Forums >General Running>Glass City Marathon
Fistmaster General
Anyone run it? Would you do it again?
I'm looking for a spring marathon. I'm in central Ohio and dont want to travel too far. Did Cleveland this year so I'm not looking to do it again.
Thoughts?
"I... am a fucking moron." - MattM
Feeling the growl again
I ran a 2nd place finish on the old course one year...I used to do the relay every year...I have not been back since they switched to the new course. IIRC it is flatter? Even the old one was pretty flat, with the exception of the bridge at the beginning and the climb out of the park at the turnaround a bit after halfway.
I thought the race/organization itself was fine most year. No frills, but a solid race. There was an incident the first year where the cop who was supposed to direct a turn went to talk to his buddy instead of doing his job and I ended up running almost 3/4 mile extra and losing the lead, but the race reacted well to it and I did it several years after that with absolutely no issues.
If you like small/mid-sized marathons I would recommend it. Not sure if it has changed but the weather tends to be decent (except the year I ran the full, heh).
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
spaniel, the course changed in 2010 to a start/finish at the Univ of Toledo. The route no longer runs downtown, along the river, and over the bridge. Most all of the course now runs to the west of the campus.
I agree with your review: No frills, but a solid race course and decent organization. The winds can be problematic, but I suppose that can be said for anywhere.
Hey 'Zilla, amreiner and I both ran it last year, along with a couple of guys from MRT (kph, Fonz). I would recommend it without hesitation. Pretty flat course, probably a little flatter than Columbus, I'd guess. It was a little windy but mostly cross-winds last year. Crowds are sparse in places, the HM-walker traffic was a little annoying at the end, and some of the fluid stations were a bit poorly run (some would only have a single cup of Gatorade, etc.), but overall it was a good race from a logistics/organization perspective. Surprisingly scenic course with a few short stretches that were exceptions. In rainy weather I'd be worried about the sections that run on a boardwalk in the park. Quick packet pick-up at the no-frills expo. Traffic & parking on race morning will be an issue; get there early. Finish in the Glass Bowl stadium is nice, as was the sweet glass beer mug for finishers.
Cool, thanks for that. I am not into big frills marathons, I like simple. I've run ORRRC in Xenia twice, and for $25, its my favorite. Extremely low key, great post race soup, and the logistics are handled well. The wind was also a big factor in Xenia, but similarly they were mostly crosswinds.
I'm really disappointed that I forgot to register for the ONU polar bear marathon, for some reason that seems like so much fun to me. Next year, for sure.
I'll keep this on the list of possibles.
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well son of a bitch, now I'm definitely running it!
miscreant
This was my first marathon...I ran it two weeks after the ORRC fail three years ago.
It's a decent marathon; a lot of it is run alongside 4 lane highways, with one of the lanes blocked off for runners; this can be a bit unnerving. And the middle portion of the course is pretty blah; lots of post-industrial landscape, strip malls, etc.
The beginning miles of the race, around campus and some of the nice neighborhoods in that area, and along a bike trail, plus the end, back long the bike trail and into campus, are very nice, though.
The start is crowded, so it pays to line-up correctly and maybe even a little aggressively; they start you off on some narrow roads (and with the half marathoners, too), so there's a lot of jostling.
There are a few hills at the end, but nothing major. Overall, it''s very flat.
I'm not sure I'd run it again; in some ways, course-wise, it''s one of my least favorites of the marathons that I've run. That's not to say I wouldn't recommend you run it, just that nothing about it really inspired me to want to go back and do it again (especially given that it's just far enough to be an overnighter for me). But it's a well-organized race and certainly worthy of consideration. Plus you get a cool glass beer mug when you finish; my kids still fight over who gets to drink out of it at dinner...
I'm happy, hope you're happy too...
I generally agree with what Gus said. It's a perfectly mediocre marathon - neither good nor bad.
Organization is pretty good, as long as you arrive about an hour early to park at the University.
The course is pretty good - the first half is nice as it winds through the 1%ers neighbourhood and a park; the second half is less nice. This will particularly be the case on a windy day since you lose the shelter when you step out of the park.
There is probably less risk of bad weather in mid-April than when alternative races would be scheduled. The date is what led me to pick Toledo over Cleveland last year.
The spectators are sparse, but it is a pretty fast group of runners. I finished between 3:05 and 3:10 and never ran alone - at other, similarly-sized races I've lacked company from mile 5 onwards.
Paulski, I think they changed the course after you ran it. I only remember a couple of stretches along the road like you remembered. There wasn't much traffic so it wasn't bad.