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☰
Grand Rapids Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Grand Rapids Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.5 
Organization 4.9 
Spectators 4.0
Number of comments: 329 [displaying comments 21 to 31]
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J. G. from Iowa
(10/23/2014)
 "Perfectly Executed" (about: 2014)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Grand Rapids Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was a great marathon all around! I just wanted to say how impressed I was with everything: well organized, the course was beautiful, flat, plenty of spectators, plenty of gatorade/water stops. Just an all around great experience for my first marathon. The bar has been set very high! | |
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c. f. from elmhurst
(10/22/2014)
"Great Day" (about: 2014)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Grand Rapids Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I may have run marathons when younger, but my son only talked me into the first one when I turned 60. Ran Fox Valley IL 4 weeks before and came away hurt and with slowest of 5 previous marathons. So here I was with no pretense, not sure about finishing. The cambered road someone else mentioned was a killer to my left hip and the pain that required PT was coming back. Hat's off to the mother of 5 random stranger who was doing her second. After the rough section and with about 4 to go, I came upon her walking, and I started walking & talking with her. Long story short we were encouraged and had more run left in us than either thought. We both fed off each other's whatever to pick up the pace. She got her under 4 as did I (even BQ for me..I never did see the Will Farrell group I started with until in the beer spot). Sweet. Great day, shower so nice. Even with the road camber, high consideration for 2015. Running mechanics are sooooo important. And my son got his BQ too! | |
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J. N. from Swartz Creek, MI
(10/22/2014)
 "2:59 Pace Group -EXCELLENT" (about: 2014)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 Grand Rapids Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I ran with the 2:59 pace group (Chris Gregory and Ken Brooks), first time running with a pace group. These guys were excellent, yelling out splits, mile markers, talking and keeping our group inspired and keeping our mind off the effort we were putting in. If there is any way to let them know what a great job they did I would appreciate it. The pacers got me to finish under 2:58, which I could never have done on my own. Thank you so much pacers. | |
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L. B. from Ontario, Canada
(10/22/2014)
 "Well organized, great mid-sized marathon" (about: 2014)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first time running this race, and second marathon ever (ended up with almost a 5 minute improvement over my first full marathon). The course is a bit technical - lots of turns, but it is fairly easy to find the tangent and run it. A couple of small hills in the race, but nothing huge. Beautiful time of year to be running - this year it was a bit at the start, but the fall colours were great. Roads are blocked, so no issues with traffic. In the full, there is a part that is difficult for spectators to access, I think, and there is a portion where you don't see many other people other than the runners, and water stop volunteers. Maybe a half-dozen more course marshals would be perfect - there were a couple of turns that were sign-marked, and pretty obvious, but a volunteer would be lovely. That being said, the course is well marked, and there were always runners close by - I never felt like I was running alone and/or lost. Start and finish is at the Y, and there was a lot of parking. Getting to the parking was a bit slow, but not the fault of the race at all...something about a few thousand runners arriving at the same time. Free showers after the race at the Y, and a great food spread after the run (the usual bagels, bananas, oranges, yogurt, plus protein drinks, ice cream, beer, and chili). Waterstops were amazing. It seemed like there was a primer for all the volunteers because all the volunteers seemed to be holding the cups the same way (hand flat, and water on palm) and the water was in different cups than the Gatorade, so it was pretty easy to know what you were getting, even if the volunteers weren't letting you know (which they were). A couple of stops seemed a little understaffed, but I never had an issue getting water/Gatorade. Aid Stations were manned and had little cots as well. Spectators were really good, again in the full marathon there is a section where there aren't too many people, but I will say that with the 'cheer sections' that were set up, there were a lot of people that were at most, if not all of them, and even if they were there for a specific runner, it seemed like most of the spectators cheered for everyone, which was really nice, and appreciated. It's a mid-sized race so you aren't going to have the Boston/Chicago/Toronto crowds, but it seems like the city gets behind it, and the spectators out are enthusiastic. For the size of the race I thought the support was fantastic. Overall, a really great race. Well organized, and has a really nice course. | |
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Jodi Peppers from Michigan,USA
(10/22/2014)
"Best course in Pure Michigan!!" (about: 2014)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Grand Rapids Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I could not have asked for a better first marathon experience than what I had with the Grand Rapids Metro Health Marathon! The course was beautiful mixing both great downtown GR city views and beautiful Pure Michigan Fall folliage!!! The aid stations were stocked full of plenty of hydration/nutrition, medical aid and HIGH ENERGY!!!! And I could not have asked for better weather! I much prefer the cool weather than warm when running! I can't leave out the amazingly comfortable socks and stylish long-sleeve tech shirt included with race entry! And to cap it off, Marathon Don was amazing from the start of my marathon planning keeping us updated and on track with training, through the last week of training reassuring and encouraging us with his daily humerus emails that our training will not fail us and we can do this, to the end of the marathon crossing the finish line where I was full of emotion from what I had just accomplished, He embraced me with a hug telling me 'That's what a marathon is all about' Thank you for a wonderful experience! And although I swore this would be my first and last marathon, don't be surprised if you see me again! | |
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A. F. from Chicago
(10/22/2014)
"Hands down my favorite race" (about: 2014)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 Grand Rapids Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I ran the full in 2012, setting a huge PR, and fell in love with this race. Don Kern and his team get every detail right, and runners can just focus on running, knowing that everything they need is already taken care of. In 2014, I came back for the half and set an unexpected, post-injury PR. Race directors everywhere should take a lesson from the Grand Rapids team. | |
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S. S. from Houston, TX
(10/21/2014)
"Pretty good course and AWESOME organization" (about: 2014)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Grand Rapids Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 The race organizers are great and it's good race to do! It's mostly flat and scenic. I've done the half and the full. It has been pretty cold both times, but not too bad (I'd rather it be cold than hot!). There weren't too many spectators; however, I was at the back of the pack :) | |
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C. C. from Marquette, MI
(10/21/2014)
"Wonderful!" (about: 2014)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Grand Rapids Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first full marathon and I would highly recommend this to anyone. I have run several halfs so I was very nervous about completing a full but the race staff and the crowds were all great. The course was flat and not swamped with spectators, which I liked. It was easy to navigate and the pace teams were very helpful. I plan on doing it again next year with my sister. | |
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J. d. from Chicago
(10/21/2014)
"Great Marathon but AVOID RUNNING WITH PACE GROUPS!" (about: 2014)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Grand Rapids Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Great event! Race course is beautiful, temp ideal, hardly no wind, only complaint is pace group leaders run too fast. Last year I ran with 3:14 pace group and they were 15 seconds too fast. This year ran with 3:29, again 15 seconds per mile too fast in spite of the fact they crossed finish line at 3:29. Over pacing came in large segments. | |
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K. C. from Michigan, United States
(10/21/2014)
"Bathrooms" (about: 2014)
2 previous marathons
| 2 Grand Rapids Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I think that it is a great course and a great time, the one thing I would like to see change is that there would be more bathrooms on the course. When trying to keep the time low and waiting for an available port-a-john this was difficult. |
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