Ray Beezley's Staging Area

First off I want to say this was a relatively easy course that allowed me to run a personal best. So if that is your ultimate goal then maybe this race is for you. The altitude ~4000 ft was the only “hard” part of the course. Besides that, was not happy/satisfied w my experience. The health expo closed at 6pm the day before, and they did not offer any race packet pickup later in evening or day of. I think they assume most people are going to stay multiple days in ABQ, I drove in the day before and nearly missed it. By the time I got there there was no free swag left, all I got was literally my race bib and the race shirt not even in my size (since they were out). Day of race was OK. It was cold and rainy (not really their control). Parking situation was not the greatest. Easy to walk around in the Civic Plaza. Course itself was fast and flat but a bit boring. It’s an out and back course, you run a mile through downtown and then another mile through a neighborhood, then 11 miles down a nearby trail and back. That’s 22 miles of trail running out and back! Which is normally fine, but when you have marathoners, half marathoners, 10ker’s all running the SAME out and back path on a two lane trail, things get congested rather quickly. Would have liked to run more though downtown and the neighborhoods. There were plenty of aid stations by some had run out of Gatorade and were handing out Tampico orange juice. There were not many port o potties on the course either. I saw a good number of people running off into the woods to take care of business. By the time I finished my marathon, there was pretty much nothing left at the finish line. I finished around 4:30, not fast yes but not slow enough to wher I’d expect nothing to be at the finish line. Not even water. I got my medal and the only food was apples and wheat bread. I’ve been in half marathoners w much better swag. Crowd support was spares but better than expected. Overall it was a good experience since I PR’d but I would not run this race again or recommend to anyone. It’s a race that seems to cater more to the half marathon crowd. Bonus tip: The Hilton Garden Inn Downtown ABQ was very nice for 3-star. Very accessible to stuff. Their famous hot air balloon race was weekend before. If you absolutely need to visit ABQ I would recommend checking out the hot air balloons the weekend before. Skip the Duke City marathon race and try a different NM race.