Lorrainne Stewart's Staging Area

This race starts and finishes at the Von Braun Convention center which allows runners access to real bathrooms and a place to stay warm before the start. That was especially important this year, as the weather started out at 22 degrees but with the wind chill it felt like 11.
The race starts out winding through different neighborhoods for the first half. The second half is a bit more scenic as it takes you through the space center and a botanical garden. There is a bit of elevation from miles 17-20.
I have never been to a race that had so many porta potties on the race course, which was awesome. And they had signs to tell you how far the next porta potty was. The volunteers were phenomenal, especially since it was such a cold day. The race finishes right inside the convention center, where family and friends can wait instead of freezing outside in the cold.
The finisher medal is HUGE! You will not be disappointed when you run Rocket City.

It’s a good race that needs some kinks worked out. A week before the race it showed it would be a hot day. I don’t think the race event people took that into consideration. They ran out of cups, and then around mile 15 for me, but I had someone tell me at mile 14 for them, they ran out of both water and sports drink. How is that even possible in a world marathon major race? They should have anticipated that the runners would need to hydrate more. What made it worse is the race is very strict on you not being able to bring plastic water bottles, which I typically carry, into the start area. So, I can’t bring my own water with me and then they ran out?!! Fortunately, they did get more water and sports drink around mile 20 and I was able to get to the finish line and get my medal.
I also was not overly impressed by the crowd support. There were a lot of spectators but they were very lackluster. I didn’t really get any energy from them.
So, it wasn’t a bad race, just not what I works have expected from a major race with over 38,000 runners.

This was a great race and well put together. The expo was easy to find and navigate through and I got to meet two of my running heros, Deena Kastor and Tina Muir. The course was not as easy as I had been led to believe, however, I was able to finish. The medal is my all time favorite, and I have quite a bit of them. It was also the 40th running of this marathon so finishers got extra swag which was nice. I do recommend this race.

Great race! This was a highlight for me. The course was great and though I didn’t get a PR it was a solid race. The course is filled with so many buildings that have great history and architecture. Lots of portapotty’s, though I don’t know if there’ll ever be enough for all the runners. I also really liked the corral starts as they held each corral back until all runners from the previous corral had passed the start line.

I run this race most years, but this year it was so hot my legs started cramping pretty early on. They had volunteers hosing the runners down with water as we ran by. I had to run/walk the last few miles, but overall this is a good race to add to your bucket list.

This is a great race and truly lives up to the motto, ‘it will move you’. The course is hilly so definitely train for that. Going over the Verrazano Bridge is by far the highlight of the race, but the crowds and the finish are awesome!

This was my very first marathon. The course is pretty flat and I was in my element running it. The course was well planned, and the crowd support was good. I didn’t know what to expect for my first marathon but this did not disappoint.