For those of you who want the easy, flat track, stay away! Miles 3 - 8 will revisit your legs around mile 20! I thought I could keep my normal pace and buzz right through those hills - I paid for it later on, adding almost 15 minutes to my finishing time.

The course is challenging. If you like to challenge yourself, this course will not disappoint. There are spots towards the end where the course may be flat, but your looking across a lake at tiny figures that are other marathoners. There are definite mental challenges when you deal with that issue at mile 18 at water works park and also at mile 21 at Gray's Lake. Once again, it challenges you.

The fan support is good for a mid-sized race. Mostly concentrated at the start/finish; miles 9 through 15 (Drake area)then it kind of thins out. If you need others to cheer you on the entire course, this marathon probably isn't for you.

The organization if almost perfect. Need to move the water/Gatorade away from the finishing chute and keep it with the food. There was no other water anywhere that I could locate and the finishing area was relatively congested and you want to stay away. Maybe another table with water near the food would work. Start was very smooth, traffic control was perfect and parking and access to the start area was easy. Plenty of port-a-potties!

Volunteers were second to none!!! The midwest is where you find such kind and gracious people who will donate their time on a weekend and be happy to do it, and do whatever they need to do to keep us runners happy. Any runner who is critical of any volunteer should have his/her running shoes taken away!!! They are there to help you get through a marathon, not make it a Disney World experience.

This marathon is thoughtfully put together to ensure those serious athletes who want to challenge themselves physically and mentally can do just that! While those who walk or jog can have an equally enjoyable experience.

Positives:
(1) Well-organized
(2) Volunteers very friendly/helpful
(3) Excellent vehicular traffic control
(4) There appeared to be good medical support
(5) They did a nice job dealing with some weather-related problems before the race
(6) A nice marathon overall

Negatives:
(1) The course had steeper hills (especially miles 3-8) than I anticipated by looking at the elevation map. I don't think the elevation map was inaccurate, though.
(2) I had a hard time finding something to drink (other than beer) at the finish. I finished in just under 4 hours, and at that time there was nothing to drink near the tables with fruit, bagels, etc. I didn't actually look in the beer tent.... Perhaps they had water there.
(3) I think the leader of my pace group ended up finishing about 40 minutes slower than the goal.

Des Moines does an excellent job hosting this marathon. The race is well organized, traffic control is efficient, and the volunteers are friendly and helpful. As noted by previous writers, the race is hilly from mile three until mile 12. Some of the hills are long but they are not overly steep. The first 16 miles takes you through downtown and some very nice wooded neighborhoods. Miles 16 to 25 are through a park area that for some stretches is not particularly scenic, but at least it is flat. After the hills, the flatness was appreciated. The race course was not very crowded since the half-marathoners split off prior to mile three.

I enjoyed the refreshments at the end and the free beer is a nice touch.

I try not to run marathons more than once, but I made an exception for Des Moines. The course was improved since I ran it in 2005. The addition of the Drake University track was a great idea. I was once again surprised at how nice a city Des Moines is - it seems very safe, clean, and easy to get around. The hills weren't bad. I hope they don't take them out of the race, because that's the nicest part of the course. But the course profile chart was misleading - it shows the elevation at a scale that doesn't meaningfully depict the ups and downs. There were plenty of aid stations, but the volunteers were crowding the runners by forming very narrow passageways in the middle of the road. Aid station volunteers should also be given gloves so they don't stick their bare fingers in our drinks. And there should be a consistent layout at the stations (i.e. always have water on the left and Gatorade on the right). Compared to other same-size nearby races (specifically Omaha and Quad Cities), Des Moines is the cream of the crop.

Packet pickup was extremely efficient. I received my race number, goodie bag, and shirt in less than five minutes. The shirt was a disappointing 100% cotton t-shirt However, I had also received a Des Moines Marathon running cap after registering this summer, so that made up for it somewhat. The rest of the expo was extremely small; it took us maybe 15 minutes to swing by the handful of booths.

Despite the half-marathon beginning at the same time, the marathon start was not crowded at all. The first 10 miles contained quite a few hills while touring some nice neighborhoods. None of those hills were huge, but they did require a little patience. The race highlight was unquestionably the lap around the track at Drake Stadium. The surface provided a nice break for the legs and it made for some cool photo opportunities. The later miles through Water Works Park were unremarkable, but at least they were relatively flat. A few stretches over bridges in this area provided some much needed variety.

The downtown finish seemed rather generic. The post-race food consisted of standard road race fare (bagels, bananas, and oranges). They did have popsicles and ice cream bars though I'm sure some runners never found them. For whatever reason, the finish area just lacked the energy I've felt in other marathons.

On the positive side, water stops were everywhere!! As others have mentioned, the order of water and Gatorade seemed to vary at each aid station. The volunteers did a decent job of announcing the order as runners arrived though. Mile markers were clearly visible and there was no chance of taking a wrong turn (unless you're an elite half-marathoner). Volunteers were very friendly and helpful.

Crowd support was average. There seemed to be a good number of spectators in the first 15 miles. They weren't particularly vocal, but maybe they will get louder as the race becomes more of a local tradition. Also, the spectators thinned out significantly once runners reached the park areas in the later miles.

For those traveling to the race, we stayed at the Marriott (a host hotel) a few blocks from the start. The service there was fantastic. The staff even shuttled us over to a nearby convenience store to purchase breakfast items for race morning. Also, the hotel allowed a 2:00pm late check-out on race day.

The City of Des Moines was equally impressive. Parking downtown is free on weekends and there were numerous local restaurants close to race events. We ate at Spaghetti Works which had a surprisingly short wait for 5:00pm the night before the race.

Above all, this is a well-organized marathon. It's definitely a good bet for anyone looking for a mid-sized race in the Midwest.

The Des Moines Marathon is a fantastic mid sized event. The course is scenic and offers a nice variety of rolling hills and flat stretches. It tours beautiful parts of the city. The volunteer support is incredible and the entire event is professionally organized. I commend the race director and his army of dedicated volunteers for planning and implementing an awesome event.

I am an experienced runner but never having run a full marathon you never really know what to expect. I had a lot of nervous energy the week prior. This event was extremely well organized and planned out. For a first timer, having all the aid/water stations, staff on bikes, pacers, variety of music, made me feel as good as possible during the run. I felt extremely prepared and confident with a goal time, but I did not meet my time and I feel those early hills (fun at the time) caught me the last few miles.

One area for improvement could be to better separate out the walkers from the marathoners, navigation around these folks was challenging at times.

Congratulations to the organizers and race director. I'll be back!

This marathon was my first ever. It was great fun and the course to me was fine. Some people had negative comments on the early hills but those were not hills. Even my area of Kansas had worse hills. Never having run a race previously I thought having the hills early was just fine. Our daughter ran Tucson and the LAST 2 miles were the steepest hill of the entire route. She said it was a killer and quite depressing.

Yes, the fan support was great in the early half but the area of the flatlands in the park were sparsely populated. It is difficult to get to for spectators but it would help if the organizers could encourage more fans and possibly get a couple bands out there. The high school drum band at about mile 21 was great. Need more like that.

The course is very accessible to spectators. My family support team was able to get close to me easily and pass water, GU and generally urge me on. That helped make it fun for me and them.

We stayed at the Renaissance Savery Hotel 40 yards from the starting line. They allowed a 3:00 PM late check out which was great and one reason we selected it. Really nice hotel and staff also.

I had a disappointing finish time because my legs cramped up but that is my problem. Expected too much of myself for the first marathon. As the CUBS would say ... 'Wait til next year!'

The course was kind of long in spots - running through Gray's Lake Park seemed to take a long time, but it was toward the end of the course. I thought the first seven miles were pretty hilly, too. The volunteer support is AWESOME in this marathon.

This race had lots of pluses with the only minus being the consequences I faced for spotted training in the month prior to the marathon.

Lodging- Oh how great it is to go to a race and be able to check out after you finish and shower-late checkout is the way to go and it was nice to run a race that had the support of the businesses downtown. Another plus was the early morning breakfast made available-it was a start and required minor tweaks. My third plus was walking out of my hotel and onto the street where the start was-this was possible because of the size of the race.
-The expo-I saw some stuff there that I hadn't seen in larger expos-so I was mildly surprised-it was about the size I expected. I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually liked the cotton shirt we got and I usually would prefer a dry wick shirt. If it had been dry wicking I don't think we would have had as many colors as the cotton shirt. I enjoyed the guest speaker, but, thought the meal could have been a little better quality-nothing wrong with it but it wasn't any better then the meal I paid $5-$6 dollars for at my last marathon.

Course- Rolling hills in the first 8 miles or so is what I read and that's pretty much what I saw...so there was no surprise there. I enjoyed the lap on the track at the college and I was glad that the course had some out-and-back loops so that I could see and cheer on the lead runners. Others remarked that the time in the parks was tedious, or boring- since I was in such a bad state by mile 16 I was really glad there weren't huge crowds watching me-it was a blessing to struggle away from observers. I've run enough races now that seeing people way ahead of me (as was possible in a few of the park areas) doesn't discourage me. I really enjoyed the transition when I hit the parks from rock bands to the wind blowing in the trees.
I liked the variety of scenery from the capital building & downtown to parks.

Spectators-God bless the lady on the harp-I can't believe someone else didn't mention her. I heard a variety of music from harp to rock and of course the Sousaphone and Tambourine guy-I enjoyed it all. I could tell that merely transporting and setting up some of the speakers I heard on the course required a huge effort and I admired and appreciated the contribution these folks made.
I got some help from a course monitor on about mile 20-he was very kind and low key-my aching muscles revolted after not training properly in the weeks previous to this marathon.

To sum it up this marathon was the most painful of all my marathons because of my inability to train over the last month;but, I couldn't help but enjoy everything else about it. I found myself wishing I could come back again just so I could enjoy the race with better preparation.