Two things keep this marathon from being perfect. One is the size of the wind jacket. I ordered a medium and it fits like an XL. I'll never be able to wear it.

My second issue is the finisher's certificate. The certificate on their website that you can download and print free lists your gun time. In order to get a certificate with your net time (which for me is PR), you have to buy one for $17!!! I tried changing the incorrect one myself but was unable to. So I emailed the race director asking for help. I had to email him 3 times before he even responded. And on the 3rd time he finally responded and sent me a link to the website where I could purchase a correct certificate. VERY DISAPPOINTING!!

Other than that, I loved this marathon. The course is absolutely gorgeous! The city is quaint! And the locals are friendly! MDI is a must-do!

I had high expectations for this race based on what I'd read and heard from other runners who've run this fantastic marathon. But my expectations were truly blown away. Everything about this race was exactly what a marathon should be. Organization from the moment I signed up was much appreciated, course was easily one of the top 2 (out of over 50 marathons), fans were very proud of the event, and there was a nice jacket as part of the race packet. Expo was small but I'm not a fan of convention hall-sized expos, so it worked for me. The support of the community was evident the whole time we were there. I also appreciate that the event is pretty much solely focused on the marathon. There were a few relay folks, but you could tell the organizers meant to design a true marathon and didn't divide attention amongst half, 10K, relay, etc. For a marathon purist, I can't recommend this race enough. Just be sure to stay for longer than just a weekend so you can truly enjoy the area! Also be sure to locate the mile-by-mile guide they have - great to read on the plane-ride here!

This was my 56th marathon, and it ranks right up there with the best of them. The field was under 800 and the perfect size for the nature of the course. The course lived up to its billing as the most scenic marathon in the US. The cliffs of Big Sur are more spectacular (and the course steeper), but you are much closer to the water at MDI. Being from California, I marveled at the fall colors and the beauty of the island the entire way. One thing I would have done differently - I stayed at the Holiday Inn. I thought I could walk to the start since it was next to the host hotel, but was actually about 2 miles away. This was not a problem since parking downtown on marathon day was free and no hassle, but I recommend staying close to town, which is a lot more fun. I wouldn't stay at the host hotel just to be near the expo (but it is a nice hotel). The expo is small, but has a very practical selection of useful items that runners may need for the race, and you are not inundated with race souvenirs. Also - most of the runners go early to the pasta dinner at the high school, in the first hour, and that is when you will meet more people. It's one of the better ones I have attended and has a wonderful small-town atmosphere. The only item close to negative I could see is the traffic when you rejoin the main road near mile 20. All of the drivers are very aware of the marathon, are polite, and give the runners a wide berth, but it is unfortunate that traffic can't be redirected. If you want to compare MDI and Big Sur, BSIM has a big advantage in its ability to shut down Highway 1 for the race. I give MDI a 5 for spectators - not for numbers, but for their enthusiasm. I liked the idea of the rain jacket for entrants - a nice change. The entry fees was very reasonable. All in all, I would not hesitate to recommend this race to anyone.

This is a beautiful, New England Marathon during peak fall foliage. Decent-sized field and breathtaking views help make this marathon a breeze.

My only complaint is that the road is completely open to traffic. I wish organizers closed traffic in at least one direction. Narrow shoulder made the last few miles treacherous.

This marathon lived up to its billing in every way.

First, the setting: Mount Desert Island in mid-October is at peak fall foliage. So, as you run, you have beautiful maples to keep you company. You pass by a beach, mountains, ponds, and small towns. The weather was perfect: 40s and 50s during the race (typical for October).

The organization was excellent in every way. The expo was small, but had what you needed for last-minute supplies. The pre-race dinner helped get you excited for the race. The start had coffee and hot tea, in addition to water. The water stops were frequent and full of volunteers. The finish line had lots of goodies. We received bright orange, nylon wind breakers/shells, which are a welcome change from plain running shirts.

The course is a little hilly, but not nearly as hilly as the website would have you believe. I know that hilliness is subjective (I live in Washington, DC and train on hills, so others might not agree), but the hills were mostly rolling and gentle. There is a fairly long but not-that-steep incline before mile 23 or 24, and the race ends on a downhill. I actually got a PR in this race (quite unexpectedly).

This is a runner's marathon and there was a lot of support from fellow runners, who would talk about the magnificent scenery during the race.

I recommend this race 100%.

This race lives up to and actually exceeds all the hype. From the pink granite of Cadillac Mt., to the spectacular fall colors, the views of the Atlantic and Somes Sound and the quintessential New England towns, this is a very scenic marathon. Well organized with plenty of water stations; they do it right. My thanks to everyone involved for making this my best marathon ever.

The course is hilly and there are literally no flats, but it is manageable. You probably won't have a PR, but you'll have great satisfaction in completing a course that is challenging.

After the race I enjoyed a visit to Acadia National Park and partaking in the Island's lobstah, chowda and beeya. I'll be back.

I've been reading about the beauty of this course for years and was still blown away. Didn't hurt that the weather was perfect (after three days of rain too). Best of all, though, were the volunteers and race organizers, who made the entire experience a joy. If you're thinking about running this race, stop reading this and go sign up.

My nits:

I saw two porta-potties on the entire course - one at the half and one at 18. Guys, I know we can use the woods, but come on!

Our room at the race hotel looked like a basement rec room from the 70's. Next time I'm staying at one of the lovely inns.

The traffic over the last 6 miles, at which point we were consigned to the shoulder, sucked. Is there no other way?

Those are my quibbles. It's a wonderful race and kudos and thanks to all involved!

I ran this marathon for the first time four years ago in 2006. Hard to believe, but it seemed more scenic this year! Funny that the last big hill at mile 24 didn't seem as tough. And, despite a strong headwind from mile 10 to mile 24, my time improved by four minutes, enough for a BQ.

Last time I ran it I remember talking to a lot of folks; this year I guess I ran a little harder and talked to the ever-present, mind-boggling scenery that seemed to talk back to me. And the fans - not that this marathon needs any at all - seemed more numerous and more engaging.

We were actually very lucky since the nasty storm that drenched Maine on Friday and Saturday disappeared and Monday's cold wind came a day late. Instead Maine treated us runners to a gorgeous New England autumn day - 46 for the low and around 52 at noon, PR temps.

Race director Gary Allen and his team of the Crow Running Club know how to stage this race and make each runner feel important, something that larger marathons fail at often. The Holiday Inn proved to be a wonderful part of the weekend for a reasonable cost.

Pros:
1. Medical tent close to the finish line. Well staffed and courteous.
2. Decent food afterwards.
3. Perfect pasta dinner.
4. Good expo for last-minute supplies and goodies.
5. Started on time.
6. Mile markers accurate and easily visible.
7. Aid stations well staffed with Gatorade and water and great volunteers.
8. Lovely granite age bracket awards.
9. Utterly scenic course with enough ups and downs to make it interesting, yet not overly tiring. But not a course for beginners.
10. Nice orange race jacket as a premium.

Cons:
1. Not much here. My friend finished at around 5 hours and was concerned about the two-way traffic. I finished about an hour earlier and thought the drivers were slow and courteous.

This a lovely, small marathon in a cute town with a wonderful course. The weather for the 2010 race could not have been more perfect.

But, there are a few wrinkles that need to be worked out, primarily logistical.

First, the positives:

On a crisp fall day, the course really shines. Lovely foliage and hills, hidden harbors, gleaming sailboats, nestled neighborhoods, golden sunshine, open water. At times, it's like running under a canopy of autumn colors. A real treat.

Plus, there are some nice visual cues along the way to help you break down the race mentally. The first glimmers of Frenchman's Bay around mile 7 and the entire horseshoe of Somes Sound at mile 14 come to mind. And then there's the hill that starts at mile 21ish until 24.5.

Folks have reported that the course is very hilly and one needs to try and keep something in the tank for the four-mile uphill near the end. Yet, the final long climb has plenty of flats (and even a few downhills), so it's not like heading up Hurricane Point. And, because of the great scenery, the rolling terrain along the way affects the body more than the mind so it's a bit surprising when one reaches the base of the final uphill at 21 to discover that the legs are gone.

Volunteers along the way are just darling, especially all of the students that don funky woolen caps. Very charming and very Maine.

Bar Harbor itself is rather idyllic, though it's become a bit too much "t-shirt/gift shops and ice cream places" for my tastes. Then again, the town absolutely lives on tourism (both New Englanders doing their summers in town, and the cruise ships that port locally), so the seasonal look is understandable. The marathon comes at the very end of the tourist season (and this year coincided with the last two cruise ships of the season), which is both a plus and minus. The plus is that the town is considerably less crowded than at other times of the year; the downside is that everything is about to close for five months and some services - like shuttle buses - have stopped running.

Bar Harbor is also, like Shangri La, rather impossible to get to. I believe the town was once called Eden (the town next door is still called that) and part of completing this race is figuring out just how you're going to get onto (and off of) Mount Desert Island. But they have marathon posters in nearly every shop and restaurant in town, include the small harbor villages on the route, so there's a nice sense of an "event weekend" in the community.

Finally, kudos for the bright orange windbreaker given out in goody bags. Terrific swag, and worn by nearly everyone the day after.

Now, for the "issues."

The MDI Marathon does not run any shuttle buses for runners from the local airport (in Trenton, about 15 miles away) to the exposition or to town. This means that, if you don't have wheels, you are stranded at the airport waiting for a local Bar Harbor shuttle (which may or may not be running, since most of these jitneys stop after Columbus Day though NO ONE on the island or nearby is completely sure of this). This is a tiny airport with only 3 incoming flights a day. You would think that someone involved in the marathon would send a jitney over.

The MDI Marathon does not run any shuttle buses for runners from the two host hotels to the starting line (a bit more than a mile away). I have never experienced this before. Most marathons have a special bus route the day of the race to pick up runners. Thus, one has to add another mile to the marathon total each way to get to and from the start and drop-off point.

So, I actually did 30.2 miles that Sunday, as I went back to town in the evening to have dinner.

Given this lack of coordination, there is NO REASON AT ALL to stay in the host hotels. They are a good mile and change from town where all the action is, including the start of the race and the drop-off point afterward. Stay in downtown Bar Harbor (on any of the places on Mt. Desert Road) and save your feet the extra four miles of walking.

Did I mention that the pasta party at the high school is more than five miles away from the host hotels? Good luck getting there.

In fact, the only shuttles MDI Marathon runs at all are from the finish in Southwest Harbor back to Bar Harbor, and there are not enough of these small buses. It is STANDING ROOM ONLY, which puts another 30 minutes on your feet after running the marathon. C'mon, guys.

As for the course, I mentioned earlier that it is quite beautiful. And, because this is a small race (800-1,200 runners), it's understandably that participants have to share the road with cars. After all, in parts of MDI there is no alternate route.

That being written, runners are pushed to the shoulder of the road from miles 18 to 26 (which can get rather narrow in places) and  even worse  are pushed to the SIDEWALK from mile 25ish to mile 26. (The marathon folks close the road off for the last two-tenths of a mile.) So, after five hours on the course, I ended up on the sidewalk for the finishing mile. A bit of a downer after all that work. There must be a way to keep part of a road open near the end.

Forget about porta-potties. They don't exist on the course, save for the relay stations. Use the woods. Some ladies hid behind cars parked on the road.

There is very little in the finishing town of Southwest Harbor but at least they had a few things open. One of the surprises in Bar Harbor was that none of the coffee shops/pastry places (and there are a good half-dozen near the start) decided to open early on Sunday for runners. Perhaps they serve breakfast on the cruise ships.

Also, the finisher's medal is very dinky. Sometimes bigger is better. And the expo is only worth about 10 minutes. Again, size matters.


So here are my suggestions for the fine people that put on the MDI Marathon:

1. Run some shuttle buses for participants, or provide some advance information on getting around.

2. Move the host hotels to ones in downtown Bar Harbor.

3. Re-route traffic in Southwest Harbor to give finishers part of the road.

4. Here's something radical (that would require shuttling runners) - reverse the course. I bet Southwest Harbor could do a better job of bagels and coffee in the morning, and the run would take one TO Bar Harbor for a nice finishing party, perhaps at the brewhouse in town.

5. Upgrade the finisher's medal.


Here are my suggestions for future participants:

1. If you don't have wheels, fly into Bangor and rent a car for the weekend. Yes, Bangor is another 40 minutes away, but there are more flights in and out and the cost is lower than coming into BHB Airport.

2. Stay in a hotel/motel downtown Bar Harbor, as close to Main Street as possible.


I really did like this race. It's small, it's very attractive, and it's a nice two-day destination. And if I knew about some of the above, I would have picked up a car at the airport and saved myself much of the hassle. But for a state that takes pride in "going green," there are a few minor adjustments that MDI Marathon officials could make that would give the race five gold stars.

Every single time I run this race, I am astounded by the beauty of the course (a rugged island off of the Maine coast) and the hills. Not that I'm complaining about the latter - I really believe a hilly course adds to the rhythm and to my level of concentration. Every part of the course is picturesque - runners pass through seaside villages, forests, ocean vistas, even a fjord. I tried not to notice how fried my legs were by mile 21. I PRed - yes, flat does not necessarily equal fast.

The spectators were few and far between, but many of them were very enthusiastic. And the volunteers at the aid stations were great. The race filled to capacity this year for the first time, and the organizers took this into account. There was plenty of water and Gatorade at every table (at least when I went through, and I'm a 5-hour marathoner), and, as always at MDI, I felt like I was taken care of. I will always come back to this fantastic race. When I cross the MDI finish line I know I've accomplished a lot.

I do have one complaint. Much of the course is open to traffic, and the motorists are respectful, but the way the pylons were placed on the road shoulder didn't give us a lot of room to pass by cars, let alone each other. This isn't that big of a deal, but some cars were passing very close to some very tired runners, particularly around the highway miles at 18-20.