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Apr 27, 2024

Miami Marathon Runner Comments

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Course 4.5

Organization 4.2

Spectators 3.5

Number of comments: 312 [displaying comments 41 to 51]

More Comments: [ < 1 .. 3 4 5 6 7 .. 32 > ]

S. C. from Portland Oregon USA (2/6/2012) "Very quiet on the 2nd 1/2." (about: 2012) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Miami Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Running the first half was fun with all the 1/2 marathoner's there. Kinda crowded so don't expect to break loose and PR. 2nd half was certainly pleasant route, but pretty quiet. Finish was great with all the bleachers they brought in. Very enthusiastic crowd. Holiday in was VERY supportive and a great location. 6:15 AM was 72 degrees and 89% humidity, so be prepared for that! Great job overall by ING and Miami.
W. G. from Lynn Haven, FL (2/5/2012) "Good race. Could be GREAT with a few tweaks" (about: 2012) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Miami Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 This was my first time running the ING Miami Marathon. Compared to the ten previous marathons I've run I would sincerely place Miami near the top. The good: 1) It's Miami! I brought my wife and three kids with me and we made a mini-vacation out of it. Needless to say everyone had a blast. South Florida is just awesome! 2) The route was great. I was actually looking to run Miami back in 2003 or 2004 and one of the comments I came across was that part of the marathon route was through some rough parts of the city. Not anymore. The route, in my opinion, was super. Very scenic. 3) The corral'ed start was a great idea, particularly considering the large number of folks running. However, this aspect needs a few minor changes. More on that in a moment. 4) There were PLENTY of aid stations and port-o-potties. There again though, a few minor changes could be made here too. More on that in a moment. 5) Without question the best finisher's medal I've ever received. 6) The volunteers were great! Very spirited and always ready to pass on encouragement. 7) Did I mention that the race is in Miami? The bad: 1) The corral'ed start needs a few changes. Echoing another runner's comment, with the present arrangement you end up juking and jiving walkers for the few miles. Very annoying. I was in corral C and right around mile 2 or 3 there was literally a blockade (of walkers) that spanned the entire width of the road. I have NEVER seen that before. My suggestion? Ask runners for their projected finish time during registration and then assign them to the corrals accordingly. Obviously walkers go in the very back. Furthermore, there were W-A-Y more half-marathoners than full-marathoners, which seems to be a universal norm. So...start the marathon 15-30 minutes before the half-marathon. This one is a no-brainer, yet no one ever does it. This would cut way back on congestion and make the aid stations much more efficient. Speaking of... 2) The aid stations were completely overwhelmed. If the race organizers were to do what I recommended in #1 then this wouldn't be an issue. Otherwise, they need to get more volunteers, which I can only imagine is no small feat. 3) The registration fee for this race wasn't cheap. That said, the included 'goodies' were a little disappointing. I've paid a lot less to receive a lot more. To be clear, I didn't run this race to receive medals, shirts, hats, etc., but...schwag is always a good thing. 4) Where were the pace groups? The ugly: 1) The finish was an absolute mess. I don't even know where to start on this one nor how to fix it. There were A LOT of people to contend with, so maybe finishing the race in a park or larger venue would a good start. I don't know, the finish was just bad. In closing, and despite the several cons I listed, this was a good race. To qualify that statement I'll point out that the 4:07 that it took me to do this race was my WORST time ever (thanks to warm, humid air!) ...but I'm still coming back next year! There are no 'deal-breakers' within my cons list, but they are things that need to get addressed if the race organizers ever want Miami to be considered amongst America's premier marathons.
L. p. from Atlanta,GA (2/1/2012) "It's Miami, wonderful desination race" (about: 2012) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Miami Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 What a great race, well organized with 25,000 runners. Most runners run the half and it makes it a little slow for the first half of the race running from side to side to get through the crowd, but on the back side it is wide open. Great race support and plenty of water/Gatoraide at all the aid stations. Wonderful run through a very scenic place, just soak in your environment and enjoy. Wonderful event and a fun, flat course.
J. W. from Chicago, IL (2/1/2012) "Great destination marathon" (about: 2012) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Miami Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Even though this was one of my worse times, I did like this marathon. The course was interesting and it was relatively flat with only slight hills on the bridges, but you shared portions of the course with cars which was sort of distracting. It was a little warm and humid in the upper 60's at the start, but the 6:10am start definitely helps. I wish Chicago Marathon would take a clue for the earlier start. Other negatives for me was the lack of crowd support, water stations and no food at the end. I have seen more crowds at much smaller marathons. Some of the water stations were unprepared for the masses of runners and I had to stop several times to get water from the table or wait until they could fill a cup. But most disappointing was to finish a marathon then only to get a bagel and a dry cookie. Maybe all the Half Marathon runners got all the good stuff. Miami is expensive enough for a tourist so the last thing I wanted to do was buy a hot dog at the end of marathon! T-shirt is very cool and they had a great medal which I proudly wore that evening. I would recommend to runners especially if you can mix in a vacation in Miami Beach.
J. H. from New England (1/30/2012) "Half + Full= Milk + Lemon juice" (about: 2012) 11-50 previous marathons \| 2 Miami Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 Nice flat course. Count on humidity if you're coming in from the north. The start is quite chaotic with a corral system that is completely mismanaged. 25,000 runners will do that...anyways. I was at the front of corral C, right behind the elite and was surrounded by folks who REALLY needed to be in their correct place. It sounds snobby, but I despise zig-zagging joggers doing their first half-marathon when I've trained my butt off to PR in a full. South Florida is not a runner's haven. Flashy neon shoes and pull-ups on South Beach seem to be the status quo. Great place to run if all you want to do is look at Palm trees. Sorry, just tired of mega-events looking to make lots of cash. Maybe next year they'll let in 30,000...
J. B. from Miami, FL (1/30/2012) "Best Hometown Marathon - But Clown Expo Speakers" (about: 2012) 6-10 previous marathons \| 3 Miami Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 5 You have to love your hometown marathon. Perfect scenery, perfect elevation. A little crowded at the start, but after a few miles you are running in Nirvana. So why did I give the organizaion a 1? I was running late and missed hearing Ryan Hall speak. I was left with a reality show reject and some guy who was an 'extreme marathoner'. I googled the guy and found out he is suspected if cheating during a 202 mile run. ING, you need to spread that speaking money around.
K. F. from Jacksonville, Florida (1/30/2012) "Good event, few spectators." (about: 2012) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Miami Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Event was fun. Best part is the start. Dramatic setting in the dark (6:00 start) beside neon-lit arena. Scenic bridges and South Beach nice. Coconut Grove area as well. Main problem was noticeable lack of spectators other than start/finish and at a designated spectator zone around mile 11. This is probably partly due to the earlier start time and partly due to the 2012 weather, which was threatening but never rained. Other noticeable flaw was lack of signage when the half split from the full (there were just three teenagers there yelling 'half this way'). Not surprised the would be winner of the half accidently took the full route and lost out on a course record. I would do it again, but just okay. Oh, but the medal was fabulous (10th year themed).
L. K. from Miami Florida (1/30/2012) "Great marathon but getting too crowded!" (about: 2012) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ Miami Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I have run this marathon all ten years. I've seen it grow from 4000 runners to 25000 runners. The streets are too narrow to handle this volume. The organizers tried this year with a staggered start but it was still too crowded until the half cut off. Water stations were plenty and well manned but the 1st half they were clearly overwhelmed and runners were crowding the tables and having to wait for water/gatorade. The second half there were no problems at all. The organization of this race is wonderful especially at the expo. The course is scenic and this year the weather warm but overcast which helped. I would suggest that the half marathon should start 1/2 hour after the full marathon to give those running 26.2 miles an advantage of access to water and getting their pace set. Also they need to coordinate with the Miami Heat with the schedule. The Heat had an afternoon home game and that made traffic and parking a nightmare at the end of the race since the Heat also use the Bayside parking garage. This is my hometown race and I'll be back.
J. C. from Buffalo, NY (6/1/2011) "Well Run and Scenic - Nice Fans - Too Crowded" (about: 2011) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Miami Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This was a very well run event, and the course was much nicer than I expected. If you watch the video you will see that the course winds through some residential areas and they were much nicer and had much larger crowds of fans than I expected. The course was pretty flat, and the 6:00 am start helped as it did not get intolerably hot by the time I finished (4:00 hours). The only issue was that the start was way too crowded, particularly with half-marathoners and slower runners who were in the wrong corral. I had to dodge whole groups of people walking by mile 5-6 which is insane, but I'm not sure what the organizers could do other than really try to 'enforce' the corral assignments (which is admittedly very difficult). I'll be back!
K. S. from San Francisco, CA (2/22/2011) "Excellent for my first marathon!" (about: 2011) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Miami Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I can't imagine a marathon better organized than this one! The free shuttles to and from the really good expo were great; there were hydration hubs aplenty (some hubs even had slices of orange, banana halves and granola bars - excellent!); there were numerous places to use a portable bathroom, and usually there weren't any lines for them; there were well placed medical tables (need lube?); the course is pretty and flat - Miami Beach, Coconut Grove and the downtown finish were highlights; the volunteers at the water stations were great and friendly (I love that they had a contest for best water station support); the crowd support, though not exactly profuse, is heartfelt and given to everyone; the Miami-Dade County police force did an excellent job keeping the course clear for the runners (and some cops played music for us over their loudspeakers and cheered us along); even though I don't care for medals (what does anyone do with them?), the medal is cool. Kudos to ING and Miami for a great event. It was fun and easy staying downtown near the start/finish. I think this is a super choice for a first marathon because of the flat course and great organization. It took me a whopping five hours, but I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it! Planning on doing it again.

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