Kevin Ford's Staging Area

Overall:
For a mid-sized US city, Louisville puts on a pretty solid race. I would recommend this to my friends who are interested in checking out an underrated part of the country, or are trying to complete the 50 states challenge. It’s very possible to have a good performance here, but there are also things that would need to change in order for me to give a better rating.

The Good:
– The volunteers were all energetic and helpful. The water stop volunteers were energetic and did their best to keep us hydrated.
– The band at the school shortly before reaching Iroquois Park was awesome!
– Finish line volunteers did a good job making sure everyone was okay after the race. Medal and food volunteers did great.
– The course is mostly flat. Iroquois Park’s hills are no joke, but the rest of the course is easy enough that you’ll be fine as long as you don’t overdo it in the park.
– The course was fairly pretty, and running through Churchill Downs, the park, and the waterfront was enjoyable. Similar marathons in Cincinnati, Nashville, and Baltimore are not nearly as scenic.
– The directions and course marking were good. Roads were closed properly, and we had no trouble staying on course. Places where the half and full diverge were clearly marked and had people calling out what to do.

Areas for Improvement:
– There was a miscommunication at the start regarding when the gun would go off. The host and a guest from GE were both speaking but were not on the same page about how close to the start we were. Several people false started. People get jumpy when the big day comes, so please list the commands you’ll use (e.g. “We’ll say runner’s set, then you’ll hear the gun”) so folks know what to listen for.
– We need some cones or something to delineate between half and full marathoners once the two groups merge back together at Churchill Downs (around mile 18). Faster runners have to do a lot of weaving as the half marathoners are very spread out.
– There needs to be a timing pad/checkpoint on the final out and back on River Road. This would save a lot of headaches with marathoners opting to bail and finish the race early, skewing the results.
– Most water stops were fine, but several along 3rd St were under-staffed and couldn’t handle both half and full marathoners.
– I’ll contend that there were plenty of port-a-potties, but people had no idea where they all were. Putting sets of 10-15 potties scattered for blocks in each direction near the start probably isn’t optimal.
– When we went to one set of port-a-potties we found that all the toilet paper had been stolen from every stall, and a couple were filled with peoples’ belongings like they were living in them. It’s not a great look.
– I am not a fan of racejoy. I don’t want an app that requires me to carry my phone during the race. I just want my family and friends notified when I pass checkpoints and finish the race.

The Course:
There’s a reason why so many BQs and OTQs come out of this race. It’s held at a pretty temperate time of year on a net downhill course. There are some small rolling hills in the first half, but they’re hardly noticeable. Every time I started worrying about my pacing, there was another gentle downhill that helped me accelerate again. As far as views are concerned it wasn’t the most beautiful course (the so-called “middle miles” mostly pass by strip malls with little or no tree cover), but there were long stretches which were pleasant to look at. Staying on course was a non-issue, since there were very few turns, which proved to be another bonus to this race.

The Competition:
This year CIM drew a huge number of sub 2:50 marathoners compared to other races of a similar size. In other races I’ve spent a lot of time in no-man’s land running at my typical marathon pace, but at CIM there were tons of people to run with and chase after. This definitely helped me reach my PR goal.

The Aid Stations:
While there were two or three notable exceptions, most of the aid stations were well-staffed by excellent volunteers. Even at the understaffed ones the volunteers did their best. They just couldn’t handle the huge waves of people (3 people can’t possibly hand out enough water).

The Support:
For a point-to-point race there was a significant amount of crowd support for this race. There were a few helpful music stations as well. I also thought it was cool that there was a fake “wall” to run through at mile 20.

The Swag:
The shirt didn’t impress me, but the medal was pretty cool. The socks aren’t bad either. I view these as more of a bonus to the race so it doesn’t impact my overall positive opinion of the race.

TL;DR:
Good weather, fast and ok-looking course, good crowd support, average swag.