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May 16, 2024

Delaware Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Delaware Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 3.8

Organization 4.5

Spectators 3.5

Number of comments: 170 [displaying comments 81 to 91]

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L. R. from Los Angeles, CA (5/18/2009) "Lovely multi-loop course" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Delaware Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 The course was a bit confusing, but it took advantage of a beautiful park and interesting riverside scenery (as well as urban streets), and good course attendants kept most people on track. It had some decent hills and wasn't easy, but in the end it seemed well worth it. A nice tech shirt and a decent (but small) medal. Very good crowd support, considering the small size of the marathon. My major complaints: The advertised gels were at neither promised location, which threw off my planned nutrition supply. The expo closed at 5 p.m. the night before, which made it hard on the out-of-towners (although early-morning packet pick-up was available). All in all well worth the trip.
Laurence Macon from Republic of San Antonio (5/18/2009) "2 Good Additions to an Already Excellent Race" (about: 2009) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Delaware Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 1. The Course: two beautiful loops through parks and residential areas have replaced the loops through a quasi-industrial area. 2. Early Start: Thanks from all of of us walkers and slowpokes.
R. G. from Philadelphia, PA (5/18/2009) "The new course is a winner, but..." (about: 2009) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Delaware Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 The new course is the big story for the race this year, and frankly probably the main reason I decided to run the race a second time. The new course is a huge improvement from the previous one loop/three loop setup. The new course winds through some very nice neighborhoods, where local spectator support was much improved over what you see in town (which is literally virtually no spectators, except at the start/finish). The course is now much hillier than before, and therefore much more challenging. So gearing back a bit on the first half is a good idea. The only downside I saw was that there are A LOT of turns (including one of the dreaded 180 degree turnarounds). For the most part, volunteers did a good job of directing runners, but I know that a few lapses did occur. Also, nice work by the volunteers to place the medals on the runners as they finished - always a classy touch. The one serious problem I had was the post-race food tent. I finished relatively early amongst the full marathoners only to find that there was already a 10-15-minute wait for food because of all of the half-marathon and relay people. I consider this unacceptable. Personally, I need food immediately after finishing and I'm sure many other full marathoners feel the same way. I ended up skipping ahead of the line towards the end just to get whatever I could. I hope that the coordinators will consider a separate line for the marathoners in the future. To conclude, this race used to be one to run more out of convenience or a desire to check off a Delaware marathon, and it's still a bit rough around the edges. However, the new course creates a challenging and interesting race that marathoners should definitely consider. I congratulate and thank the organizers for taking this type of feedback seriously and making the effort to make significant improvements to the course.
A. K. from Pennsylvania (5/17/2009) "Great city, fun marathon" (about: 2009) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Delaware Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 The Delaware Marathon started with a bang, as a cannon fired to start the clock. The course was two laps of a half-marathon loop that went from the riverfront area near the Blue Rocks Stadium through downtown, the park, and up into a nice residential area. Miles 4 through 10 or so of each loop were along treed streets or divided, wide-open boulevards, with a few bridges and a quick circle of what seemed to be a section of Little Italy (?), all scenic and interesting - an important factor in a race this length. The course isn't flat, but there's only one significant hill, around miles 6 and 19 for the two laps, leading up from the river at the bottom of the park, up a long, gradual rise. One other hill was mentioned near the end of each lap, but I honestly didn't notice it, as the last 3 miles of the loop trends straight downhill, and the short uphill section isn't a big deal with the momentum you build up in the previous two downhill miles. I loved the race, and PR'd by 16 minutes after running two moderately hilly courses earlier this year. There were a few things I would note: a few more port-a-potties would be nice at the start; although there were about 20, a long line still formed about half an hour before the marathon start. Better signage around the starting area would also have been nice, as there's a lot in a relatively small, crowded area. Also, a lane of the street was separated for us by cones on the few roads that were still partially open to traffic, which kept us perfectly safe from cars, but the cones weren't enough to mark the course. Arrows spray-painted on the asphalt or something similar would have been great. On the second lap, in the Little Italy part across the bridge around mile 21 or so, the cones curved into an intersection and then back out of it. I thought they were pointing me left, turned left, and went almost a block before a police officer at the other end yelled my mistake to me and turned me around back to the spot I mistakenly left the course. That probably cost me at least a minute. Finally, there were a couple of U-turns around cones and such, which, when you're running a race, are annoying. Rounding a block is fine, but stopping dead and turning around is not okay when your quads are about to give out after running 20 miles. It's cruel and unusual punishment. =) So if there's any way to avoid those turns in the future, or widen them across a street at least, that would be much appreciated. The best parts: The volunteers and fans were fantastic, with water and a sports energy drink (I believe I heard Cytomax somewhere, but I'm not positive), as well as GU provided in the race packets. All were much appreciated, as was the volunteers' overflowing enthusiasm. The race also attracted a large number of hardcore marathoners and a lot of 50-state runners, which I thought was awesome and a lot of fun. Being the only marathon available in Delaware, it's a great opportunity to randomly start chatting with the runner next to you, find out he's about three times as old as you, and has run literally hundreds of marathons. That's really cool. I also liked the medals - I noticed they had gotten some bad reviews in the past on here, but I liked mine. It's a silver circle, hollow in the middle around the shape of Delaware, with the race details around the edge. Classic - no bright colors or crazy shapes, but a classy medal, and I really liked it. Evidently I also won an age group prize, which are bobblehead dolls. I'm wondering who it could be... Haile Gebrselassie, perhaps? We'll see. I would definitely recommend this marathon to all, and I think it would also be a good one for first-timers: not too hilly, but challenging enough to be interesting, as well as beautiful and with good support volunteers and a fun atmosphere. My favorite marathon so far.
J. S. from New Jersey usa (5/17/2009) "Not a great course!" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 3 Delaware Marathons COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 The course was changed this year; it was very confusing, especially for us marathoners trying to get to the second loop. There were too many spectators blocking the passageway. There was not enough water and energy drink on the course. And how about some heat blankets for us cold and wet ones?!?! The weather was brutal this year.
M. D. from Alexandria, VA (5/17/2009) "Pleasantly Surprised" (about: 2009) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Delaware Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 The last marathon I ran (2 months ago) was disappointing. Delaware was NOT! The course was very pleasant - scenic, varied, and smooth. There are lots of turns, but it was seamless. The portions through the park were great - spectacular views. And the neighborhood areas were nice. It was a little hilly, but I had trained for them. The two-loop aspect was good. The weather was not great, but not too bad at all. Organization was good. I have never parked so close to a marathon start before. It cost me $8, but I was literally 100 feet from the start. Even the goody bag was good. It also helped that I ran pretty well - within 12 minutes of PR and 25+ minutes better than back in March! I recommend this race to anyone, as long as you do prep work on the hills before game day. Wilmington is cool!
Ritchie Lavene from New Egypt, NJ (5/30/2008) "So convenient, but a couple of gaffes..." (about: 2008) 11-50 previous marathons \| 2 Delaware Marathons COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Ok, the course has been covered by everyone. I don't know if running 2 laps of the 10-mile section is even possible, due to traffic conditions, but would be very acceptable to the runners I'm sure. Still, the loops give your spectators an easy day! But the big mistake is the handling of the medals. Ok, I came in 18th (not bragging, still didn't hit my goal!) and they hadn't seen many marathoners come through the finish at that point, but I had to ask for a medal, in which I got the response, "These are only for the marathoners." When I showed her my bib (clearly color-coded), she said, "Oh... here," and handed me a plastic bag with a very lame medal in it. I only have 2 medals that are worse than this one: Erie (wooden medals from last year) and, ironically enough, my Delaware medal from 2 years ago, which is STILL even better than this year's. It's not a big deal to me since I've done a lot of them, but had this been my first, I would've been REALLY disappointed. People work hard; charge a few extra dollars and do the medal right! It doesn't have to be Little Rock's, but it should be special.
J. F. from Phila, PA (5/29/2008) "Great" (about: 2008) 3 previous marathons \| 1 Delaware Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 I agree with all the comments that the 1st loop is much more scenic. However, I liked the loop system because you always know what is ahead - hills, etc. This was the 1st "small" marathon for me. Lots of benefits to a less crowded field. Getting out of your car and walking a couple of hundred yards to the start is a nice change. Additionally, no waiting for hours and taking a bus or subway to the start makes up for seeing some of the same areas a couple of times. Great post-race food. This race is well organized and, as a result, I would recommend it to others and will run again in the future. Don't be dissuaded by some of the negative comments that have been posted. This is a flat course with great volunteers. It would be a wonderful 1st marathon.
R. L. from Baltimore, MD (5/29/2008) "A well-organized race for first-timers" (about: 2008) First Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 My sister and I ran this race as first-time marathoners. We were thoroughly impressed by the organization of the race and the dedication of the volunteers. The regular e-mail updates were spaced nicely and provided good updates about the race. The organizers had to contend with what seemed to be an unexpected graduation for a local university, which affected parking for the race, and the closure of the restaurant that had hosted the pre-race carb-loading party in prior years. I appreciated their ability to inform runners of these issues. Volunteers were uniformly friendly and helpful. There was beer available for runners on the last time through the 5.4-mile loop, at two stations! Maybe drinking beer with 3 miles to go is anathema to more serious runners, but I certainly appreciated it. I share what seems to be the consensus view of other commenters about the loops. The first 10-mile loop was fantastic, and the 5.4-mile loop somewhat less so. I haven't seen anyone else mention that the initial 10-mile loop had what I'll call, for lack of a better term, an initial mini-loop of perhaps 1.5 or 2 miles through a residential neighborhood. It was astonishing to see the elite runners break away so suddenly and so early; those of us in the back of the pack saw them on the return leg of this mini-loop. Incidentally, seeing the leader 3 times in the course of the race was an inspiring benefit of the loop-style course, at least for us. I think it's also worth mentioning that, in my view, the portion of the 5.4-mile loop closest to the start/finish area was considerably nicer than the part of that loop furthest from that area. The contrast was pretty stark: we transitioned fairly abruptly halfway through the loop from a nicely redeveloped waterfront pathway to considerably grittier city streets. It's an odd juxtaposition. I appreciated the support of the volunteers and the police officers throughout the race but particularly in that less scenic stretch of the 5.4-mile loop. We would have preferred that the 10-milers and relay runners not start so close to the marathon start time. It created mild (but manageable) congestion in the first few miles, and it was a little discouraging to have the faster 10-milers and relay runners zip past us so early in the race. It's also hard to race past the finish so many times, but for us, that drawback was more than offset by the benefit of seeing our families so often! The post-race food was super! Plus, I'll enjoy my "Class of 2008" marathon shirt, which I purchased in the registration area the day before. My complaints are minor, and, on the whole, we throughly enjoyed our race and are glad we chose such a well-organized marathon for our first.
J. P. from Virginia (5/23/2008) "Overall, okay race" (about: 2008) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Delaware Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 I think this race is good for the relay runners; I can see myself doing it. I always look forward to seeing the medals, but this one was pretty sad. However, I did like the shirt and the food at the end. Volunteers were great.

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