Ratings...
Registration Fee: $75 (Early Reg., $85 late)
Overall Race Rating (weighted): 2.5/5.0
Average Calculated Rating: 2.5/5.0
~ This race went off without much excitment, and ended that way. The course wasn't anything special, and they need some help with race organization. The best part about the race, were the things we found to do in the city AFTER the race.
Race Director: Let's place race director...
~What would I have changed if I were race director? A little organization can go a long way. Get some well-marked port-a-johns, add some better finish food, and medals and that race would have been much better. Also, stay focused on the runners who are finishing after 3 hours... get excited, because they are definitely excited to have the race over! Since you're repeaing so much of the course when you loops back, get some exciting water stops with people or food so we have something to look forward to. If ANYTHING were up for discussion... that course needs to come off the concrete... at least for a good chunk of it!!!
Event Organization: 4.2/5.0 (now broken into 2 parts, see below as well) As far as "event organization" we'll go ahead and include things like Host hotel, website use, ease of travel to the event and to the actual race, etc.
~ There was a string of hotels right at the start and the main hotel is where check-in was. You could also hangout inside out of the cold and get ready for the race. We drove down from Cincinnati (~1.5 hours) with very little traffic since it was 5am. *IF you go to this race (or Louisville in general) you NEED to stop at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. The recipes are very very unique and the food is amazing. Allllso... this is around Halloween... apparently there is a neighborhood around the race that has some sort of halloween decoration contests. These houses are DECKED OUT!!! They all have themes and are really cool. We got out of the car and walked the street to see them all. I'll try to put up pics later.*
*These items were NOT noted by the marathon race or race directors, I simply enjoyed them and hope you will too if you choose to run here.
~ There was a string of hotels right at the start and the main hotel is where check-in was. You could also hangout inside out of the cold and get ready for the race. We drove down from Cincinnati (~1.5 hours) with very little traffic since it was 5am. *IF you go to this race (or Louisville in general) you NEED to stop at Lynn's Paradise Cafe. The recipes are very very unique and the food is amazing. Allllso... this is around Halloween... apparently there is a neighborhood around the race that has some sort of halloween decoration contests. These houses are DECKED OUT!!! They all have themes and are really cool. We got out of the car and walked the street to see them all. I'll try to put up pics later.*
*These items were NOT noted by the marathon race or race directors, I simply enjoyed them and hope you will too if you choose to run here.
Race Organization: 2.6/5.0
~ Almost the entire course was run on concrete, side-walk type ground. Very hard and (at least, for me) very painful. There was no pre-race water, and the post-race food consisted of: PB&J, Raisins, and apples on a small table :\ Don't these people understand I neeed cheeseburgers*??? There WAS hammer Gel provided and they were smart in this race-- they started giving it out AFTER the half-marathon turn-around point! No halfies are gonna take my gel!!! There were very few port-a-johns that I saw, and when I DID find one, there was a homeless woman taking runners clothes out from behind it. Normally I would say that's ok since most people are just tossing the clothes, but this was an out and back course, where people were hiding layers along the way to pick up on the way back... oops!
*Stephanie's Post-race food of choise. Also, the reason why these race pictures of me are NOT getting any smaller, no matter HOW many marathons I run this year. :\
Course: 2.6/5.0
~ This course changed quite often. You saw: suburbs, city, bike paths, you went over bridge, through parks. But somehow... it was SO boring!!! I don't know if it was the lack of spectators, but this race was so boring and painful to get through. I wasn't a huge fan of the course... it was pretty flat with a few bumps in the road. Overall... ahhh, it was "ok" at best. I already put this in race organization, but the race was run on mostly concrete side-walks... even the bike-path seemed to be made out of concrete... ouch! Oh and... if you go to run this next year, be aware that the course is an accurate 26.2 miles, but some of the mile markers are off. In the beginning they're slightly short by about .2 miles over the first 4 miles. You make up for that in mile 23 and 24, which are both about a tenth long.
Spectators: 1.0/5.0
~ Wow, I have NEVER seen such lifeless spectators... even at the FINISH!!! When we were finishing, NObody was clapping (not even the marathoner/half-marathoners that had already finished), and the guy on the mega-phone was calling for someone to come to the finish line, rather than calling bibs or names or simply words of encouragement. When you DID pass spectators on the course... nothing! Barely a clap or a smile... they made me want to STOP running.
Pace Group: /5.0
~ DNE and didn't need
~ Almost the entire course was run on concrete, side-walk type ground. Very hard and (at least, for me) very painful. There was no pre-race water, and the post-race food consisted of: PB&J, Raisins, and apples on a small table :\ Don't these people understand I neeed cheeseburgers*??? There WAS hammer Gel provided and they were smart in this race-- they started giving it out AFTER the half-marathon turn-around point! No halfies are gonna take my gel!!! There were very few port-a-johns that I saw, and when I DID find one, there was a homeless woman taking runners clothes out from behind it. Normally I would say that's ok since most people are just tossing the clothes, but this was an out and back course, where people were hiding layers along the way to pick up on the way back... oops!
*Stephanie's Post-race food of choise. Also, the reason why these race pictures of me are NOT getting any smaller, no matter HOW many marathons I run this year. :\
Course: 2.6/5.0
~ This course changed quite often. You saw: suburbs, city, bike paths, you went over bridge, through parks. But somehow... it was SO boring!!! I don't know if it was the lack of spectators, but this race was so boring and painful to get through. I wasn't a huge fan of the course... it was pretty flat with a few bumps in the road. Overall... ahhh, it was "ok" at best. I already put this in race organization, but the race was run on mostly concrete side-walks... even the bike-path seemed to be made out of concrete... ouch! Oh and... if you go to run this next year, be aware that the course is an accurate 26.2 miles, but some of the mile markers are off. In the beginning they're slightly short by about .2 miles over the first 4 miles. You make up for that in mile 23 and 24, which are both about a tenth long.
Spectators: 1.0/5.0
~ Wow, I have NEVER seen such lifeless spectators... even at the FINISH!!! When we were finishing, NObody was clapping (not even the marathoner/half-marathoners that had already finished), and the guy on the mega-phone was calling for someone to come to the finish line, rather than calling bibs or names or simply words of encouragement. When you DID pass spectators on the course... nothing! Barely a clap or a smile... they made me want to STOP running.
Pace Group: /5.0
~ DNE and didn't need
Runner/Corrals: 2.0/5.0
Expo: /5.0
~ DNA
Swag: 2.6/5.0
~T-Shirt... The T-shirt is ok: Tech-T Style short sleeve. However, again, they ran out of smalls. If they have runners pre-order sizes-- WHY oh WHY don't they have them???? This falls into Stephanie's "Marathon things that annoy me" category. 2.6
~Medals: They were TEENY Tiny with just a little flower and "Louisville marathon" on them. I'm pretty sure they were plastic too. Yuck. 2.6
~ DNA
Swag: 2.6/5.0
~T-Shirt... The T-shirt is ok: Tech-T Style short sleeve. However, again, they ran out of smalls. If they have runners pre-order sizes-- WHY oh WHY don't they have them???? This falls into Stephanie's "Marathon things that annoy me" category. 2.6
~Medals: They were TEENY Tiny with just a little flower and "Louisville marathon" on them. I'm pretty sure they were plastic too. Yuck. 2.6
~ Goodie Bag: You had the option to grab a goody bag with 2 or 3 leaflets in them.. nothing too exciting.
I am sad you didn't enjoy this marathon. I agree with most of what you said..... but I guess I was just having a good run and didnt care about the rest. I only saw three out houses aside from the finish line and it was at the half way mark, all three were taken... I ended up not making a pee stop at all... oh well. I wasn't bored, even though you are most certainly right... it was pretty boring. I just had a great run and finished strong. Good luck with your future races. Way to go with 3 this month. you are craY. Well... I have to admit, I am a bit jealous. I wish it were me. Kids are to small and the $$$ thing wont allow me to run more then a few here and there. Have a good day.
ReplyDeleteI run the Riverwalk a lot and I can't say I blame you for not finding it exciting. Bummer. The Kentucky Derby Marathon has MUCH better spectators, expo, medals, etc.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked Lynn's, though!