Baltimore Marathon? (Read 78 times)

Hi.  I ran Baltimore marathon in 2011 & 2012 and the Baltimore half in earlier years.   The course is fun but challenging.    The first half--rolling hills and some fairly flat stretches, overall much easier than the 2nd half of the course.  You get to run around 2 lakes and through the zoo (they have a few animals out) which is always my favorite part.   The second half is hillier, with some of the steepest hills coming around miles 16-21 if I remember the miles correctly.  You do merge in with the half marathon participants at this point, so depending on your view it's either a boost of energy or a let down since they are still fresh and you're likely tired at this point.   The last 2 or 3 miles are mostly downhill so you can finish strong even if the hills killed you in the preceding miles.  The last stretch of the races has great crowd support and you finish down Eutaw street past Camden Yards and in front of M&T Bank Stadium.    The runners area is really crowded afterwards if you finish middle of the pack, if you finish more towards the front, grab your food before the lines get too long.   So, overall I think it's a good excuse to visit Baltimore.

 

Or a visit might be an excuse to run another marathon.

Exactly!  I did the same when he lived in Grand Rapids.  Planned the visit to coincide with their marathon, which happened to fall on my birthday.  It was great and I ended up getting a birthday BQ :-)

And thanks for the description carrie814 :-)   Very helpful.