Scott Orlando's Staging Area

This was my 3rd time running the Akron Marathon. All 3 times were different courses. The new course features a negative elevation gain. Other than the first 5 miles I am not sure runners really felt the effects of the new negative elevation course. The first 5 miles had a lot of substantial downhill running. After that, the rest of the course was filled with rolling hills. Miles 16-19 were all uphill. After you gut your way through this hardest section of the course things seem to flatten out as you make your way onto the trails of Summit Lake and back to downtown Akron. This year the heat and high humidity really took it’s toll on runners especially late in the race. I was worried about parking downtown and taking a shuttle to the start but everything ran very smoothly with no problems. The start time was moved from the traditional 7:00 am start to 7:30 am to allow more time for the shuttles. My preference would be to go back to the 7:00 am start time especially if weather is going to be hot. The marathon used to give all finishers jackets and finisher gifts like hats and socks but they don’t do that anymore. The 1/4 zip Brooks pullover I received is very nice but I would prefer a jacket. If you complete the 3 race series you receive an additional medal and medal holder so I am guessing budgeted funds got pushed from finisher awards to race series swag which is fine if you can complete the entire race series. The Akron Marathon and the Akron Marathon Race Series are some of the best most well organized running events out there. I would like to see miles 16 -20 tweaked for next year to create a faster more runner friendly course. There is no doubt that as marathon qualifying times get faster runners are gravitating towards faster flatter courses. Continued improvements to the course will go a long way in keeping registration high for the Akron Marathon.