I ran the Miami Marathon last year, after having lived here for about 18 months. It's a destination marathon in the sense that it's in Miami in January, so you can escape the cold weather and make a vacation of it. However, as a resident, I was disappointed in the course/fan support. I didn't mind that you run through some sketchy areas, but running through desolate sketchy areas is unacceptable - and the entire course is pretty desolate, due to the necessarily early start time. Get bands out there, get the local radio stations to broadcast from the course (and play music for the runners), and encourage bars/clubs to stay put all night so that their patrons are still hanging out as the runners go by. Also, CLOSE the course to traffic. The police are super helpful, but the cities need to close the course to traffic, particularly the MacArthur and Venetian Causeways (there are FOUR bridges between Miami and the beach); there's no reason to not close the two that are in the course. All in all, though, it's pleasant weather, and if you do any research, you will find that there is plenty of available and inexpensive ($1-3) parking at the expo. If you're that broken up about not getting your medal (which I can't fathom - I had like three people rushing to put one on me), you can have mine. I hope the race is simply going through growing pains, because it has tons of potential.

Positives:
Sunny Florida, and a great course.

Negatives:
Gear check was horrible. They got all of our bags mixed up (all of them looked alike) and it took over 30 minutes to find our bag. (The guy next to us was waiting for an hour and was told that his bag wasn't there!!!)

This was my first marathon, though I'm a veteran runner. It was a wonderful choice for a first marathon. The course was beautiful. An early morning run past the cruise ships, sun coming up over the beach, and pleasant run though funky Coconut Grove. Spectacular weather. Sparse, but enthusiastic and supportive crowd. Plenty of water, porta-potties, GU, etc. It was a joy to run and I fell in love with Miami.

My only complaint was that starting 12,000 half-marathoners and the 2,500 marathoners together was a mess. You never got a steady pace going until after the half-marathoners turned off. Some beginners started walking up the bridge in the first 1/4 mile and it was ugly; it was a miracle no one was trampled. My training partner, who's got a half-marathon time within 30 seconds of mine, finished 20 minutes faster, mostly because he sneaked to the front corral; he beat the crowds and earned a BQ time. No BQ time for me because the first three miles were no better than 11 minutes per mile.

I recommend the race, but don't expect any PR unless you somehow get into the front corral or don't mind throwing elbows and pushing people out of the way. Just enjoy the run, because it really is spectacular.

The best part of the marathon happened in the first couple of miles. Running along the water by the cruise ships was awesome. Nothing about the rest of the race stands out in my memory. I do feel that the City of Miami wanted to make as much money from the race as possible. Why was there no information about riding the metro? We drove in and found parking for ONLY $10 and felt lucky. We also parked on the street for the expo. The fan support was nonexistent. I don't know what race the other people were running. I do want to thank the race organizers for leaving a few stale bagels and some hot bottled water for those of us who took longer than 5 hours to run the race. I hope I didn't get in anyone's way as I rested on the ground while the place was being cleared. It would have liked to have more to eat but the workers were hauling off food for themselves in large bags. I can mark Florida off my marathon list. Guess I should have done Disney.

This was my first trip to the Miami Marathon and I was greatly pleased. Being from NYC and its cold January weather, I was so happy to be in sunny south Florida.

As for the marathon experience: I went to the expo on Saturday. There was a shuttle bus from the Bayside Marketplace to the Convention Center in South Beach area. I happen to be staying at the Holiday Inn directly across the street from the Bayside Marketplace; this hotel is also located within 3 blocks of the start and finish. I took the shuttle bus in the morning to the expo, picked up my race material, went to the beach, and then caught a later shuttle back to the hotel.

The expo was good - well organized, with many of the usual vendors. The goody bag was fine; it included a runners cap with the 2009 logo. The runner's shirt was superb.

As for the race it self: Most of the runners, as previously stated by others are there for the half-marathon. The course is mainly flat, except for 3 bridges. The bridges are short, and the hardest one is in the run over to South Beach. Spectators were great, as well as the volunteers. It was funny to see people just going home in South Beach while you are running. There is a really nice cheering zone around mile 10. At mile 13, when the halfers turn for home, the course gets really lonely. Auto traffic gets somewhat annoying in some spots, especially during the last 3 miles along Brickell Ave.; you really don't want to ingest car fumes while running, but it is a necessary evil. The police do a GREAT job of controlling traffic when you get to an intersection and encouragement to the runners.

The finishing area was well stocked with bananas, bagels, cookies, and more.

The best part was the finisher's medal; it was big and spectacular. I wore it for the next few days around Miami.

If you love to travel to marathons, you must go to Miami and stay a while. It was great.

I thought the course was beautiful, and I ran a personal best. However, I also felt that the crowd was sparse (I'm used to New York City's marathon crowds, so I'm probably spoiled). I like the idea of staggering the marathon and half-marathon start times, and I would definitely second those who complained about the uncovered grates on the bridges.

The loop at the causeway at miles 21/22 was a killer. Hopefully, they'll find a way to avoid the loop and have us cover another part of Miami. Otherwise, a great course.

The expo didn't have the pace setters' booth, as I'd hoped. But they showed up at the start, and I found them very useful and professional.

The volunteers really have it together. They did a super job!

As a "destination marathon," I was very disappointed to find after the race that the parking garage I used - while they had told me it would be $5 when I entered - charged me $14 because I arrived before 5 a.m. The hotel I booked through the marathon website assured me there would be a bus to and from the start when I booked my room, but when I checked in they said, "No." I was also disappointed to pass so many "Southern Florida Team in Training" coaches and mentors walking with their teammates in the first mile. They should know better and line up in the appropriate corral to avoid causing so much congestion.

But the course was pretty - especially the second half. The police did an excellent job of keeping the course closed, which must have been no small feat considering how upset many motorists appeared to be at having the road closed. The volunteers had ample cups filled and ready. And I have never run a marathon that had so many opportunities to get GU. Two thumbs up for the race organizers and volunteers. Two thumbs down for Miami as a host city.

The half-marathon was a beautiful course! As much as I loved the course, it is not be enough to make me want to return for this race. It was some of the seemingly small details that left a bad taste in my mouth. I arrived with two friends at the the expo Saturday afternoon to find that they were out of all half-marathon shirts except size small. My friends, who also registered for the half-marathon, were given full marathon shirts and told not to wear them during the race. One of them was running a half-marathon for the first time and did not want a shirt for a race he did not complete. Our packets did not include pins for the numbers. When we asked about it, we were told they had run out. We ended up having to go to Walgreens and buy safety pins. The instructions for the gear check bag said to use the zip tie to fasten the bag, which was also not included. After finishing strong and feeling great about the amazing course, the 45-minute wait in line to get my bag that I had checked really made me want to think twice about driving down from Orlando for this race again.

I just completed this marathon this past weekend. This was my third full marathon and I have completed seven half-marathons. The scenery along the course was spectacular! The fans and the volunteers were awesome! It was one of the best marathons that I have run. The race was well organized and the weather was perfect. The t-shirts were nice, made of tech fabric. The only problem that I ran into was the grates on some of the bridges, which was a minor problem. I would recommend this race to everyone. It was an amazing experience.

This was my first full marathon, and I chose it hoping I could use it to qualify for Boston (which I did). Along the way, I had a blast! I loved the early start time (being able to start and get nearly halfway through the run before the sun came out was a big perk!), and the abundance of well-manned aid stations was a plus. The course was 95% flat, and extremely fast, and though I was going at a decent clip, I still found I had time to take in some of the distinctly-Miami scenery.

I did have a few qualms, most of which have been mentioned in regards to past years' Miami Marathons, but I'll list them here as well:

1.) Though the website advertised gel being offered at various aid stations throughout the run, I saw only one person at a late-mile aid station actually handing it out (the last person in a long line of people handing out Gatorade and water). Were they hiding the gels to better ration them? If you don't want to hand them out, then simply stop advertising them so that people can make arrangements to bring their own.
2.) The grates on the drawbridges remained uncovered. One of these years, you're going to end up with a serious injury because of this. Please invest in some mats.

Overall, I would recommend this race to anyone looking to run a marathon, period - whether looking to qualify for Boston or simply to get one under their belt. The fan support in the downtown area was fantastic (it was sparse throughout the neighborhoods in the later portions of the race, but this is what most marathoners expect and this was in no way problematic), and there were a large number of police officers to insure that the course remained closed and the runners safe. Thanks for a great experience, Miami!