Myndria Brewer's Staging Area

This marathon is described as fast, and downhill. The description is a bit of a stretch. It’s a rolling course with a “net” drop. Yes there are downhills, most noticeable in the first mile with some smaller ones thrown in. The downhills are not gentle and are rough on the quads. With the downhills comes plenty of uphill to balance it out, so you don’t really reap the benefits. Lots of turns around corners also which disrupts your pace. The up and down and frequent turns forces you to use different mechanics constantly which can be taxing if you’re not prepared. Coming off of a 100% downhill marathon a couple of months prior I can confidently say this race was much harder in comparison. As I previously mentioned this course is not entirely downhill there is almost 800ft of elevation gain over the course of the race. During the first half of the race you’re doing some decent climbs that wear you out early on especially if you aren’t conservative during the descents. In addition there is some climbing towards the end of the race. Granted, the hills are small but when your legs are already trashed it’s a lot to handle. As far as the scenery is concerned it wasn’t breathtaking, just ok. You’re running through city streets with a good portion of the race being on a bike path. I was in the top 50, not fast enough to be in the front of the pack, but not quite middle or end of the pack either. So I was by myself for a lot of the race. I’m used to training alone and enjoy smaller races so that wasn’t a big deal for me personally. But if you prefer to be surrounded by other runners during the entire race and like crowd support and fanfare this isn’t the race for you. The event overall was well organized. Plenty of volunteers who genuinely appeared happy to be there. Course was well marked, aid stations were fully stocked, there were cash prizes, and after race festivities. Race swag left a bit to be desired. They only hired one race photographer for the whole event. It took a week to get photos, and they didn’t capture all of the participants myself included, and completely left out taking photos of the marathoners at the start line, only capturing photos of the half marathoners at the start. Marathoners spend more time on the course and pay a higher fee to participate, so the fact that we were left out was disappointing.The medal is ok, I think all finishers including the half marathoners received the marathon medal which I find odd and something organizers should consider changing moving forward for future events. I had a finishing time of 3:35:15, not my best, but proud of it given the challenge of the course. I’m glad I participated, but it wouldn’t be a race I would be quick to sign up for again.