This marathon was a lot of fun!! The weather did not cooperate (30's with sleet, rain, wind) and the course was hilly, but those conditions were what made this marathon special.

The course went through a variety of different neighborhoods, starting through historic Soulard and the Anheuser-Busch brewery, cutting through Forest Park, up through Clayton, back through University City and through the park again before running the last 5 miles towards the finish line.

The spectators were great...gotta give them credit for standing out there for hours in the freezing rain, and I thought the voluteers were exceptional. Plenty of water and powerades every two miles.

Overall...a fun marathon that I would recommend.

I ran the relay last year and the half this year. I enjoyed the course. There were mostly gradual hills in the part that I ran but I liked it. The run thru the Brewery, by the Clydesdales, thru Soulard and the St. Louis University helped forget about what bad weather we had. Started with rain, sleet, rain and wind. 30-40 degrees. But somehow I ran a new PR! Crowd was sparse probably due to the weather.

This was my 12th race in 12 states. The course was very hilly for those of us from the Chicagoland area or similar flatlands. But it was scenic and I did enjoy it. The fans were very friendly and enthusiastic and had a nice variety of food on the course, not too many spectators, but the weather was not coorperating. The organziation needs improvement, conflicting written documentation about how long traffic was controlled. Some said 51/2 hours or 6 hours, start was a little late, and the sweeper passed me at mile 12, I finised in 5:22. I recommend this race, but be prepared for possible poor organization. Ran out of mylar blankets, need more porta potties on the course. Each time there was only one.

The weather was about as miserable as it could be. Rain heavy at times, temperatures in the 30s. Perhaps that's why many of the turns in the course were unmanned and quite a few of the water stations were 'self-serve' (at least when I went by). The unmanned turns proved very irritating; I saw quite a few people get confused and go off course. The course is pretty hilly and there's lots of concrete.

This was my second marathon with Chicago being my first. The weather was cold, rainy, and windy! Lots of hills on the course that made it challenging but not boring. The course takes you through a variety of neighborhoods and colleges/universities. The crowd was great and the police stopped traffic not matter how many cars there were backed up. Plenty of aid stations with water and Power Aid.

Definitely a race I would do again and would recommend.

First up - yes, the weather was awful. That's not St. Louis' fault, and definately detracted from the event.

It's clear that this event wants to be big, but I think it needs to concentrate on embracing (and seriously improving) itself as a small marathon before presenting itself as something bigger than it is.

T-shirts: this problem is not unique to St. Louis, but get SMALL shirts, runners, especially women, are smaller people, not XXL.

Drop bags: Race instructions state that you may ONLY drop the Runner's World clear plastic bag as your bag drop, and that a label is included. But there is no label. And there is no indication as to whether you are to label with name or number. Small problem, yes, but not something you want to be worried about on the eve of a bad weather race.

COURSE MAPS ON THE WEBSITE WRONG, causing major confusion at expo where different map is posted.

PASTA PARTY: Halfway across town and difficult to get to if you didn't know ahead of time to rent a car.

As I've said, the organizers are not to be blamed for the weather - however, running out of mylar wraps around the 4:45 time frame (on a course with a 6 hour limit) is a HUGE problem when you have people running in the cold rain.

Water stops: Early water stops were a JOKE. They were set up on card tables, with very few volunteers, and you had to stop and wait in line to get water. At one point, a volunteer actually yelled at me. He said 'God, I can't even keep up with you people.' Well, it wasn't his fault that there weren't enough volunteers, but that was kind of a downer. The later stops (after the half marathon split) were covered quite well.

STOPPING FOR TRAFFIC: Again, if you are going to expect your runners to STOP in the middle of a race for traffic to cross an intersection, you are very much a local race. We pay our entry fee to have right of first refusal on the roads - stopping people running for a time goal for up to 30 seconds is bad news.

PUSHING 5 hour + marathoners to the sidewalks when your course has a 5:30 closing time. Perhaps that was because of the 10 minute delay at the start - but this is NOT the runners' fault.

JUMPING CURBS - in several places, the 'ramps' that were to lead up to the curbs sat by the curbs, apparently forgotten, causing runners to have to 'jump curbs' in the 20+ miles of the race.

MISSING MILE MARKERS - No mile 6, no mile 18, mile 16 plastered to the ground. Not acceptable. Miles also mismarked late in the race, with 22 way too long and 23 short.

Now here's the suprise - I would do this race again, but with far different expectations. I enjoy small marathons, with many of them among my 40+ marathon runs. St. Louis was a unique city, the majority of the course was stunningly beautiful in spite of the weather, the crowd support was far better than expected, attractive shirt, classy medal, and they had a great pace team. I ran with one leader, my daughter ran with another and we both had wonderful (on time) experiences. GREAT small town event. Go to St. Louis for a small, local marathon experience and you won't be disappointed. St. Louis is definately a diamond in the rough - a real gem, with all the makings of a fantastic race. Just needs some cleaning up to get there, and I hope organizers do that before trying to grow it any larger.

The first half of the marathon was fairly flat, but the second half had fairly frequent hills. If you plan on running this marathon, it would be a good idea to make certain to do your hill training. The weather was terrible, but the sparse number of spectators were totally positive and enthusiastic. The organization and the work of the many volunteers were excellent. Water, sports drinks, and gels were offered plenty of times. I highly recommend this marathon.

The weather conditions could have been better with temperatures in the 30's, wind, and rain for the first 3 hours, but the runners, volunteers, and cheering fans took it in stide.

Yes, the course seemed to be more ups than downs, but the last 2 miles of downhill to the finish gave the runners the opportunity to finish strong. Not a tough course as I ran my typical time just under 4:00 despite the elements.

Special thanks to the Cliff-Shot folks who did a great job leading the pace teams and specifically Sue who lead the 4:00 folks.

As I am a soon to be 50 stater, with 24 states to date, I will probably not get down this way again, but would recommend it for others to experience.

A well organized event with an excellent finishers medal and plenty of refreshments at the end of the race.

The course was a real challenge even for a good hill runner. The worst hills are in the last 6 miles. You feel like you have accomplished something after this one. Beautiful city.

1 minute before the start of the race it started raining. It was wet and cold, but a great race. Saint Louis is a beautiful city and the course was well designed. Some inclines, but nothing too steep. Organization was great and people were friendly.