Any Hartford Maration Race Reports? (Read 442 times)

Just wondering... Econo? Chaloo? Sully? Thinking about running it next year....

Expo- Terrible. In the XL center parking garage. Parking- Not very good. Cop told me that Marathon people and Hartford PD were not on the same page. A lot of the parking / direction information on their web site was incorrect. Start- As other have stated, terrible. Race directors mega phone sounded like the intercom of a fast food chain (impossible to understand). 7500 people started all bunched together. Walkers in the front, middle, and back. Why they don't do a wave start is beyond me. Course- Again, not much positive to say. Makers were not well done. The views of the river were great with the leaves changing. Awards Ceremony- None Post Race Party- Great. Whole Foods did an unbelievable job with this. The food they provided was A+! Overall, I was very disappointed. A marathon in a major New England city in the fall should be done right. I really feel that the ball was dropped here. That being said, a race is a race and I will be back next year.

Heh! I thought it was great! Don't listen to those other folks. The anthem singer changed key in the middle of the song. Grrr! The Expo was merely fine. I bought a cute shirt. As if I need shirts... The marathoners got the white LS t-shirt, and it doesn't say "marathon" on the sleeve. The 5K runners and halfers got colored shirts with the distance written on the sleeve. Grrrr! The miles were well-marked with 7' tall flag-banners and clearly marked signs on the pavement. The course is great, especially miles 8 - 14, which is an out-n-back featuring fall colors, horse farms with pretty white picket fences, etc. There are some gentle, short hills in the latter 10K of the course. There seemed to be people handing out Gu's everywhere. There were LOTS of water/gatorade stations and the volunteers hollered so you knew what you were grabbing. But I sucked! I gambled and went for my very top, very ambitious goal. This worked fine until, oh, mile 17, when I just could not hold the pace any more. Down, down down I went, and ended up 27 minutes slower than hoped for. No goals met, not even the slam-dunk goals. I blame the anthem singer!