each race is ish as in 12.6ish. They can change the course the day before due to logistics issues.
So the first 8 miles of the Bryce Canyon trail was single file rolling hills with rocky scree, roots and rocks. The last 6 was basically 5 miles of straight uphill switchbacks. Then a mile of downhill switchbacks.
The elevation was 5,000 to 9,000 feet which made the uphills even more challenging.
The Bryce Canyon run was the hardest

Day 2 – Zion National Park – 10.6 miles. Trail was wider and flatter than Bryce Canyon. More downhill and way less elevation than Bryce Canyon. Trail had some rocks and roots but not nearly as bad as Bryce Canyon.
Easiest of the three runs.

Day 3 – Grand Canyon North Rim – 11 miles. Sand. Sand. Sand – did I mention sand? Mostly deep sand with stretches of shell rock to run on. Really nice views of the Grand Canyon and Colorado River. Also run on part of and Indian Reservation. Mile and a half of running thru a deep canyon was really nice.

The camping / race hq – four days of camping and event. Every night there was entertainment and reviews of the races. Very well done. Food was adequate for running. Volunteers and race staff were exceptional. No issues at all. All questions and concerns handled immediately.

On the down side and as a point of consideration- this is difficult hard trail running. It is not flat paved running. Courses are very challenging and can be dangerous. On our day one Bryce Canyon run a experienced trail running woman slipped on the course hitting her head and ended up dying on the course. So if thinking of doing it train on trails and altitude if possible.

In closing – after each run we schedule tours of the National Parks. If you want to do tours be sure to book them early before you go as every tour we took was sold out.

Did the half marathon. Full is two loops around. Stayed in Vegas. Did package pick up Day before in Henderson. No problems. Held in a sporting good store about 20 minutes from Vegas.

Race day – drive to start was about 40 minutes from Vegas in Boulder Dam national park. No problems getting there. Parking was easy and right next to the start. Small race so no crowds.
Start line – probably 300 to 400 people total for both half and full so everybody just lined up where the wanted. Very calm and nice.
Course – first 5.5 rolling hills on mix of paved and solid dirt roads. Some steep inclines / declines. About mile 4 to 5 course runs thru old railroad tunnels. Pretty cool. The whole first 6 miles you are doing a slow climb. The view over the edge of the hills overlooking Lake Mead was really nice.
Mile 5 to 9 are pretty nasty. After finishing the tunnels you head down down down for about 1.5 miles ending up at turnaround on top of Hoover Dam. Down includes stepped switchbacks. Then hitting turnaround it is back up for about 1.5 miles. Last 4 miles are mostly downhill / flat back to the finish.
Really nice scenery the whole course.
Small race and course support was fine. Basic water stops with water and or some sort of generic Gatorade.
Medals were nice if you are into those sort of things for finishing a half
Overall – really nice race with great scenery and a chance to get out of Vegas and see other parts of the Vegas area. Final thought – after doing the hills once on the half marathon course glad I decided to just to the half. If you are going to do the full train for some steep hills

Great late Nov race in Brown County / Bloomington In.
Called the Hilly Half for a good reason. Solid long steep hills.

From the beginning…
Weather – this race is always cold. Starts at 9 am. Mid 20’s cloudy and breezy. Waiting for the start of the race can be a little cold
Medium participation. Probably 300 people in the half. Also have 5k and 10k but they start later so don’t know the numbers for them.
Easy package pickup race morning.
The course – as I said before – long steep hills. The first 3 miles are straight up hill. Then rolling hills for miles 4 to 7. Miles 8 to 10 short steep up and down hills. Then 10 to 13 back down the 3 mile uphill from the start.
Race is in Brown County park in Bloomington and scenery was really nice. Once you get to the top of the hills many overlooks of the park / area below. Really nice. Usually the view is of trees changing but this year due to cold weather and snow it was a mixture of snow and falling leaves.
So great workout and course but a bummer downside.
One of their advertised selling points of the race is a beer mile at mile 12. One of the major sponsors is a beer company. This year any half marathoner that took over 1 and half hours missed the beer mile. They were out of beer. If you are going to use it has one of your selling points for the race you may want to have enough to go around. Pretty disappointing.

Finish – great food. Chili and tomato soup, cookies, breadsticks. And yes – beer and Bloody Mary’s.
Large medal for a half if you care about this things for a half. (Mike S).

So all in all great race if you don’t crave promised beer at mile 12.

Start at the beginning….
Race is in Henderson about 20 miles southwest of Vegas.
Package pick up was at the start / finish hotel so required day before drive to Henderson to pick up bib. They have day of pick up but discourage it.
Race day – race starts at 7 out in the mountains of Nevada so you have to take a shuttle out to the start line and run 13 miles back in. Shuttles start at 5 am so it was an early morning.
The start – really nice start out in a park in the mountains. First 6 miles are hilly. First mile all downhill, second mile all uphill then rolling hills for 4 miles. Once you hit mile six the course is flat all the way to the finish. The course is run completely on refurbished rail road line and bike path. Scenic and nice.

The finish medal is the biggest half medal I have ever seen. Obnoxiously big. Nice cotton t shirt no running shirt.

Rest stops were well manned and frequent enough.

So all in all a good half to do if you are in the neighborhood.

Ran this 3 years ago. See my previous review. Big complaint was the course. Was cut up in all the different race distances / courses. The marathon course was a mess.

Since then they have made the marathon course a twice round the half marathon course. This was a major improvement. Half marathon course is very nice, mostly flat and scenic – as scenic as Fort Wayne In gets.

So upgrading my previous review based on course improvements.

As for the rest of the race….
Packet pick up the day before was easy and quick. All the volunteers were great

Course – see above

Water stops – plentiful and no problem. Only water and gator-offered. No food. Well manned and fun. Neighborhoods compete against each other and really cheer you on.

Finish line – same as always in the really nice downtown baseball stadium. The food and other things were moved this year from the infield to an upper tier building. There was a threat of rain all day but never did rain. Perhaps they moved it due to weather threats. So due to the distance and the fact there was stairs involved and just finishing a marathon skipped it all together.

Bling – little tiny medal. Have gotten bigger medals for finishing 10k’s.

Parking and access – best part of the race. Parked two blocks away from the start. Walked right up to the start line. Marathon started an hour to two hours earlier than all the other races. So with only 175 full marathoners porta potties and start line were no problem. And race started right on time.

Did the full marathon at a power walk due to knee issues. It was a good course to power walk because thru most of the course running for the average marathoner was next to impossible. But to the beginning.

Race is sponsored by 209 out of Britain. They also offer pre race trekking packages prior to the race. There are different length packages available. We chose the longest – 5 days trekking in the Himalayas. For an older runner the trekking was both exciting and exhausting. Spend the first 3 days trekking 5 to 12 miles a day climbing to 14,200 feet and camping in pup tents in sometime freezing temps. Next day and a half are spent coming down the mountains thru large rocky and gravelly trails. Then we had a whole day off to prepare for the marathon.

The race….
Stayed in a hotel right near the start. Race day weather was nice. Little warm but not killer. Walked right down to the start line.

Race started on time. 8 hour somewhat enforced time limit. More on that later…

Miles 1 thru 8. Mostly downhill thru town. About mile 4 over a suspension bridge. Bouncy and fun. So far so good.

Miles 9 thru 13
About mile 9 we branch off from the half marathoners. Start a gradual climb thru the Bhutan countryside passing scattered homes and really nice scenery.

Miles 13 thru 15
Mostly downhill along a river front. Sun was now fully up and temps were becoming pretty intense. Trying to figure out how to veer off and take a dip in the river but decide not to.

Miles 15 thru 19
Welcome to Bhutan’s version of marathon hell. Back to the 8 hour time limit note. A day before the marathon we drove this part of the course in a bus. It contained 5 or 6 switchbacks that were so steep that the bus could barely make it up them. When they told us we had to run them I thought they were kidding. I revised my finish time from 5 to 6 hours to 6 to 7 hours.
So started the switchbacks with 2 much younger runners. Made very very slow progress but finally made it to the top of the switchbacks and headed into the woods for more steep steep single trail rocky climb. Finally made it to the top of the mountain and then started down. Was thinking the mile and half downhill would be easy. No such luck. Was so steep and rocky about every half mile they had young girls there to assist you over the rocks and to be sure you don’t fall over the side. But finally made it down. The two young guys I were with had disappeared. Last I saw them they had quit and were being shuttled back to the start line on the bus.

Miles 19 thru 21
On the road in the heat with traffic. Ugh

Miles 21 to finish.
Gradual climb back up mimicking the first 5 mile downhill start. Finally hit mile 26. Last .2 miles downhill.

Just as an FYI on the difference between the first and second half. My times – first half -2:58. Second half – 4:23.

So for a good workout / run do the half. For a exhausting self satisfying trek do the full.

As for the volunteers / race production / staff – everything and everybody were great. The 209 staff ran a great race as far as I know that was glitch free.
Our guides and fellow runners thru Marathon Tours handled all issues. We had no complaints what so ever.
Host hotel was extra supportive.
But best of all was spending 6 days in Bhutan and with the Bhutanese people. If there are any nicer people don’t know who they are. The country and people were the highlight of the trip. Finishing the marathon was just icing on the cake

First race of the year for the Fort Wayne Track Club. 5k held in Shoaff Park in Fort Wayne In.
1.5 loop twice around the golf course. Couple of nice steep hills. Weather can be great or really nasty. This year was great. Sunny and 25 with light winds. Course enclosed all in park. No water stops or police needed. Easy quick race of about 300 people. Well run by the Fort Wayne Track Club. Only a one for race swag because there is none.

They redid the course and moved the date from Aug to Oct so this review will be based on just the new course. Nothing to compare it to from previous years.

Expo – easy packet pick up. Lots of nice people. Not a lot of expo exhibitors so easy in easy out

Start – about 1900 people in the marathon. Nice smooth start right on time.

Weather – had perfect weather. In the mid 30’s at the start warming to sunny and in the 40’s

Course – hilly hilly hilly. First 4 miles downhill thru Old Quebec then about 8 miles out and back on really nice bike path thru greenery and parks. Then mile 12 thru 17 are straight back up hill back to Old Quebec. Then 2 or 3 miles thru a park then the last 7 or 8 miles out a main road thru a neighborhood and bac again. Rolling hills the whole way. The trees were changing and the whole area is awash in color.

Just as a warning – on the website there are timing checkpoints and a marathon time limit of 6 hours. These checkpoints are enforced. Saw them loading people up on buses that didn’t make the times. Nobody on the results page with finish time greater than 6 hours.

Swag – very nice designed medal. Not to big or small. Official marathon merchandise was very limited in a very small booth at the expo

Crowd – lots of tourist cutting in and across the road. So beware. But lots of nice people cheering you on everywhere.

From the beginning….
Expo and package pick up – expo held at the tennis center near the start / finish. For the amount of people in the marathon – 20,000 (sold out) was expecting more vendors. Maybe 20 vendors total. Other than that package pick up was easy in easy out.

Web site / transportation / info – very good. Race day called for high temps and web site and emails on preparations were good and consistent.
Took the train / subway to the start. Instructions to the start were clear and easy and subway was free for all marathoners on Marathon day.

The start – started outside the Royal stadium. Were allowed to sit and wait inside the stadium until race time. Bathrooms were plentiful. Also could wait in large field outside stadium.

The race…..
The bad – starts at noon. Was sunny and 82 at start. Sunny all run with temps in the mid 80’s. They added extra water stops / showers / water troughs along the course to accommodate the heat. But why start a major marathon at noon? Even if it was not exceptionally hot why not start it at 7 or 8?
The water stops were horrible. First they were all almost flooded due to the extra water at each stop. It was like running thru a creek at each stop. And I hate to ever say anything bad about volunteers but at every water stop they waited until you came up the water stop to pour you a glass of water or Gatorade. Had to stop at almost every water stop.
The good – very organized. Scenic course.

The course – depends on how you like your marathon courses. Long straight aways or lots of twist and turns. This one fell into the twist and turns category. Was mostly flat but quite a few rolling hills and the famous 2 mile ‘Climb’ at mile 20. Passed some of the same sites 3 times. Finished with a lap inside the stadium on the track.

Bling – very avg medal and running shirt. Had to finish to get the shirt.
All in all some good some bad. New course this year so can’t compare it to previous years.

Interesting race to do if you happen to be in Laughlin Nevada the first week in December. They offer a 5k, 10k and half. Did the half.

For the start they bus you from the Tropicana Casino in Laughlin to about 3 miles north to the start line. Start line is at the local high school. Gym was open and warm and restrooms were open. So good beginnings. But – always the but…
Race was suppose to start at 7 am. So about 6:55 they call us out of the gym to the start line but then tell everybody to go back because the course isn’t finished being set up yet. So after a 20 minute delay we are called back out for the opening ceremony’s. National Anthem and speeches. The interesting part of this was when it was the race directors turn to speak they announced he wasn’t there due to work commitments. Really? The race director couldn’t make his own race? Never heard that before.
So off we go. The first mile and half is around the high school. About a half mile hill straight up from 1 to 1.5. So far pretty unimpressed. But then the saving grace (sort of). The course then heads out into the sothern Nevada desert for 10 or 11 miles of hills and scenery. Views of the desert and sun coming up over the mountains were great. Mile 7.5 to 10 are across the Davis dam with really nice views while crossing from Nevada into Arizona – two different time zones – then turning around and going back.
Then run a couple of miles back to the city / casinos along the Colorado River. Really nice. Last mile is down casino row.
Just when I thought the course had redeemed the technical flaws – Surprise. When crossing the finish line you get a piece of paper saying they didn’t order enough medals. They would ship them later when they got them. I was in the top half so the were short medals for about 50% of the field. The said if you really wanted a medal to hang around until 2 pm and they would give you one from 2016. So much for redemption.
So to recap – run the race for the weather, course and scenery. Very very hilly and challenging course. We had great weather. Sunny and in the upper 50’s to mid 60’s.

Great course thru parts of California wine country. Very scenic. Lots of rolling hills with a nasty 3/4 of a mile uphill at mile 7 (corkscrew hill). Was a warm day so made the race challenging. Race organization and packet pickup were great. While at packet pickup – which was outdoors (that’s a first) be sure to visit the RaceRaves tent and meet the owners of RaceRaves Mike and Katie. They seemed really nice.
Only complaint was the lack of Gatorade. Lots of water stops but only 2 had Gatorade. On a hot day it would have been better than just water. Glad it was only a half instead of a full.

1st time Fort4Fitness – Fort Wayne’s major race – has added a marathon. Previous versions of the race have included a 4 miler, 10k, half marathon, 19.2 miler or 23.2 miler. They decided to drop the 19.2 miler and the 23.2 miler and add a full marathon.
So to start at the beginning.

Registration and package pick up – easy and no problem. About 10,000 people participate and all went well.

Race parking and start – no problems. Marathon started a half hour before the other races so parking was easy and close.

Now for the problems…..
1) prerace problems – as usual 90% of the attention was on the 10k and half marathon. About 6,000 people between the two and only about 350 people in the marathon so marathon seemed to be treated as an after thought. Very common in multi distance races – big and small. Las Vegas is a prime example.
There was basically no prerace advertisement done for the marathon except in the local area. Not even listed on marathonguide.com or any other marathon calendar.
They need to decide if this race – by race I mean all the races – is for fun for the local community and meant to raise local enthusiasm for general fitness and cater to the walkers / joggers / lets have fun crowd or have it that way and also cater to the serious runners.
The course – this was the worse part of the whole thing and I can’t see any serious marathoner wanting to run it in it’s current iteration.
The marathon course is basically 4 loops around the somewhat same area. Boring and flat.
The first loop was a 3 mile loop. Then back to the beginning then a 10k loop (same a the 4 mile loop with a couple of miles added) then back to the beginning then a half marathon loop, then back to the beginning then a four mile finishing loop. Same parts of the 10k loop. then we finish – wait for it…..
back at the start that we have now passed 4 times
Marathon started at 7 a.m and then the next race (4 miler) started at 7:30. Well guess what?? If you are running the marathon at a 9 mile pace you run right into the rear of the slow runners and walkers from the 4 miler. Then the half marathon started at 8:30. So guess what?? If you are running a 9 mile marathon pace you run right into the back of the slow runners and walkers from the start of the half marathon. Garmin clocked 26.65 from all the weaving and bobbing to avoid 4 across walkers.
The reason given for the 4 loops was logistics and police cost. Okay how about we run the half course twice. All the police and water stops already there.
So basically the course sucked. Either drop the marathon or fix the course.

The finish and bling – Happy to have it over. Medal was small and same size as the half, 10k and 4 mile race medals. Don’t really care but once again shows the commitment to the marathon as opposed to the other races.

Final thoughts – fix the marathon or drop it.

Currently running all 6 of the majors. Tokyo was major number 4 and marathon number 50. Always best to start at the beginning so here we go

Expo – the first thing we noticed about Tokyo was the crowds. There were people everywhere. Arrived in Tokyo Friday evening before the race at 5 pm at the main subway station used by 3 million people. It seemed all 3 million were there at that time. Went to the expo on Sat. Packet pickup was easy and well organized but after picking up your packet to leave you have to walk thru the vendor area. This is an assault on your senses. instead of just the normal people behind the tables in booths there are people in the aisles yelling and screaming at you in Japanese and trying to constantly hand you flyers of who knows what. Blaring music, flashing neon signs, and what seemed like hundreds of thousands of people add to the assault.

Tokyo – the people of Tokyo were so nice and polite. City is spotless and easy to get around on via subway and or taxi. Food was great. Great big city but it is a big city. Change the signs from Japanese to English and you could be in NY. After the race we left Tokyo and spent 4 days in Kyoto. Highly recommended. If you want to learn the history and see the major Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples be sure to do Kyoto

The race – this is where it went downhill for me.
The start – our hotel was right at the start. There were 7 lettered starting areas a thru g. To get to your assigned starting area you had to go thru one of 6 gates. So I was in gate 4 start F. Had to walk a mile or so to get to gate 4 to get into my starting area F which was a block from my hotel. So confused from the start but finally made it.
The weather – great day for running. Partly cloudy mid 40’s to mid 50’s.
The course – flat, boring and crowded. The first 6 miles are actually downhill then a couple of 4 mile out and backs before heading to the finish line. It was jammed packed with people the whole way. Never a break. So of course passing people constantly added distance to the race. Nothing to exciting to see on the course. All the majors are big city runs and I guess I am becoming jaded running by not being interested in running by the Tokyo bus station or the ministry of Health. Have run so many more interesting courses. The only really interesting part are the costumes. There were more costumes worn than any other race I have run. Anything you can think of. Don’t know what any of them had to do with running or marathoning. The finish was horrible boring – in the parking lot of a coliseum type building which they then funneled you thru. Took about an hour to get thru shuffling a step at a time with the thousands of other finishers.
Crowd support – unbelievable. Bigger and better than NY or Chicago. Of course everybody was yelling at you in Japanese but still fun.

So overall final comments. Japan was great. People and food were great. Marathon was boring but well run. Kyoto was great. So to do the six majors you have to do Tokyo but don’t expect any wow factor at all. Just another big city marathon.

Going to break this review down into two parts – The city of Rio and the race…

Part 1 – the city of Rio
Spent 4 days in the city – sightseeing and running the race. Stayed right on Copacabana beach. The city itself is like a resort city with hidden secrets. The people were great but the infrastructure and city are like the US stuck in the 1980’s. Internet works some of the time, buildings are in dire need of upgrades – well taken care of but as I said – stuck in the 80’s. The people on the beach seemed always ready to party and have a good time but in a Don Johnson sort of way. Half expected to see the cast of Miami Vice pull up in there turquoise shirts and white leisure suits and break into a version of ‘Lets do the Time Warp’ from Rocky Horror Picture Show. The beaches are great if you don’t mind the fact that you can only use about one tenth of them. The water around the rest are to polluted for use. They are working on it fixing it but in a very slow and South American way (slow but steady – not for the type ‘a’ personalities)

Part 2 – The race
Expo and packet pick up – boring but effective. Nothing bad or good to report
The race start – PLEASE FIX. No corrals and 6,000 people lined up to start. Just a ready set go and everybody off and walking / running. Slow people in front, fast people in back. What a mess
The course – I guess I am becoming jaded but thought the course was very boring and average. A mix of beaches and inter parts of Rio. Advertised as flat but nasty little 3 miles of hills from about miles 14 – 17. Run well but please add a water stop somewhere between miles 18 and 24 when people need it most

Final thoughts – Okay city and marathon – do it once and call it a day.
If you want to do a water front marathon that crushes this save your time and money and do Big Sur.

Ran the full here in 2008 and did the half this year in 2015. So will do the full review. First of all it is one of the great running venues in the world. And the course does not disappoint. From the first 3 miles straight up hill to the wall followed by 3 miles on the wall then out in the country to climb a mountain at mile 13 then back to the wall at mile 21 and 1200 steps straight up to the final 2 miles on the wall then 3 miles of downhill hell to the finish in Yen / Yang square.
It is constantly rated as one of the top 3 most difficult in the world and it lives up to it’s billing. If you are a casual marathoner or have just run mainly flat marathons this may not be the marathon for you. Not unusual to see many people throwing up or crawling on there hands and knees on the steps on the back half of the wall. I know because I was one of the crawlers. There is an 8 hour time limit strictly enforced. The time guidelines for the marathon is take your normal marathon time divide by 2 and add it to your normal time. Example – normal marathon time = 4 hours / 2 = 2 hours = total of 6 hours. About 20% of the starters for this marathon do not finish or are stopped for time. The trip to China is long and great and the run is unbelievably cool but just be aware of what lies before you.

Ah New York – what can you say that hasn’t already been said. But I’ll try…..
Spent 3 days in NY doing the sights before the Sunday run. NY is a great city. So much to do and so little time. This would come back to haunt me (i.e. legs) as this was my 3rd marathon in 6 weeks. The highlight of the three day pre run trip was having dinner with Web Site creators (RaceRaves) and future Internet moguls Mike Sohaskey and Katie Ho. Who would ever think a poor Midwestern marathon runner would be hobnobbing with celebrities? But on to the actual race…
The morning dawned cold and windy and the day ended cold and windy. Would like to blame my time on the wind – gusts up to 40 mph but it never really affected the run. Was at our back or side for probably 95% of the run. The trip out to our 3 hour wait on Stanton Island (I took the bus from the Midtown Library) was uneventful. Was hoping for a delay so we would could stay warm on the buses longer but no such luck. The time on Stanton Island was mostly spent wrapped in 3 layers of clothes, a blanket and a parka. The sun actually made some appearances and made passing the time tolerable. The elites and 10:00 starts went off without a hitch. Then it was our turn (the 10:30 start times). Off we go without a hitch. The run was great as was the crowd support. The first two miles across the Verrazano Bridge are definitely the best and most scenic part of the run. I started on the top part of the bridge and can’t say I was too fond of dodging clothes shed by other runners blowing in my face at 40 mph but hey – can’t have a perfect weather day every time. Then the run settled into a run thru the other 4 Burroughs of NY finishing in Central Park. Now for the pros and cons.
Pros
Every thing done in NY is first class – registration, transportation, the course, security, crowd support and organization. The run is fun and due to the ‘fun’ of waiting up to 3 hours in Staten Island to start the race you get to meet plenty of other runners from the US and all over the world. All with stories to tell. If you want to do a large marathon this is the one to do.
Cons
This is the largest marathon. If you don’t like crowds when running, sightseeing or being herded to the race then this is not for you. If you don’t like spending lots of money to get in and when visiting NY then this is not for you. If you are into running PR’s every race and trying to sprint pass people in races then this is not for you.
Conclusion
If you want to run a world class marathon and have a chance to be involved in a race with world class athletes and don’t mind big cities and crowds then this is the race to run. I like running the bigger major marathons with large prize money because it gives me a chance to be involved in some of the major sporting events in the world. As an upper 50’s age runner I think my chances of playing in the Super Bowl, World Series, or NBA finals are fading rapidly.

So go (if you can get in – another story all together) if you can, hang lose, have fun. You won’t regret it.

Berlin is a good, well run marathon. It is one of the 6 majors. Couse is as advertised – flat and easy running. Lots of runners – 45,000 so if you don’t like large marathons this is not for you. Expo is huge in and airport hanger. To be expected for the amount of runners they have. Race and expo organization are 5 star. But something just seemed to be missing. Maybe it was because of the travel or being in a non American city the excitement of being involved in a world class sporting event just wasn’t there. Other than the start and finish the course – other than being completely flat was somewhat ho hum. So if you want to do all 6 majors you have to do Berlin. Don’t get me wrong it is a really good marathon – just not a great one.

The best thing – sorry this isn’t anything to do with the marathon. Berlin is a city with so much history – bad and good. Just being there for four days and trying to absorb and see all the historical sites / museums having to do with WW1, WW2 and the Communist regime was overwhelming but loved it.

Worse thing – The finishers medal. C’mon Berlin you can do better. Your a major. I am not a bling freak but have done 43 marathons and this medal ranks as one of the weakest one I have received. Have got better medals at some 10k’s I have run.

Great fun, course and crowd support. Long 3 hour wait in a field on Stanton Island before race. Very crowded the whole time. Takes lots of time to get out of finishers area. Ponchos for the ‘no baggage option’ at the end were unbelievably nice

We went a day early to spend the day in Cincinnati and see the sights. It is right on the river and assumed they would have a river walk / restaurants etc..stayed right downtown by the start of the race. When we got there we ask the people at the hotel what to go do and they said there is not much to do in downtown Cincinnati and they were right. So spent a pretty boring day before the race doing nothing. They were the host hotel for the race and we ask them how the flying pig got it’s name and no one was sure. Two possible answers – P and G has its HQ there or possibly it was named after the old pork slaughter houses that use to be there. As for the race – pretty standard course with hills. Miles 8.5 to 11 are really nasty but great view from the top of the hill at mile 11. The half splits off at mile 9 so they don’t get to ‘enjoy’ the climb. So out of a possible 10 I give the weekend a 3 and the race and race course a 6. Nothing special but not the best but far from the worst.

If you want to run a ‘real’ trail marathon this is the one for you. I have run it twice and it is not for the weak of heart or foot. Think of a scaled down Machu Pichu or Pikes Peak outside of Bloomington Indiana. But lets start at the beginning…Arriving in Bloomington on a snowy cold Jan day – they have since moved this run to Oct due to consistent bad weather issues. Bloomington is the home of Indiana University is southern Indiana and Brown county. Brown County is a favorite haunt of fall leave watchers and partying IU students. The city of Bloomington has many rolling hills but nothing to preview what is the future has in store. The morning of the run you drive out to a lodge around a lake about 20 miles outside of Bloomington. The lodge is buried deep in the woods and down many dirt roads. From there you board buses that bus you 26 miles out to the start. Once you get to the start – where you absolutely no idea where you are, I am assuming we are running back to the lodge where we left from and hopefully your car – you start off and head into the deep woods and trails of southern Indiana. When I say deep woods I mean it. They tell you to wear bright colors so the deer hunters sitting in the blinds can see you and not shoot you by mistake. An guess what? There not kidding. Running by hunters in deer stands and hunting shacks is a common occurrence. So off you go – once on the course you are running thru many miles of woods and trails. One lane dirt trail covered in leaves so you can’t see the roots and stones on the trail add to the ‘fun’. Many many hills – not rolling hills – straight up and down hills that force you to use the switchbacks to go up and down them. At one point you have to wait in line to use a rope to help you get past a nasty little drop off on one of the hills. Throw in 23 or so stream crossings – no you just don’t get to hop them – to deep and wide for that. So nice wet feet. Lots of fun when the temp is about 15 out. I would like to tell you which miles that are particular hilly and wet but you are so deep into the woods and climbed so many hills and foraged so many streams you have no clue where you are or where you are going. No mile markers and the Garmin gave up all hope about mile 3. Every once in while you get spit out to a paved road crossing. This is where the rest stops are. These are better stocked than any other marathon I have ever run. It is like stopping at a candy store / fruit stand. Makes you want to stop running and have a snack.
But on you go. At some points you are so deep in the woods and seeing so many shacks you expect to see the kid from Deliverance playing Dueling Banjoes to keep you entertained. But no such luck. Just more hills, streams, rocks, and roots. But all good things must end. Finally the lodge is back in sight. How you got there – not a clue. But inside the fire is roaring and the world renown finishers soup is waiting for you. All in all what a trail run should be. The people who run it do a great job. The rest stops are a-one second to none. The course is a beast. Even registration is a hoot. The registration page allows you to make comments about yourself or the course if you have run it before. Participation is limited so register early – open in Jan. Take time and read other peoples comments on themselves and the course. Shows what an eclectic group marathon runners can be.