Fort4Fitness Fall Festival
Fort Wayne, IN
- Half Marathon, 10K, 4 Miler, Kids Run
- Road (Paved)
- Official race website
The Fort4Fitness Fall Festival is a vibrant run/walk event that celebrates healthy living and brings together people of all fitness levels. The energy at the festival is contagious, with participants of all ages and abilities joining in to enjoy a fun, active day in Downtown Fort Wayne! Whether you’re a … MORE
Local Historical Weather (Sep 26):
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| H (°F) | 81 | 74 | 76 | 62 | 78 |
| L (°F) | 53 | 56 | 61 | 49 | 47 |
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Basic, but well done
I have family in FW and was visiting when this event was happening. Packet pickup, getting to the start, etc. very easy. Sufficient porta-potties, Pacers easy to find. Good info … MORE
I have family in FW and was visiting when this event was happening. Packet pickup, getting to the start, etc. very easy. Sufficient porta-potties, Pacers easy to find. Good info waiting for the start: urging slower folks stay right, faster runner stay left. Nice wide route from start to finish, with an exception near a golf course where (I think some construction was happening on weekdays). I expected pancake flake but there was a very welcome (to me) or rolling miles. The weather was good and bad. Overcast so no glaring sun, and a slight breeze from the north but the humidity was brutal to this CA, super dry air. I did not train to make this a fast race, I wanted to get a feel for getting back to roads, so I stopped and hugged my elderly aunt and a few cousins cheering me on in 3(!) spots. That was awesome and I don’t regret the time it added to my time. Family is everything. Last couple miles had long but not steep rollers. Finish is in the minor league baseball field….but, 2 negatives: I don’t remember reading about this. It was a red-sand (?) track and we had to run the full circle. So, that sand slowed down a planned final sprint, AND I was at 13.1 at the start of it. So, we went 13.25 easily. Only matters if you had a time goal. Not a ton of stuff at the end but very organized, support family had the bleachers to wait in. Very nice volunteers. Walkable to lots of places to eat. First in AG, will get an email with details of the PLAQUE I will receive. I recommend if you are in the area or need Indiana for your 50.
Much better course
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 … MORE
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.
marathon needs help
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 … MORE
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.