I normally run marathons, but after hearing a number of racers comment on the extreme difficulty of this course, I opted for the half-marathon. The course is breathtaking in its beauty. While the first couple miles provide little but difficult city hills, once free of downtown, the course enters the beautiful and even more difficult Virginia countryside. When I turned around at the half-marathon's half-way mark I regretted not running the marathon. Much of the remaining half winds its way through the University of Virginia with a final mile that is mostly downhill (my fastest mile of the race). Good organization and terrific volunteers on the course. Plenty of water points. There are very few spectators on the course. I will be back for the marathon next year!!

This marathon does NOT live up to the hype. I preface this review by saying that two weeks before the marathon, I hurt my knee and had to walk most of it and finished at 5 hours and 30 minutes. The weather was absolutely perfect and the marathon started on time. The packet pickup the day before was uneventful (no expo although there was a citywide Friday night music thing going on that coincided with the time I picked it up (i.e., it was packed and difficult to find parking)). The half marathon was an out-and-back and since we started at 6:30 on Saturday there was very little traffic and they had police EARLY ON keeping traffic out of the intersections. The half marathoners essentially run along a neighborhood that has a private golf course with gates keeping out people who cannot afford to play there. Where the half-marathoners turn around, the marathoners continue onward and do a loop on country roads past horse farms (i.e., wealthy homes with big open fields for riding horses). These were not supervised by race volunteers or fans except for the aid stations. Coming back in starting at mile 18 or so, I started getting onto roads that were traffic-free but now had traffic that was going 40 to 50 mph. Of course, volunteers and police told cars when they got on these stretches of road to be careful. Then we ran past the University of Virginia and through their Greek houses into a parade (unrelated to the marathon) at the finish line.

ISSUES:
1) I felt that I was out for a run I could have done anytime. A marathon is supposed to be special in some way and feel different from how it would had I gone out on a run by myself. Running on country roads is fine but I can do that anytime (these roads are not closed off at all). Running into steady traffic coming at me on a road with no shoulder for more than 3 miles is absurd, especially when I have to pay to run!

2) I had my GPS tracker with me and mile 18 was actually 1.4 miles long - and then they compensated for it on the next mile somewhat. That is frustrating for people keeping track of their splits. In addition, there is no chip mat at the halfway point so runners could see their split.

3) Fan support is very, very limited. It is partly structural because my wife had no way to get out to see me on the country roads since they close off the roads early but then open them up later (how were we supposed to know when they would open them up?). Not one person out on the country roads came out of their house to cheer, etc. Even at the start of the race there were not many fans to cheer people on so it is not only a structural thing. Also, running through the Greek houses on campus at the end of the race, I did not experience even one student cheering or saying anything. Why even run us through there if they could care less?

4) At the end of the race, I got my small medal that looked identical to the half-marathon medal and a "congratulations." There was a sign that told me food was to the right. I liked how they had pizza for the runners and the people giving massages were still doing it! That was really nice.

5) The map of the marathon on the sheet of paper we got the night before was blurry and not of high quality. That was frustrating along with sometimes being unsure which road to take out in the country because of it being unmarked. There was nothing on the sheet telling people wanting to cheer where the best places were to watch or cheer.

6) I really cannot understand why this is considered a top destination marathon. The local free paper (distributed everywhere) had a front page article detailing how much local illegal drugs cost (I'm not kidding).

7) The scenery was nice but you can find pretty scenery everywhere. I'd rather see the city (the bad and the good) rather than find myself so lonely that I start talking to cows and horses since there is absolutely no human contact.

8) I thought the volunteers who did help out were excellent and I really appreciate their kindness!

The race is in Charlottesville. Charlottesville is in the mountains. Obviously the race will not be a cakewalk. This was my first marathon and, as such, remarkable for me. There were quite a few trivial things that should have been done differently. There was a mile marker that was between a quarter- and a half-mile off. The shirt is awful. But, there were some remarkable parts of the course. I especially enjoyed the dirt-road legs. There were no singly insurmountable hills; I was expecting some steeper inclines after driving around Charlottesville for a bit!

Overall I expect future marathons will be far better than this one. I will only return because it is such a challenging course.

The race organizers made some fine improvements this year:

1) Earlier start time. We beat the heat and much of the traffic.

2) Chip timing. Cuts down on the congestion at the starting line. And, speaking of which...

3) New start/finish line. Much easier - convenient to packet pickup, Port-a-johns, and parking, and also the new location helped to draw a bit of a crowd for the finish.

4) Plenty of volunteers to direct us at turns and to provide plenty of water/Gatorade. Also, there seemed to be more volunteers out on the course on bikes, and they cheered us on.

5) Better finish line logistics - easy to move right on through and find food and drink.

6) Great shirt. A synthetic fiber shirt you can run in.

One note: As the runners enter Charlottesville in the final mile or so, several intersections were not staffed by police or volunteers. You really have to be careful of traffic.

Yes, the course is very hilly, as their new elevation profile shows. If you want a challenge, this is it. I have run Grandfather Mountain and I think this course is as tough (or as fun, depending on you look at it). That's one reason that it's a great race. The organizers have this event back on track. It should never grow too big, but for a small-to-medium race, it is a beautiful course with some killer hills!

Beautiful marathon (scenery wise); well organized; plenty of volunteers; not much for fan participation; very hard and hilly; okay reception. I'D DO IT AGAIN.

While it is true that the course is beautiful, this race is *extremely* hilly from start to finish and if you're not prepared for it or don't leave enough gas in tank at the end, you may be too busy struggling to truly appreciate the scenery. That being said, all I know is that starting next week, I am totally going to rerun parts of the race because they were that gorgeous.

The crowd support was as I expected it to be - not all that great, especially towards the middle, but totally understandable since we ran in some pretty remote areas and well. The scenery more than made up for it.

In terms of organization, the initial water stops could have been better set up (I guess no one told them that they need to have the cups ready way more in advance), but the volunteer cyclists going up and down the road were very helpful; some were even passing around GU packets. There was some confusion, I felt, where the half and full marathons split up. I know I'm not the only one who loses 20 IQ points when I run long distance - I think they should have given more warning earlier. But all in all, I felt that the race organization was pretty well done, considering it is a smaller race.

The finish line was pretty nifty... I guess there was some town celebration going on at the same time and it was awesome to run back to a finish line with a marching band and a host of baton twirlers.

My final $.02: If you live close enough to drive to Charlottesville, love beautiful scenery, don't mind hills, aren't looking to PR and aren't a snob about having perfectly set up races, I would recommend this race.

I ran this race in 2007 and overall I would recommend it to other marathoners. Here are some comments and some things you should know.

1 - The course is very pretty, but challenging with ups and downs throughout. I've run a total of eight marathons including this one (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Marine Corps, and now Charlottesville) and Charlottesville was definitely the most challenging. There are what I considered to be two or three fairly significant hills (a big one was early on at ~ mile five or so), but there were many gradual winding inclines and numerous ups and downs (read the map and elevation profile on the webpage). Take advantage of the flat sections to gather your bearings.

I did not set a PR, but I enjoyed the race because I went out relaxed and steady and kept it that way throughout (I ran ~3:28). You must plan your approach to this run before getting to the start line - you WILL suffer if you don't save something for the second half of the race and the last five miles.

2 - Support (pre-/post-race areas, food, race shirt, finishers' medal, water stops, etc.) was good. My most significant comment is that there were few portable bathrooms out on the course.

3 - The race started early, at 6:30 a.m. This was a good proactive action to prevent runners from running in the mid-day heat (it eventually reached the low 70s, with little humidity, but I understand it had gotten really hot and humid on race-day in the past).

4 - Several miles of the race are on unpaved country roads through the Virginia countryside. This did not bother me, but it might bother some.

5 - Crowds were sparse; this should not be a surprise, as much of the race is through the countryside. Those few that were out on the course were very supportive. You need to be focused and self-motivated, or you need to find a partner to run with during the race. Sadly, there was very little cheering at the finish line for runners.

Overall, I would recommend this race for those interested in running a beautiful, challenging course. I am glad I ran it. I am happy with how I did. I might run it again; I'll have to wait and see.

This was my third year running Charlottesville. After three years I'm beginning to sour on this race. First, the difficulty of this race needs to be made more clear. I passed many first-timers who were struggling BADLY - and this wasn't at the end, it was more like the 10-12-mile mark. The race website might stress the difficulty a bit more. What happened to the ceramic finisher awards? Those were really cool. The medal for this year was not very remarkable (but still WAY, WAY better than the refrigerator magnet Baltimore gave out in October). Yes, yes I'm aware we don't run marathons to get a cool medal, but this is a gripe because for 75 dollars, really you expect a bit more. I liked the start/finish in the park much more than the new location (outside the organizers' store). Oh and if I hear one more time that the New York Times has designated Charlottesville as a Top 5 Destination race, and that "many consider the course the most scenic on the East Coast".... Overkill. That being said, the difficulty will keep me coming back; finishing this one is quite an accomplishment, and I've run Grandfather Mountain. I don't know.... I've run better, and I've run worse.... You take the good with the bad.

This was my first half-marathon. What I liked most about this race was the course because it was challenging, and there was a lot of variety to it. It goes through parts of the city and university, through the woods, and through the countryside. Although it is hilly, there is a good balance between inclines and declines. The race had an early start, 6:30 a.m., which turned out to be good, since the temperature was nice and cool. I thought the water stops were well placed, but the first few couldn't pour fast enough, given the number of runners (this is my only real negative on the race). The police did a good job of managing traffic in the city. I had a good time and will probably run this one again, but next year I may try the full marathon.

I've run this race twice and only missed last year due to illness. It's a challenging and beautiful course especially in mid-April when the weather is ideal. I like the fact that it's a small event, and in my opinion very well organized. Large races, regardless of the level of organization, tend to be chaotic. You won't find a better distance race in the area nor a more beautiful course.