German Baez's Staging Area

The Beginning – there is no expo. Just a bib and shirt pickup at a sporting goods store. Everyone there was super kind and welcoming. The store has lots of cool stuff if you are interested. The T-shirt is very nice.

The Race & Course – marathon started at 8am. You do 2 loops pretty much all contained within a paved trail in a park. I had no issues with the course. It was flat. The park is pretty. You traverse several pedestrian bridges. I can see how some may see the scenery as repetitive but I enjoyed it.
The race was a tiny bit crowded at first as a 5k and half start at the same time. The 5k group quickly goes another way and you stay with the half marathoners until the end. The crowding was strictly in the beginning. After those doing the half finishes, it really thins out quite a lot. For a small race contained within a park, I felt there was some decent crowd support. There was one running club that was very enthusiastic and I appreciated them. Overall, I believe there were about 250 marathoners. The weather was 40s to 50s and pretty much perfect. There was water and Gatorade and Gu provided on course. It was adequate but maybe it could have used 1 or 2 more hydration tables.
Post Race- you are given vouchers for a free brat and beer. There is water, snacks and oranges also. The medal is very attractive. Really well done! There are also some bands playing.
Overall – the course is easy. I wish I were in prime shape to have taken advantage of the course but unfortunately I’ve been dealing with injuries and limited training. The race is small but mighty. I totally enjoyed the race and Milwaukee is a really beautiful city and I felt welcome everywhere I went and people seem really nice. So I leave Milwaukee with much gratitude.
I stayed at a hotel in West Allis maybe 15 minutes away. There are plenty of hotels. There is plenty of free parking near the start/finish. Parking area traffic was heavy so get there early. Potties were available near the start of the race and I recall seeing a few scattered throughout the course.
I wholeheartedly vouch for this race and this town. A great race option for anyone looking to do 50 states.

This was my 12th marathon and first in Richmond. Here is my review of the major aspects of the race weekend. Of course, this is just one humble person’s opinion.
Expo: It was ok. Various vendors. Not many giveaways. I didn’t buy anything. The location was a bit of a pain with traffic and then walking over to the expo from the parking spot. Overall it was very “meh”.
Logistics: I stayed at a local hotel just blocks from the start and finish. This was an A+. I can’t stress enough how convenient it was to walk to/from this race. Being able to walk out of the hotel at 6:40 for a 7 am start is a gamechanger!
Race & Course: The best part was definitely going by the river and the nearby wooded area. Besides that, I was not impressed with the scenery. The crowd support was solid. There were various enthusiastic groups along the route. I appreciated the residents that came out to support and some were even singing or drumming. The course was not flat but it was definitely not hilly either. The course has about 700ft of elevation. Not once did I ever feel beat up by any hills that came up. The downhill finish was a blessing and I ran as best as I could down that hill and I was able to PR at this course.
Post Race – the medal is pretty vanilla. There was plenty of water post-race along with many food vendors. Marathoners get vouchers for a hat, blanket, pizza and drink. So I give high marks for that! That was really awesome. My family found me and met me right after the finish line.
Overall – I really enjoyed the race and the course. I think the course runs fast. The overall production with over 20k participants in the 3 races was really well done.
Biggest Complaint: There was a water station somewhere after the river that did not have water ready. There were several runners waiting there with their hands out (including me) waiting for water. Precious time and momentum was lost there. There was another water station in which I had to wait while the volunteer poured it into a cup for me from the pitcher. This was done quickly. However, water’s got to be ready! That is pretty basic!

Overall, thank you to Richmond and the race organizers and volunteers.

I previously reviewed this race and felt that it was an overall solid race that needed to work out a few kinks. It was new and there was room to grow…and grow it did. The expo was much bigger and better than the inaugural one. I always take my family to the expos and they enjoyed this one. The course was basically the same as the first year. Nothing too picturesque. Others may appreciate it more but I’m from the area. The course is flat and fast so people looking to PR or BQ should look at this race. Post race was also much much better than the previous year. Food and drinks were visible this time around. Crowd support is so-so. I don’t know if the town has fully embraced this marathon yet. I know the first year a lot of residents were pissed off about road closures. I’m not sure if they are warming up to what the race brings to the city. Kudos to the mayor for being a big supporter. I hope this race continues on and becomes even bigger and better.

I admit this may be an unpopular point of view but hear me out.
Before I get to the “but” I am a New Yorker through and through. Born and raised and still work in the city. I love NYC. As for the race, we know it is one of the IT races in the world. It will be hard to find a race with this much noise and crowd support and music along the route. The expo is enormous, the medal is awesome, you get a quality post race poncho and bag of goodies. You get to run the 5 boroughs and traverse some bridges. All these things are 100% true (and here it is) BUT there are certain things you should know about if you’ve never done this race. First, do yourself the favor and run this race at least once. I’m not trying to discourage anyone from doing it.
I’ve done this race 5 times. My biggest peeve is getting to the race start. Unless you live in Staten Island or get dropped off there by someone. It’s a pain in the neck and time consuming to get to the race start. Your options are the midtown bus or the ferry. Either way there are lots of lines and crowds and waiting. I live in Jersey now. My wave started at 9:10 and I had to wake up at 4:15 to get to my midtown bus. That’s 5 hours of waiting and commuting before the race begins. It’s a long haul and at least for me I felt tired even before the race began. I understand there are 50k people running and it makes for tough logistics. But it’s a pain. Another one of my peeves is how loud it is. Don’t get me wrong, I love crowd support. You see some great signs and support. But between the crowds and bands playing along the route, my head felt oversaturated with the stimulus of sound. I’ve heard others say the same, so it’s not just me. If noise bothers you, playing music in your earphones may help drown out the noise. But conversely, others live for it. I respect that. The other issue I have is that it is a slow crawl to get out of the park once you are done. You have to walk a lot and it takes time to get out. It sucks when you are cold and tired and just want to leave.
Aside from my peeves, I do need to shout out the amazing volunteers. There are tons of water/ Gatorade stations. They give gels and even Vaseline, bananas and oranges. You also see a lot of medical and other race volunteers after the race attending to people and asking if anyone needs help. They truly take care of the runners and their well being. Lastly, I’ll comment on the race course. I don’t think it is too hilly. The worst is the bridges. The Queensborough bridge seems to be the toughest hill and it is very quiet there. You mostly hear breathing and the pitter patter of steps. It’s not an easy course but not difficult either. I’ve run NYC 5x, Philly, Jersey City and Delaware. All are special but NYC is not my favorite. But it could be yours.

This review is way late. I ran this in 2018. I had run NYC a few times before Philly. But Philly is the marathon that made me want to start traveling for marathons in order to feel and see the cities one mile at a time. Here is what I remember:
Expo – hands down easily the best expo I have been to. Plenty of vendors, freebies, deals, entertainment. Just really well put together. My kids and wife loved it. Kids even got free caricature drawings. It was more than a bib pickup and I appreciated that.
Race – the crowd support was absolutely great. I loved loved the course. I didn’t think it was too hilly but not flat either. It was a pleasure seeing different parts of the city. I had rented an AirBNB nearby and walked to the start of the race. It was so easy.
Post Race – The Liberty Bell medal is easily the nicest medal I have ever received. I appreciated the hot chocolate and pretzels after the race. There was other stuff available. This was a top-notch well thought out post-race amenities.
Overall- I loved Philly. The crowd was spectacular as was the course. I’ll never forget struggling around mile 24 and I was walking…some spectator called me out by name and told me to run…and run I did. It was my first time getting under 4 hours in a marathon and it is a race that I will never forget. So much positive things to take from this run and city. This coming from a New Yorker.