Teagan W's Staging Area

This was my first marathon. Overall, I had a great experience. The course was beautiful, going through scenic neighborhoods, parks with trails and gorgeous fall trees, a lap around the Drake University track (which was a great spot for spectators). The race was lined with enthusiastic spectators, music, plenty of porter potties and hydration stations. The half marathoners start with the full for the first few miles, but I never felt claustrophobic, there was plenty of room to move around. The one complaint I have are the hills at the beginning. The course map made it look like there were two rolling hills. Well there were SEVERAL small, but somewhat steep hills, so I think the elevation map combined them to make it look like there were just two. I did not do hill repeats during my training, so the hills ended up killing my legs at the end, when I felt like endurance-wise, I could have pushed more, but my legs were just dead. BUT I don’t want to complain too much, because I really loved the race overall and it was a GREAT first marathon for me and I got a good time, even with the hills. I would definitely recommend it and would love to do it again.