Chris Wrightson's Staging Area

Logistically this is one of the best run races I have done. I have run 17 marathons, and this race has always exceeded my expectations. From the expo, start line, and finish line. It’s all done well.
Getting to the start is super easy, buses pick you up nearby the designated hotels, you can stay on to keep warm or get off and wait around. Once off the bus you have about a half mile of porta potties to pick from. The ONLY race I know that does not have lines to use the bathroom and something others should follow!
The course is rolling hills for the first 20 miles, with an overall net downhill. The last 6 are much flatter than the previous 20, so be mentally prepared to work harder.
The finish line. One of the only races I know that has separate finish corrals for women and men. A nice feature. They started giving out disposable jackets this year, instead of those stupid mylar blankets. I LOOOOVE this. The jacket was great, it had a zipper and kept runners warm when they finished. And the best part is you can use it on a future race as a throw-away. Perfect! Medal this year and in past years has always been well done, large and heavy!
As far as improving the race, I think it could benefit from a type of pace corral system. It was difficult for me to make it up to my desired pace at the start because of so many runners bunching up and not in correct spots. I would suggest moving the pace groups back further from each other so people don’t bunch up so much. Then 1 minute before the start.. have them move up. This way, you can still keep the no corral system, but help spread the runners.

I recommend this race for sure, its fantastic to do if you live in a warmer climate as you can avoid training in the hottest months of the year. And if you are crazy like most people, you can run an October marathon and also run this with enough recovery in between.