I have run 21 Marathons and 3 of them were this one.
Nice downhill finish into Camden Yards and this year the city were far more supportive. The Expo has moved to the enormous Convention Centre, which is a massive improvement, and the Zoo is incorporated into the course at Mile 4 which replaces the old road towards Fort McHenry - also an improvement.
Plenty of water and gatorade and bananas etc;
Back next year......

This was my 5th BRF MARATHON. The support is AWESOME,the course challenging and the Volunteers amoung the best any were. They improve it every year. This year the Expo was moved from the RAVENS Stadium to the Baltimore Convention Center because it outgrew the stadium. This made packet pickup fast and easy,also more vendors could be there. The race support was the best,and new this year was adding a run thru the Maryland Zoo at mile 3. Handlers had two ravens,a penquin, alligator hugh rabbit and rooster,and a skunk( oder removed). I HIGHLY recommend this event.

This course is as tough as advertised - the hills are pretty brutal! A lot of the course is quite beautiful, though, especially the addition of the zoo this year. I thought the integration of all the races was actually OK, though they kept the marathon-only area very small for about half a mile after the merge with the halfers. I appreciated the friendly Baltimore residents, but there weren't that many of them over a lot of the course. The water/Gatorade stations were also a little random in their placement, but there were plenty of stations. I would recommend this race more to experienced runners looking for a challenge, and less to younger runners looking for a great race experience.

Nice course with lots of hills and great support. Only negative was the 1/2 marathoners starting at mile 13.1 at 9:45 am. They were merged with the full at mile 16. So for the last 10 miles you are dodging the slow walkers who are 2 to 4 abreast and would not move out of the runners way. I ran a 4:28 time and the finish area is so crowded. Long lines at the food tents. Not worth standing in lines for a banana. I won't run this one again until they separate the two events.

This was a great race. An uphill start, and for the first time inside the Maryland Zoo at mile 4-5, a flat middle few miles going through the Under Armour Campus, and then the hills from 16-23. Finally a downhill finish through Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the finish line right in front of M&T Bank Stadium.

I had a great time with this marathon, my 2nd overall. The hills in the second half are tough and they took their toll on me. But I learned a lot in this marathon and know this will make me stronger for other marathons.

This was my first time running this marathon. I trained really well for this race except I am from Florida (very flat) and underestimated the hills.

Pros:
-Lots of spectators on the course and support from the locals.
-Neat run through a big city.
-Packet pickup efficient and organized.
-Race generally well organized (lots of food, water, etc.).

Cons:
-At mile 16 they merge the half marathoners in with the full marathoners. This wasn't a problem for me (probably because I was really slowing down at this point) but my boyfriend was going along at a good pace and then had to zig zag around people the rest of the race. He found it frustrating to have to alter his pace because of the crowd 16 miles into the race.
-Complete chaos at finish. I couldn't find the reunion tents with letters on them to meet up with family and it was really packed with people and hard to navigate.
-Finish line was weird. There were tons of spectators throughout the course but then at the finish is was very light because (I was told) there was no way to get to the finish area to watch. There also wasn't much support (people showing you where to go etc.). You had to sort of figure it out yourself.

Thing to consider:
-Almost entire course was hills. Only major flat spot was a lake loop near mile 20. There was one other small flat spot because I remember thinking 'I feel weird, oh it's because I'm not on a hill'.
-Very windy. Not sure if it is always like that but made it even more challenging and kept my arms cold.

Beautiful tour of many highlights of the city, including the world headquarters of underarmour. Hilly yes, but gradual not steep inclines. The downhills + uphills did not add up, more uphill then down, but manageable. Incredible crowd support through every kind of neighborhood imaginable. Great shirt (underarmour duh!), gloves and excellent area post race for runners, so run with someone to enjoy the after stuff with them because your support team is not allowed in the area.

Merging the half marathon mid way through the marathon is ridiculous, you have to run a sub 3:30 to avoid. 2nd half is jam packed and the finish line area is chaos. Huge line to get any food, mostly half marathoners. They have got to change this. Hills are worse than advertised. Overall this could be a great marathon if they would change the half marathon merge.

I ran the half marathon in 2010 (1:40:23) and thought that the 5+ mile uphill challenge was great. I came back this year to do the whole 26.2. After a really good start (first 13.1 - 1:41), my legs had had enough of hills. By mile 22 I was reduced to jog-walk-jog-stretch (last 13.1 - 2:06; last 6.2 - 64:24). Granted, this was my first marathon, but I felt I had trained hard for this race, topping off at about 48 miles a week, with plenty of 20 mile runs before race day, and a sufficient 3 week taper period (as by-the-book as I could do it). Alas, I fell short of my goal of 3:30.
The course was fun - especially the front half which took us up through the zoo, around Hopkins, down past the half marathon start, and out to the Under Armor HQ before meeting up with the half marathon pack. There was lots of music and huge crowds along the course, especially Druid Park, Patterson Park (live band), Lake Montebello (live band), and 33rd and Gilford (Man in Tiger suit dancing on car and free beer and gummy bears).
Celebration village was more crowded than I remember it being last year - maybe getting too large for the area organizers have set up. Take my advice, when you go to get your complimentary beers, get both at the same time to avoid long lines. Packet pick-up this year was great at the convention center, and everyone was helpful before-during-and-after the race, from volunteers to organizers to other runners.
If you want a challenge, Baltimore is a good destination.

Overall, a very good experience.

PROS
* organization
* decent expo
* minimal onlookers, but super friendly
* course well maintained by friendly cops

CONS
* endless, challenging inclines (I guess I missed that in my pre-race research)

OVERALL
* a great experience, although I would not suggest this course for someones first marathon .. great job Baltimore!