Go St. Louis Marathon RR (Read 689 times)

This was my first run of the Go St. Louis. It sounded interesting, its reasonably close to home and at 15K participants in total with less than 3K for the marathon, I liked the size. We arrived on Saturday for the packet pick-up and expo which was held at St. Louis University’s basketball arena. It was well organized and we received our packets and shirts pdq. A good arrangement of vendors but I really don’t care much for expos as I never buy anything there. I did meet with the pace group (sponsored by Under Armour) and they were very excited to have some marathoners. I was attempting BQ and joined the 3:20 team. Sunday arrives and it is flat raining. Looking at the radar confirms all day rain. Crap! Can’t do anything about it anyway so off to the start line where we meet up with the pace group. There were about 35 in the group but only 10 for the full. The start line faces the river and you get a great view of the St. Louis Arch. The gun goes off promptly at 7 and we are off and slogging down Market St and off to Broadway. Broadway runs along the Mississippi river but I’m not sure you can see it due to the cloud cover and buildings but the highlight is the run through the Anheuser Busch brewery where (alas there is no beer product at the water stop) we are greeted by a one of the famous Clydesdales looking more anxious than happy. This section is a loop that returns to market and then moves West to Forrest Park via some neighborhoods around SLU and near Barnes. This is also one of the first hills. The hills here are not huge, they just seems to last forever. The run through Forrest Park is great as we get to see the Muni and the Art Museum and basically have a peaceful section which leads to Forsyth Ave and a jaunt through Washington University and another one of those 1 mile hills. Crowd support is thin but that is directly proportional to the weather. We make it to Clayton (a nice town with rolling hills and good crowds) for the turn around and start to head back. Again this section goes mostly through local neighborhoods which I bet would show off St. Louis’ charm if it weren’t for the rain. The course takes you back to Forrest Park and again winds through SLU on the way to the finish line downtown. So all of the hills you ran down are now going up and they seem to last longer this time. Eventually, we crest the hill at Wachovia’s HQ and now it’s a nice downhill to the last uphill to the finish. Crossing the finish line is always fun but more so today as a warm shower and dry clothes await. Overall, the course is challenging and runs through some very nice areas. You do get a full flavor of St. Louis via the route. The support was excellent with lots of water/Gatorade stops. There were two areas where Hammer Gels were provided and volunteers were everywhere. The crowds were loud and, considering the weather, pretty darn large. The finish area had lots of snacks and drinks and the good folks at Shalfley provded several opportunities to refill those carbs with some good beer. From a personal perspective, I ran a 3:28 which was a new PR by some 20 minutes but the big takeaway for me was that this was a really nice marathon. It was well organized, well staffed, efficient, and a challenging course. I’ll run it again and look forward to better weather the next time. Go St. Louis should be on your to run list.

Good report and congrats on the PR. Sorry about missing your BQ ... I am not much of a "mudder" so running in the rain could not have helped. 20 minute PR -- wow! That's something!

Congratulations on the new PR! We have been wondering what happen to you over by the Spring Marathon Training Thread.

Congratulations, CarmelRunner! A 20 minute PR is sick! Nice job. If I'm ever able to run marathons again, this one will be given much consideration. Thanks for the descriptive report and recommendation. Congratulations again!

Go St. Louis was my first. For a first time out, I really liked it. I grossly underestimated the affect that those hills and that much rain would have on me. As a result, my time was nowhere near what I was hoping for but I've got the first one under my belt and had a great time.

Nice job, CR. I know you were looking for better but a 20 minute PR is definitely something you can build upon. You're running real well. Good luck with your fall attempt.