Jacob Sephton's Staging Area

The Myrtle Beach marathon was a very good race. Would recommend everyone who is trying for 50 states to do this for South Carolina.

Expo: Packet pick up is the day before at the boardwalk at the park real close to where the race starts and ends. It basically only comes with your T-shirt and bib. Additionally you can have your bib mailed to you if you don’t want to come to the expo. Expo was pretty small with just a handful of vendors, and some live music. Also ton of communication sent to you before the race. The team that runs the marathon did an excellent job on letting everyone know what to do.

Race Day mourning: Parking is at Broadway at the Beach. Same place were packet pick up is. (basically a huge shopping area with places like the aquarium, hotels, and restaurants). You have a 5-10 min walk across the street where the marathon starts and ends at the minor league baseball stadium. Starts at 6:30am. I think almost every race needs more porta potties, but both this one defiantly needed more at the start over 20 min wait. Only negative thing about the production aspect.

Course: First off. This is not a pretty course. It does not have good scenery or anything that special on it. Lot of it is on highways just passing mini golf and fast food joints. If you want a pretty race. This is not the marathon to do. So after saying that the first 5 miles or so you going through neighbors hoods and a main street with stores. Then mile 7-17 would typically be the most interesting. You are running a long the main road that is next to the beach. However, 2026 there was heavy fog and I could not see the beach. However, even if there was no fog the buildings would block about 75% of the ocean views. However, the buildings do keep the shade up. So both pros and cons of this. Additionally you split away with the half marathons around mile 11. So before this course was crowded it does thin out a lot after mile 11. Which comes to 18-26. Outside of a two mile from 22-24 which are in a bike path through a wooded area. You are on a busy highway with no shade. If the weather is sunny and hot like it was in 2026. It can be brutal. It was low 70s and very high dew points. Especially for someone who been training through the winter. However, if it was a cooler day with the course being mainly flat I could see a lot of PRs. So weather can be a wildcard. But either way not the most impressive course, but lets be honest Myrtle Beach is not running in a historic city like Boston, NY, Chicago or the beauty of the western US. The city itself is just a tourist trap. Which can be good or bad depending on what you like.

Aid Stations and Volunteer support were great! Aid stations had Gatorade and Water at each stop. Same with Porta potties (though the first couple of stops needed more). Later aid stations also had Gels. Aid stations are roughly every 1.5-2 miles. Race Support was okay. Not the most amount of people, but for 5000 runners it seemed like it was never completely empty. Lot of police to help with traffic as well since you running along main roads most of the time.

Swag: The medal was cool. Very simple shell. The long sleeve t-shirt you get at packet pick up was nice as well. However, one thing that Myrtle beach does that not many places do is you get a second item for finishing the marathon. In 2026 it was a full beach towel. In past years it was a short sleeve short. So you get two things from them which is very nice!

Overall it was a fun race and time. It was very well organized with great Swag. However, the course is pretty bland and the weather could be a wildcard even if the course is mainly flat. Would still recommend this for any 50 states trying to get one done for South Carolina.

The Pittsburg Marathon was a really well done big City Race. If you looking for a race with crowd support that is well organized this is for you. If you looking for beautiful scenery or a PR. I would pick something else.

Expo: The Expo is at the big Pittsburg convention center in the middle of downtown. Easy to get to and has cheap parking (5 dollars). Race is on Sunday and you can pick up your bib and get your t-shirt at the expo. Also a ton of vendors with official merch. Expo was open Friday and Saturday.

Race Start: Starts in the middle of downtown. I stayed at a hotel about half mile away. Plenty of hotels in walking distance, but you can also park at one of many parking lots and walk to the race as well. Got there at about 6:15 with plenty of time to spare. You are split into 5 Corals. Each coral had 1000s of people. (23k participated in the Sunday race). You have your marathoners, half marathoners, and relay team. It starts at 7am and each Coral goes every 10 minutes. So last coral out about 7:40. Also a pretty good amount of porta potties as well. One few races I’ve done that did not have a huge line. Bag drop off is far away from some corals. So be warry of that if you are one to use this.(I don’t)

Course: The first 3 miles stay in the center of the city. Like most big races its really compact at first. Somewhere at mile 3 you go over bridge and head towards the Steelers and Pirates stadiums. You run around them from miles 3-6 which is cool. You cross another bridge. Miles 7-10 you are across the river looking at Pittsburg. Probably some the best views of the marathon. Right before mile 11 you split off with the half marathoners (technically there two half marathons with this race. The half marathoners can pick to do the “first half” or the “second half” this is were the first half splits off.) You split off at the 3rd and final bridge.

Mile 11-13 is one the harder hills I’ve ran. You cross the bridge and its one giant hill. You gain well over 250ft of elevation in less then a mile. At about the halfway point you hit University of Pittsburg campus which is my second favorite part of the race. Then Miles 14-22 you go through lot of little towns and neighborhood running. Nothing to eventful there and they all kind of blend in. Mile 23 you start to head back towards the downtown area. Mile 22-23 has some huge downhills. So all the at up hill you did earlier is going back downhill now. The finish line is near the tip of the island near point state park. Less then a half mile from the start. While the course is not the hardest thing in the world. You do have some really big uphill’s and downhills. (smaller ones as well). I doubt many would get a PR here. Lot of easier marathons then this.

Aid Stations/Crowd Support: Lot of fun crowd support. Very few parts that had little or none. It seems like there was always at least a couple out there too. Official Aid stations had great volunteers plenty of water had some bananas and other items late in the race. However, they had “Never second C30 Sports Drink” instead of Gatorade. I thought this was nasty. It was the nastiest thing I’ve tasted at a race before. I drank it at time for the electrolytes but I didn’t like it. At one point someone in the crowd was giving out Gatorade and I was never more grateful then that moment lol. It seemed like more didn’t like it then liked it.

Weather: It was cloudy most of the race with the exception of one mile that was a downpour. Reading and looking into the history of this race it does seem like it does get rain a lot. So expect a chance of rain if you sign up. The temperature was not to bad. 60s most of the race, but was a tad humid Especially early.

Finish Line: Finish line was really well done. Lot of food. Chips, Bagles, Fruit, and even a smile cookie which was amazing. More vendors to check stuff out at.

Swag: I really enjoyed the shirt and medal. Both are really well designed. The shirt is super comfortable.

Overall: I enjoyed the Pittsburg Marathon greatly. Biggest Negatives are the aid stations awful drink and probably not the prettiest course. Especially the second half. Plus weather seems to be all over the place with this race. additionally it can be tough if you don’t like hard races. However, there are so many positives including great swag, amazing volunteers, extremely well organized, and a ton of great crowd support. Would recommend this to any.

This was a fantastic race in Arizona.
1st- Really the only negative. Race Pickup and Swag was not the best. The shirt they gave us was really nice. However, their was nothing outside the bib and shirt. No vendors. Nothing extra. No extra clothing to buy. For example I always buy a hat at each race I run. Nothing to buy here. So even though the shirt was good. Very disappointed in the swag.

2nd) Start: The race starts Peralta Trailhead near Lost Dutchman start park. All marathon runners require a shuttle to get to start. So you have to get into a bus between 4:15 to 5:45 (depending if you have someone drooping you off or not). Near the start line while you wait for the race to start at 7am. You have a bunch of fires to stay around that will warm you up. Plenty of Toilets, and food and drinks. It was a very unique and cool atmosphere to start the race.

3) Course description. First 6 miles of the race are the best. You running on a dirt road. (its kept in pretty good shape) through the desert at sunrise. I had to stop a lot to take pictures. It was beautiful to see the sunrise on the mountains and the dessert vistas. All the cacti and saguaro were beautiful at this time of day (especially if your not from the southwest like myself). The next two miles or so your on a busy highway. Then from about 8 to 15 you do this big loop around some nice houses with the mountains in the background that is very pretty. Then 15-17 is back on the busy highway. Then 17 you will merge with the half marathoners though most of them will probably be done by the time you get their. Even if your fast. 17-23 back in the neighborhoods with great views of the mountains this does include the only loop of the marathon as well. Then 23-26.2 your back on main roads to you finish in a big sports park. Overall i enjoyed the course. The first 6 miles are absolutely amazing and outside the 4-6 miles on the highway you running through some nicer neighborhood with great views of the mountains and desert foliage.

3) Aid stations: They were great. Volunteers were amazing. Aid station every 2 miles or so. All had toilets’. All had water. Half had Gatorade. And a couple had bananas or gels.

4) Difficulty: A couple hills on this course but overall pretty flat. Nothing to difficult on that end. Weather will be cool in the mourning but warm up. It was 50 when i started and upper 60s when i finished. Don’t believe their should be to much variance. Only thing that would suck would be if it rained (witch could happen, but not likely). The rain would defiantly impact the first 6 miles witch could get very muddy. Luckily for myself it was dry.

5) Finish line was nice. Medal was good. Had the Lost Dutchman state park logo in a gold color and on the back saying “run for the gold”, but like the racepick up very little post race stuff. Some water and Gatorade only in cups. With just chips, fruit, and bagels.

Overall I enjoyed the race greatly and would recommend it to anyone wanting to cross off Arizona. The scenery and start seem to make it better then some of the other Phoenix area marathons. It was a decently easy course with great volunteers. The medal and T-shirt were both nice. Just be aware that their is little Swag outside of that as of 2024.

I really enjoyed the Little Rock Marathon. The race is on a Sunday. The Expo was at the local convention center. It was decent size. The process was quick and easy. The bib came with a nice t-shirt and small little poster.

Race was at 8am. We had perfect weather. Sunny and low 54 high 74. I doubt you will have crazy weather in early march outside of rain. Temperature rise it should be fine. You actually meet inside the convection center before you go outside to the start line. It was nice you could use indoor bathrooms.

The first 7 miles you go across the river. Outside the bridge you go across it is pretty flat. Nothing to interesting. Then you go across the city. You go through some really cool sites like the State Capital. Around mile 11-12 is when the half marathoners cut off from the full. However, this is when the elevation starts. Mile 13-18 is a pretty steady inclined. It is tough. So be prepared for those hills. Around mile 18 you go into this wooded area for a couple miles and it is a big downhill. Mile 19-23 was my least favorite part. You basically run along side a golf course. So you have no shade. Nothing interesting. I personally had some struggles during this time. Last 3 are nice again running through the city to the finish line which is the same location as the start line.

The Volunteers on the course were amazing. There were so many aid stations. ( I think lots were unofficial). Great crowd support.

When you cross the finish line you go back in the convention center. That’s when you get food and this Medal. Let me tell you. This medal is huge. Its about the size of 5 regular ones. I have done 6 full and 3 half at the writing of this. This one is the one that stands out. Its really heavy and big. Very unique medal.

Overall a great marathon. If your trying to do 50 states. This is the one you have to do in Arkansas

Completed the Nashville Marathon for the first time in 22 after completing the half in previous years. You start on Nashville Broadway in downtown. The first 10 miles or so the half and full are together. You basically run from downtown to Belmont University and back. Once you do that the half and full split off a for a little bit. The half crosses the bridge and goes to the finish line at Nissan Stadium. While full goes another 3-4 miles or so including my personal favorite part of running on the minor league baseball stadium of the Nashville sounds. You actually get to run around the field and get placed on the big board. Then you briefly join up with the half again across the bridge. When you cross it the half finishes at Nissan while the full keeps going to Shelby Park were you do two loops in back to finish at Nissan.

This was the hardest marathon I ran. 1) The Heat. Lot of years you could get lucky and this is not a factor for you. However, it was in the 80s the last ten miles or so and it was hot. I personally think if it was 10-15 degree cooler then I would of done about 15-30 minutes better. I have no idea why they run it during the end of April. Its the only major Race I’ve seen in the south that does it this late. They should do it end of March instead. Bad dates. Second it is very very hilly. The first part was not to bad for me. Yes downtown Nashville hilly, but other cities can be just as bad. The worst part is Shelby Park. There was a hill there that was insane. It was the worst hill ive ran. You had to do it twice witch made it extra bad. The hills and heat were not a good combination for me personally.

However, the rest of it was great. They had a lot of live music on the course which all Rock N Roll have. The volunteers at the aid station were great. Water, Gatorade, Gel, and even this Febreze they sprayed you that I have never done before that was great. The race day pick up was Thursday and Friday before the race at the huge convention center in downtown Nashville. It was extremely well organized. Additionally there was a lot of fun vendors at it too. Selling all sorts of stuff. I really liked the Tshirt and the Medal is usually always sin the shape of a Guitar.

Overall it was a good marathon. I wish it was in late March Vs late April to avoid the risk of really hot days like I did in 2022. However, hopefully most years it will be better. Would recommend it. Just watch out for some crazy hills the last 5 miles of the race.

This was a fun marathon. You basically run along side the lake or River the whole marathon. The temperature was perfect and pretty flat. One of my best times. The scenery was good, though not the best I’ve seen. After a mile the marathoners split off and go north running along the lake. You eventually turn around and go back to the start line area and the second half you are mixed in with the 5k, 10k and half running a long side the river and turn around again to make it to the end line. So there is some repeat running. Good amount of spectators and predestination the second half of the race. First half thins out and has few spectators. Overall organized and well done. Would recommend this.