This course was a shocker... well done! I suffered a personal loss 3 weeks before this marathon, and to have run this was a refreshing break and kept my mind off of that loss. The course, though not too easy, was supplemented by the gorgeous park, the up-scale neighborhoods ( I didn't think Wilmington had these, actually), the robust stock of police officers manning the intersections and the wonderful spectators. People always complain about the "lack of spectators" at races, but any who come out deserve a pat on the back for taking time out of their schedule to cheer us on. No, there weren't many, but they were out there cheering you on... much appreciated!!!!! The water/aid stations were very well stocked with goodies. Just an overall good experience. I'll be back for this one!

I ran this marathon (my second) today and came in 10th, though did not run as fast as my first marathon due mainly to a nagging injury.

The race is small and everyone is friendly and laid-back. Parking is a breeze and the surrounding festivities are easily contained in a small waterfront park. People bring their kids and well-behaved dogs, and it feels neighborly.

The course has beautiful parts along a river gorge, which reminds me of DC's Rock Creek Park, and also a few sketchy and ugly city sections, and then some nice quiet roads through residential areas. Police and others did a good job directing traffic, but the running path was not always well marked. There were a few disheartening out-and-back segments (miles 14-15 especially). The double-looped course didn't bother me at all. The hills at miles 5/18 and 11/24 were kind of brutal, but the downhill finish felt great.

There were never hordes of spectators except midway and at the end, but there were always a few and they were just great. The police cheered for us too!

The post-marathon food was great! In addition to the usual Gatorade and bananas, they had cheese pizza, ice cream sandwiches, beer, pretzels and turkey, beef, ham, and veggie sandwiches.

The shirts are nicely designed wicking ones from New Balance. The swag bag thoughtfully included energy gels, sunscreen and a commemorative beer glass.

One thing I'll ding this marathon for: the volunteers need to be trained how to hand water/Gatorade to elite runners coming fast in small packs. A couple of times they made eye contact with me as I was coming in for a cup and then jerked it away to someone else at the last second. A frustrating problem I've never had in another race.

Let me preface this by saying that I've run about 20 marathons, both large and small. I commend the race director for not starting the full marathoners with the halfers. The course itself comprises two 13.1-mile loops, with some hills, a waterfront stretch and a section that takes place in a Brandywine Park. This is a walker-friendly marathon and an early non-competitive start is available.

For me, I found this marathon to be lonely (no biggie), with very few spectators along the course; there was also no music and few runners running at my pace. The race organizers compensated for this by placing placards on the course with every marathoner's bio (pretty neat).

The hill at mile 12 and 25 was a toughie. However, once at the summit, the downhill finish was a blast! The race provided free shuttle service to the Marriott, a neat Delaware Marathon glass, and a short-sleeve tech t-shirt.

If you are working on the 50 states, there is no better marathon in Delaware than this one!!

I liked the two-loop course. Normally I don't like to repeat parts of the course, but it was comforting to know if I had to quit, I had done a half-marathon! The town, the park, the canal, and the boardwalk are beautiful. Your get a good eyeful of Wilmington! Wilmington residents are not as excited about having a marathon as the people of Cincinnati; most of them slept in.

I thought it was well organized and staffed, and I would run it again.

My only gripe is that the directions to the race and expo are poor.

This was my first DE Marathon.

Cons: Parking was really close to the finish line, but there were not enough signs as to which lots were designated for the runners. The design of the technical t-shirts is eye-catching, but there were not enough in size "small." I picked up my packet on race day and I was very, VERY upset that there were no smalls left. Despite the challenging hills, the worst part of the course was the hairpin turn at around mile 14. The parking lot was empty where they could have used a wider turn. A U-turn is not cool during a marathon. I wish that the girls handing out the medals would actually place the medal around your neck instead of handing it to you saying, "Here you go." There were not enough signs for the marathon course. Cones are great, but they only point up. Not enough port-a-potties at the starting line (20 is not enough). Crowd control would have been appreciated at the halfway mark for the marathoners. A nice short awards ceremony would be nice to cap off the event. No Gatorade? The long line for the post-race food was aggravating. Use both sides of the table to serve the food; it goes much faster that way than using just one side.

Pros: Easy access from I-95 exit. Post-race food was plentiful; there were no shortage, even though I made several trips for the pizza. Traffic control was superb! Volunteers were very supportive. The band was great, but position them facing towards the finish line next time so that they can have a crowd.

If you're looking for a small marathon to run, I would recommend this one.

So... realizing that this is a relatively small race in only its sixth year, I was ready for some bumps. On the whole, I thought it was pretty well organized, with good email updates beforehand and well-run start/finish area. I've never run this race before this year, but from what people said about the old course, I have to consider the new one a huge improvement. I didn't mind the loop, and it went through some nice sections - Brandywine Park and that upscale neighborhood at the top of the hill were nice. I give three stars for spectators because there weren't many, but those that were out were very nice and supportive. No complaints about the water stations, and I actually liked the Vitalyte - much less sugar than Gatorade.

Speaking of hills, holy cow. There weren't a lot of killer hills, but with many gentle rises, it felt like I spent 90% of my time running up - on a loop course. Figure that one out. There were two pretty serious spots, which of course really means four - one at mile 6 and 19 that was about a mile long, and one at 12 and 25 that was, I would guess, a little under a half-mile. Cruel, but given the topography I'm not sure what they could've done about it. It did me in at 25, and I had to walk for a few minutes, but hey, that's how it goes. If you can train on hills before this one, do.

Two real complaints about the actual race: one was an apparent dearth of port-a-potties in the later part of the race that led to holding it until the finish (although that could've been desperate perception on my part), and the other was the half/full I-95 cloverleaf thing we had going on. That was a disaster waiting to happen, with each set of runners at one point funneling down to a gap no more than shoulder-width - with a volunteer standing between the pinched-down crowd saying, "Marathoners this way, half this way." Just a thought for next year, if it's changeable. By the way, course volunteers were fantastic - cheery, helpful, and very VOCAL directions were much appreciated, especially on a wet and chilly day.

A couple of non-race things: As we discovered from driving around Saturday morning, Wilmington can be, shall we say, gritty. You're better off staying a little outside downtown at one of the many hotels on Concord Pike/202, especially since your free time would be better spent driving around and seeing the area (the DuPont family homes and nearby New Castle were our favorites). And the pasta dinner... not to be mean, but what a total waste of time and money. The pasta was kinda blech, and there was not much of it; I know we could've theoretically asked for seconds, but the place was so swamped that the waiter barely had time to get us what he did. And price-wise, we could've done better anywhere else. If the dinner is there next year, skip it.

This was my first small marathon, and I had a good time. I have plenty of good things to say about this marathon and 1 serious complaint.

Pros:
1. Parking was a breeze.
2. Marathon started on time.
3. Small marathon where you can actually talk to fellow marathoners. I had some good conversations.
4. Nice course - hillier than before but much prettier.
5. Excellent post-race food. They had something for vegetarians. That was awesome.
6. Excellent technical shirt.

Cons:
1. Traffic was an issue. On some of the roads there was no separation or cones. There was some traffic on the road along the runners. I actually saw a runner getting hit by a car. Thankfully she wasn't hurt that much. Traffic decidedly needs to be managed better.
2. Not much crowd support. Though I was fine with it.
3. No gels or any other food in the race. I was looking for something to eat around mile 20, but there was nothing.
4. There was some confusion due to relay runners on the same course. It would be great if the 4-person relay is separated from this race. It was bad enough to see the half-marathoners sprinting past you when you were dying; it was heartbreaking to see the relay runners gallop past you.

The race director/committees do an overall nice job on the organization. You can tell that time and thought has gone into the planning. I especially liked: The convenient, reasonably priced, comfortable race hotel; the beer glass in the race packet along with the technical top; nice logo wear for sale at the expo; well-supplied aid stations (I actually liked the Vitalyte; I've never heard of it before, but has a pleasant, light, lemon flavor); interesting course; great volunteers; great post-race eats. I found convenient parking for $3 a block from the start, so don't listen when volunteers tell you to park a mile away.

Not so great: Well, as a woman, I wouldn't walk to and from the hotel by myself, even in the morning! The shuttle from the hotel has few seats, so you might need to arrange your own transportation. It would have been nice if the technical top were available in a woman's cut, because it is gigantic. The race medal is nothing special but that isn't why I do these things, anyway.

I will complain a bit about the hills, just because everything I had read beforehand said it was "mostly flat," and that is just an out-and-out lie. And I swear, until a few days before the race, the website had last year's course map on it, but I could be wrong about that. Anyway, it was quite a bit hillier than I expected. Not flat, many turns, and at times you are running into a headwind. But at least it was reasonably scenic and interesting.

I was surprised that there were no space blankets at the finish, since the weather is unpredictable in May in this part of the country.

There was one truly awful part of this race, and that was the pasta dinner. I do not know how they got the idea to hold it at Joe's Crab Shack. (I don't know why I didn't know better than to pay for it, but that is my own mistake.) The runners were all mixed in with the other guests, the music was too loud to have a conversation, and the service was poor. But the worst part was the food, which was horrendous. The marinara sauces were cold. The olive oil-based sauce was tepid and rancid. It was totally disgusting, and we walked out without finishing our food. Better to go to the brew pub next door, where you can get a decent pasta entree for about what the pasta dinner cost. So I had to pay for two dinners, but at least I got to watch the Preakness on TV at the brew pub. I hope they find a better place to hold this next year.

This was my first time running this race and I'm glad I waited for a much more scenic two-loop course that shows off the city well. The volunteers along the course did a great job and were most of time the only spectators you had. Marathon or not, Wilmington is fairly quiet on the weekends. To me it was like any other Sunday long run which was great. I enjoy my first, small marathon, and I loved the abundance of 50-staters/veterans, who I enjoyed chatting with out there. Temps were in the 60's, with light rain the first hour, but it turned into a nice day. I would recommend this race. The RD does a good job keeping everyone informed and there's lots of good info on race website.

Pros: It has a scenic yet challenging course, The start/finish area were well organized. There were plenty of bathrooms along course. Aid stations were manned well, but they could use one or two more. Post-race food included hot pizza, sandwiches, ice cream, cold soda/beer, chips, fruit, etc. The course was manned by many police officials.

Cons: Vitalyte!! One cup of this made me puke and gave me cramps for the rest of the race. Shirts! They are very nice; however, I won't be able to wear it. I usually wear a large cotton because it will shrink, but I usually order a medium in tech tees. I got a medium and it's like an XL. I would have never thought I needed a small. The shirts were the main topic in the pre-race bathroom lines.

I enjoyed the new course. The rolling hills were inconsequential and only runners with inadequate training could possibly complain about them.

I arrived the morning of the race, and found the parking to be easy and convenient.

The race offered a 6:15 a.m. early start, so it is definitely "walker-friendly."

The medal has been the same for the last three years, so we now know exactly what to expect.

Since this is the only road marathon in Delaware, it is a great place to meet runners from all across the country, whose hobby (like mine) is collecting marathons.

I had a pleasant day running throughout Wilmington, and I will return for the sixth time in 2010.