Rick H's Staging Area

Pros: By virtue of being 3rd oldest continuous marathon in the country it’s worth it if not coming too far away. Con or pro I’m not sure, but a lot of boardwalk running. Around 4 1/2 mi in the beginning and the last 3. Running on that is different and does take some getting used to. Overall not in bad shape considering the enormity of this boardwalk. Not totally but relatively flat. All the on course drinks and volunteers where great as I’ve found to be the case at every marathon I’ve ran. And of course plenty of places to stay overnight and stumble to the start line. You’ll pay a pretty penny but at least it’s conveniently available if you want that.

Cons: First time at this marathon, not sure if it’s always this windy in October in AC. But the wind was relentless after the turn at mi 16 and heading North. It totally zapped me of my energy reserves. 7 of the last 10 miles was a strong headwind and the last 4 was complete headwind. At this race pay close attention to hourly wind reports and plan your race accordingly and with respect. I checked the day before and thought I was going to have a tailwind coming home and was giddy. Wasn’t the case. They could have done a better job explaining where exactly the packet pick up was. I was one of many I met that day totally confused how to easily find it. The after race snacks were good and of the normal variety, but usually there’s bottles of sports drinks/shakes or similar. Here there was only the Gatorade cups as found on the course and bottles of water. No fault of the race, but with all that board walk running you’d think there would be great views of the ocean. But as I recall, most of that is blocked by high sand berms for protection obviously. It’s been a few years but I think the NJ Marathon up the coast offered a more scenic experience.

Overall not too bad, weather notwithstanding. I think when not running on or near the boardwalk it wasn’t any different in feel than any other run of the mill marathon. I’d say it’s a slightly unique marathon and should be considered on that alone if that’s what you’re looking for.