This course is tough. There are hills throughout the course and there's a long hill until mile 25. That said, I didn't just beat my PR, I blew it out of the water!

The views along the course are amazing. You'll come around a bend and see sweeping vistas. The fall colors were also out in force. You will always have something to look at while you're running.

The spectators were great for a small marathon. There are lots of areas where there are none, but you should expect that of a marathon this size. Plus you are too busy looking out at the fall colors, ocean, and lakes.

My husband was able to see me along the course by following the directions in the spectator guide. He said the directions from one area to another were extremely helpful and made it easy to get from one place to another.

The streets aren't all closed to vehicular traffic, so at points there is traffic along the route. I was concerned about this since this would be the first time running a race with cars driving by. However, I didn't have any problems. I was given enough room . Plus passing people (and being passed) was no problem.

2012 was a cold and rainy year, but it was still a great time. I would highly recommend this course to everyone!

The weather was cool (40s) and it rained the whole time. However, the course was beautiful and the spectator support was great, especially given the weather. The course was definitely HILLY with areas of flat terrain. The finishers medal was rather lame, though (how about using the shape of the island itself rather than just 2012 in big letters). Could use more shuttles after the run.

Awesome race. One of my favorites. Small town feel. 2012 was rainy and cloudy, but scenery was still excellent. Fall colors are vibrant regardless of weather. Parts of course are run on highway with some traffic, which is less than ideal but really no way to find alternative I'd assume. Much of the road is crowned, so I had to be intentional about finding patches where the road was even. Hills are killer, you'd better train for them. My 3:28 here would be more like a 3:20 on a flatter course. But it's well worth it!

Organization was very strong, good communication before the race. No problem parking at start or finish. Water stops were slightly confusing, would be good to have water in front and Gatorade in back, or vice versa (they were mixed in some stops).

Solid food selection at end, plus massage, indoor warming, free single beer. Musician in the BBQ tent was awesome.

Jacket was a good change of pace instead of a shirt. Runners: heed their warnings about it running large. Very nice medal.

Overall, an excellent race, definitely a bucket lister. Bar Harbor is a great host. Lots of hotels, and Acadia is a great place to check out. I loved this race on a cold and rainy year... imagine what it's like when the weather is incredible!

Well organized race. Only gave the course 4 stars because of the traffic at the end of the race. Can't beat the scenery. Bar Harbour is a great place to visit for a marathon.

Beautiful course! Excellent spectators! Thank you ladies at mile 24 for letting me hula-hoop with you! As far as hills go, NOTHING compares to Vermont which I just ran in July so to me there were NO hills in Bar Harbor! I would have liked to see more port-o-pots and more hotel info on the website. There were so many hotels in town and I would have liked to have been closer to the action.

As everyone else has stated, this is an amazingly beautiful course. It's definitely a must do for all 50 staters and any New England marathoners! If I lived closer I'd do it annually! Only rated the spectators 4 stars b/c they were only permitted in a few limited locations on the course. However, in the locations they were present they were outstanding!

Now an important note for those of you that 1. fly to the event and 2. place at this event. The award I received was a large piece of granite. If you take the award through security with you on your way back home be prepared to have your bags/person searched. When they swabbed my award to check for explosives it came up positive. Anything that came in contact with the award in my luggage also came up positive for the residue. This caused quite a delay getting through security. So either put the award in your checked luggage, mail the award home in a flat rate box to save yourself the hassle of getting through security with the award or just leave extra early before your flight so you have time to enjoy the body cavity search without the worry of missing your flight. :o)

This was my second marathon, my daughter picked it and I am so glad she did. I would never have chosen it, based on the comments about hills. There were definitely hills. I don't know if there were any flat parts! But the outstanding organization, beauty all around, and great fans along the course more than compensated for the hills. There aren't tons of people everywhere, to me that was part of the charm. I loved the small expo, love the jacket, loved visiting Maine in October, loved the early start, loved the course, loved the finish. Loved the medal too. The only negative is that you are on the left side of the road for most of the race and it did create some issues for my already painful left foot. But I would definitely recommend this race.

This course lives up to it's description of hilly but the beautiful scenery of running along the coast takes your mind off of running and away from the hills. Running with the Atlantic coast to your left, woods, rock formations and tree covered hills with trees in multi fall colors to your right made this a spectacular run. The finish line was in a quaint New England coastal town that only added to the storybook setting of this race. The water stations were every mile and well staffed. The finish area was well appointed with fruit, drinks etc. I'll probably return to this one after I get my 50 states done. One suggestion I would make is the first porta-johns were about 6 miles into the race. It would be nice to have had them around mile 3.

I chose this marathon for my 50 states goal due to the scenery and for that reason alone, I am glad I ran it. I fell in love with Bar Harbor and am already trying to figure out when I can return; it's really THAT special there!!! Although I won't run a Maine marathon again until I finish the 50 states, I enjoyed the scenery so much I may have to do the 2-person relay next year. I highly recommend you build in a few extra days for sightseeing!!! Restaurant tip: Side Street Cafe has one of the best burgers I've ever had in my life! Lodging tip: LOTS of great place in downtown Bar Harbor within a block or two of race start (host hotel 2 miles away with NO shuttles).

Pros:
-few spectators but those who were there were awesome. The older couple with the accordian towards the end made my day!!
-each mile clearly marked
-plenty of food/drink for finishers regardless of pace
-race supportive of participants of ALL paces; they celebrated their last finisher who came in at over 10 hours. I love this aspect of the race!
-nice effort this year to offer pre-race fun run and breakfast as well as post-race celebration (though poor attendance at both events)
-volunteers incredibly enthusiastic and helpful
-excellent thorough pre-race instructions (though they said no bags accepted at baggage check after 7:30am and the baggage folks said they accepted until race start)
-EXCELLENT use of social media (Facebook and Twitter)
-wonderful home-town pasta dinner

Cons:
-significant camber in road for most of race got annoying
-not enough port-a-potties on course. I understand this has improved over the years but could still use improvement (I started looking for one around mile 13 and by mile 18 hadn't found one so went in the woods)
-could have at least one clock on the course, maybe at the half-way mark
-course can get lonely at times (many sections with no spectators) but I just tried to enjoy the scenery

Despite the few cons, I would highly recommend this race for the scenery. Yes, the hills are tough, but just go into it with the right attitude and you will have a great experience. You simply MUST take advantage of the beauty of this course.

This race was great. Great organization, great community, great scenery! With all of the talk of the hills, I tied my PR on this course, and did not find the hills difficult, despite a headwind for much of the race. (I must be the only person who finds flat courses more difficult). To train properly, I would recommend hills in your long runs, especially at the end of your 20-mile training runs.