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GO! St. Louis Marathon Runner Comments
Back to GO! St. Louis Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 3.9 
Organization 3.9 
Spectators 3.5
Number of comments: 357 [displaying comments 291 to 301]
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Mark Dingmon from Lenexa, Kansas United States of America
(5/8/2004)
 "The Sun Shines On This Marathon" (about: 2004)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 GO! St. Louis Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This marathon continues to improve with each event. This was my 3rd St. Louis Marathon, and I have noticed significant improvements from the previous years. This marathon has advanced to the next level and will soon be comparable to the Flying Pig. Here is some good stuff about the Spirit of Saint Louis Marathon... 1) Two starting lines 2) The National Anthem performed by the runners and anyone else who wanted to join in. 3) Scenic and diverse course with some rolling hills, plenty of things to look at... downtown St.Louis, Busch Stadium, City Hall, Federal Building, Soldiers Memorial, Forest Park, Charming Neighborhoods, Saint Louis University, and some small attractive business districts. 4) Anheuser-Busch Brewery at mile 23 with one lonely clydsdale horse looking on. (A nice touch)! 5) The Bud Man at mile 24 (thanks for the suds!!!) Some quick carbs into my system and I was on my way to a PB. 6) Well protected course by St.Louis's Finest 7) Well marked course with spacious running lanes. 8) Organized aid stations with hard working volunteers. 9) Wonderful spectators, your support and encouragement is greatly appreciated. 10) Adequate expo (not big), but I got what I needed. 11) Overall, a well organized event. Thank you, St. Louis, look foward to 2005!!!! Special kudos to Mike Shannon's Restaurant (7th and Chestnut), which offers great vegetarian options. A special thanks to Mike and his staff !!! | |
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J. T. from Central Mass
(4/19/2004)
"Great Job STL" (about: 2004)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Well run marathon with a challenging course. Plenty of hills from mid-point on. Enthusiastic spectators and volunteers throughout. Organizers might want to consider some course separation between the full and the half, especially from about 16 miles on. A solution might be to simply cone off a half marathon lane. Often times half walkers were 4-5 abreast forcing marathoners to weave/end around the walkers. Tough point in the race to have to be forced to alter course. Besides that, a wonderful race. | |
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T. L. from ST LOUIS
(4/16/2004)
"MY 1ST MARATHON" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 What a great day to run!! This was my first marathon, and it was great. I did not like the last loop, but probably because I was tired! I put my name on my shirt and this really helped! The fans would yell my name and keep me going. I wish this was a bigger marathon. There were a lot of walkers, but overall it was fun! | |
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B. H. from Columbia, MO
(4/15/2004)
 "My first, great experience" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Had a great time. Weather was perfect. The hills took their toll on me as I reached the 23rd and 24th mile! Had a little trouble dodging the walkers, who were at times 3 to 4 wide. Aid stations and porta-potties were adequate. Could have used a little more entertainment, but not too bad. Really enjoyed a couple of the bands, wished they could have followed me! I was surprised the t-shirt was so blah. Jazz it up a little next year! I'm confused why we have not been given gun time and chip time. My time (as posted on their site) is gun time and did not consider the extra minute or so it took me to reach the starting mat. No big deal, but I thought that's what the chip timing was all about! | |
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K. M. from Columbus OH
(4/15/2004)
"Great Marathon " (about: 2004)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Wonderful course, if you like hills. I walked it and took advantage of the early start, despite the lower temperature. Interestingly there were less than 100 walkers that took advantage of this, perhaps it was not advertised as well as it should have been, from the comments I have seen about walkers lining up at the front of the marathon start. I PR'd despite the hills - I guess it was because I ran down all of the hills, but walked up them. Plenty of water stops. Awesome coordination on volunteers part. Great spectators, although a few places that could have been a little more scenic, but over a course of 26 miles, cannot complain. Forest Park was beautiful. Beer at mile 24 was great (I hate beer, but hey I still drank a little, it does have carbs). Food available, must have been a second delivery that was a little behind the runner's needs... Altogether, a good marathon. My time was not accurately reflected, perhaps because of the early start. Strangely, my time listed does not even come close to my finishing photo time, so it neither matches my chip time because I took advantage of the early start, or the time I might have finished if I started with all the others. Consider running this marathon, but only for the marathon itself. Expo and ending festivities were mediocore, but it is all about the race, right? | |
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J. B. from Los Angeles
(4/13/2004)
"Great City - Great Marathon" (about: 2004)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Very good marathon. Nice course. Hills are rolling and very gentle, to those that claim it is hilly, well they just don't know what hills are. Part of the enjoyment of running a marathon is to add a bit of challenge to the experience and there was nothing difficult at all about this course. One very major complaint of mine was the annoying walkers who often blocked the runners. Not at all opposed to walkers, but the course or start of the half marathon needs to be changed to keep them from obstructing the marathon runners. At the very least the race organizers should mention something about race etiquette, encouraging them not to walk four or more abreast, thus requiring runners to weave in and out of them. That really is not on. Don't want to give the wrong idea becasue this is a very nice marathon, but would also suggest a rerouting of the last six miles. It is discouraging to pass the finish area at mile 20 and still know that you are far from finished. Overall, kudos to the organizers, the volunteers, spectators and the great City of St. Louis. | |
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P. I. from Bartonville, IL
(4/9/2004)
"Very hilly course, but scenic" (about: 2004)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 More time clocks at the mile markers, only had split times at 5, 10, 13.1 and 20. Need more portable potties, I had to wait 15 min. Mile markers was confusing at the beginning. Should have this marathon in fall, it was hard to train in the winter. It was a fun marathon and I would run this one again | |
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G. Z. from Portland, OR
(4/8/2004)
"A must do - helped that I PRd" (about: 2004)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 GOOD -The MLink keeps spectators able to view many portions of the course and the organizers obviously thought about this - makes getting around St. Louis easy -The changing scenery from downtown to the medical center to forest park to university district to historic homes to downtown to A Busch was well thought out - no boredom here -Forest Park was the best - thoroughly enjoyed this -I PRd -I had no problems locating the mile markers blue numbers on white background which they told us about before the event - to host a completely different course would be a logistical nightmare for those planning the event in a city the size of St. Louis - I got all my splits for this marathon -Weather was perfect - the wind which I was concerned about the day before only effected me towards the end so I ducked in behind someone - thankfully it wasn't hot or warm -Free massage after expo - this is fantastic and obviously was a piece of why I recovered so quickly - no limping here IMPROVEMENTS -No food at the end of the expo - this is not cool - I was told they had more than expected race entrants the day before. Since the half marathoners finished first the food was gone. They need to have some logistics for acquiring food - bagels and bananas and yogurt on a JIT basis if they want to keep registration open the day before - this is too important to miss and otherwise would have rated this marathon higher. As soon as you write a check for an event it needs to fulfill its obligations. Hopefully there will be no excuses next year. -Was unprepared for the severity of the hills on the out-and=back on the last 5 miles - it would have been nicer to run on the water front or stay more in downtown where possibly they would have more crowds as well. Those hills at the end are a killer. I do agree, however, with finishing the last 5 in downtown as opposed to starting them in downtown. -Keep the half marathoners on one side of the street. Early on, the leaders coming back were fighting with a right hand turn the marathoners had to make into Forest Park. General logisitics need improvement about who runs where. -The expo had none of the speakers advertised, at least while I was there - saw a podium but nobody talking. | |
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M. A. from Fairview Heights, IL
(4/8/2004)
"Nice race!" (about: 2004)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I ran the half marathon since I am running Boston in a couple of weeks, but I think my comments are still applicable. I thought the pre-race organization was outstanding -- lots of information on the course, changes, etc. They even sent me an e-mail reminding me of the time change for daylight savings time on Sunday. Water stops were plentiful, but placement was awkward in a couple of places, especially the one on the narrow road going into and out of Forest Park. This is not the only race that does this, but why are walkers not encouraged to start at the back of the pack? They have every right to participate, but why let them start at the front of the pack? Mile markers were a little confusing at the beginning since the 1/2 and full started at different locations -- wasn't sure which markers were for which race. I live in the area so I was familiar with the course and was ready for the hills, but in general I don't think the hills are too nasty anyway. Overall an enjoyable experience that I would do again. | |
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J. S. from Louisville, KY
(4/7/2004)
 "Don't believe the 'walker friendly' part " (about: 2004)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 As noted below, I liked the course, but it is rolling. My biggest concern as a slow runner/walker is that even though all literature stated the course will be reopened on a 6-hour pace, the police decided to move us all to sidewalks on a 5 1/2 hour pace, and were removing traffic cones and barricades. With volunteers leaving the course and cones removed, we had trouble determining the route. I realize this time limit is plenty for most runners, but do not choose this race if you are a walker. The finish line was open to give out medals, once you found your way there. |
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