NO FLUIDS at the finish line!!!!!! I was enjoying this race until I finished the marathon and there was nothing to drink!!!! I have never finished a marathon and experienced this before. And there were still 200 marathoners to finish behind me!
Overall, the marathon itself was enjoyable. The course is flat and I enjoyed the run along the river and through Ritter Park. There were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers. Great race jacket and wonderful cookout at the end! It was nice to finish in the stadium and carry a football to the finish line. It was also nice to be able to place a flower at the memorial for the crash victims.
I would still recommend this race despite the fluid situation at the end because it is a nice run. And I am sure that the fluid issue will be resolved for next year!

If you signed up early enough, the cost was under $60 and for that you received: flat marathon, Brooks Podium jacket ($50 retail), pasta dinner, and a wonderful cast silver medal, one of the nicer ones that I've seen in my 50 marathons.

The volunteers, plentiful enough, made you feel welcome and they cheered as I ran down Marshall's football field with a football in arms. Made it over the finish line without being tackled, too.
You won't find a flatter course and the temps were PR perfect (about 33 at start and 50 at finish).
Course loops twice through a scenic city park and along quiet residential streets but, yes, there are some miles through industrial meltdowns. Such is life. No big deal.

Stayed at the Ramada. I'd give them an A. Great room and only ten minutes from the start.
For a good parking spot, arrive before 6:30.

Was impressed with how much economic progress has been made in the Pullman Square area downtown. Fun to walk around there, before or after the race.

This was my 5th year running this marathon
It was just as awesome as it always was.
The course change I enjoyed cause you got to see more spectators than previous years. The jackets were Awesome too. Keep up the great work and I can't wait until
2012 to do it again

Parts of this Marathon were good. Finishing at the stadium running on to the football field and hearing your name annouced was great. The free pre-race meal and after race grilling and volunteers serving both meals were great. However they need to work on organizing it better. I have ran much larger and better organized events. There were a number of safety concerns on this course. Streets were not really blocked off. The officers directing traffic were great but lacking on the second half of the course. Cars came really close to runners. This race had two loops that became confusing in the end as you had to decide which set of green painted arrows to follow. Several runners ran extra miles. You also shared half a lane with returning runners which made slower runners have to run on a sloped side, putting pressure on knees and hips. Also, the only first aid station was at the finish line. As far as spectators, they were virtually no existent. No bands or entertainment unless you count the one guy blasting music from his van. Not sure I would do this one again.

Flat, fast, cool, and uncrowded, this is a great fall race!

Pasta dinner was convenient and fun for out-of-towners to mingle, shirts and medals top-rate, and post race burgers and dogs a real treat.

The 2 loop out-and back course broke up the race into short manageable sections, we got to see runners ahead and behind us, and we knew just what to expect the final lap.

Course highlights include a section through the university (landmark), a long wooded park path along a creek (beautiful) and of course the stadium finish (inspiring).

Lasting memory...
Goosebumps at the start were not all due to the cool temperature. If you know anything of Marshall's history, the crowd energy and group reflection before the start cannot help but confirm that there is life after tragedy, and that we are strong enough to overcome anything.

With a fun 1st Marathon (son), Half PR (wife), and 2 BQ's (daughter and I) we couldn't hope for a better family weekend.

A big thanks to Tom and his crew, to Marshall University, and the to the entire city of Huntington for being such great hosts. Looking forward to a return trip with a bigger group next year.

some strange things about this race:
1- with the repeated loops there can be better fan support (1 street corner would mean seeing everyone at least twice and spectators are more compact on the course). but with the exception of maybe 2 high school girls, nobody was cheering. it was weird - lots of fans but all were very silent...for the entire course!
2 - they ran out of water at the finishers area. pretty much inexcusable (otherwise a 5 star for organization). my guess for running out is because they allow spectators in the finishers area and they have no shame in taking whatever eats and fluids they want, leaving none for the runners. Freshly grilled hamburgers at the end but how can you choke that down without some sort of drink? hint: stock up your car with post-race nutrition and fluids.
3 - your time starts with the gun since there is no timing mat except at 13.1 and the end.
4 - the starting gun is a guy on a microphone who says 'runners on your mark...BOOM!' (he actually says 'Boom') - haha, i love it.
5 - the police and army volunteers do a great job of traffic control but the locals become very impatient waiting for a break in the runners so they can make a left turn or cross an intersection through the running path. a few times i witnessed many runners almost getting hit. Playing real-life Frogger can get the adrenaline cooking.
6 - if you park near the start/finish line, you will run right by your car at around mile 2 where you can ditch your cold weather gear and, obviously, be able to retrieve it post race.
7 - no pace/timing clocks on the course except at 13.1. I find that odd for a race that promotes being a great BQ. i guess fast runners trying to BQ will all have Garmins anyway...

other notes of significance:
water and gatorade throughout at about 1.5 mile intervals.
while there are hills they really should be called bumps because they all are so short.
free parking on all streets over the weekend.
free post-race shower at the well-maintained and very nice student center right next to the finish. They provide the towel and soap and each shower stall is private.
plenty of port-a-johns plus the regular stadium bathrooms at the start and finish are available.
FREE all-you-can-eat spaghetti the night before.
chip is integrated into your bib and you can pick it up the morning of the race.
The Pullman Plaza said they didn't know there was a marathon until the night before. Hard to believe since this is the 8th running and the Pullman nearly sells out from it every year (inside scoop from the valet guys). i think they just said that so they could justify not having a special marathon rate. Decent hotel otherwise for a town of 50,000 with no real tourism.

I may have sounded too negative on my earlier comment. I would have LOVED more running room. There are enough people participating to require a wider running lane throughout 90% of this race. BUT, I still had a great time! Thanks to all the volunteers and local law enforcement for the great job supporting the race and runners and the thanks to the organizers and Marshall University, you have a beautiful campus; and to the city of Huntington, also beautiful.

First impression, not good. No race packet containing basic info and amenities. It would have been nice to have a map since the following morning the start line was not marked. Also, my bib was given to someone else before I arrived. But I was allowed to re-register at no cost. Since I already paid once and I didn't give my bib away,well...I don't think it would have went well if they asked me to pay again. Not much room to run on the lanes marked off (actually only half a lane much of the time. The start was a bit of a worry. Many people were not sure where it was. Not clearly marked and no line on the starting point. No mat either. Also a little confusing with the 5k, half marathon, marathon, and relay runners all starting together at the same time.

The finish was great though. The atmosphere in the stadium and the food was really nice. Nice shirt and medal.

The course was super nice and the weather was great! Perfect conditions.

The volunteers on the course were great. I am not sure why we had to go on a park path for 2-3 miles when there was a road with no traffic on it right beside the trail.

The start was 10 minutes behind schedule and someone yelled 'boom' and everyone started running. What about a gun or some other starting device. Boom? Really?

I am typing this at 2:15 PM and I do not see results anywhere. Of all the races I have run, I can normally get my results within minutes on my cell phone.

Also, I only saw a timing mat at the finish line. Do we not get any splits? Are we even going to get to see the results posted online?

It is a quaint and cute little marathon but if it wants to grow, they are going to have to fix some things.

I don't know if I will come back to this marathon or not. It is small but they really don't offer much else and I have plenty of options.

Overall this race was good. It really has potential be a great race.

The price is very affordable. The "expo" was no more than a packet pickup and one running store retailer. This would be an area that they could easily expand; creating an actual expo would be nice.

Race day was good, though it was very cold at the start. This was a chip-timed event, though the starting line didn't contain a starting mat or even an indicator as to where the actually starting line was. The course was generally okay - very flat, though the middle of the course took you through some not so scenic areas of Huntington.

Water stops didn't seem to be strategically placed (i.e., every mile or every 1.5 miles and water/Gatorade were in different order at each station). How about a gel station at one stop?

The finish was the best part of this race, entering Marshall University's football stadium, heading down the sidelines and running the last 100 yards down the center of the field was awesome. It was advertised that you would have the opportunity to carry a football the last 100 yards. It almost didn't happen for me since the volunteers seemed to have trouble getting the footballs back so the runners could carry them.

The "cookout" after the race was also great. Hot dogs and hamburgers really hit the spot.

Overall the race was good, though with some improvements, this could be the class marathon for WV. Improve the expo, add a starting mat and maybe inflatable starting arch, standardize the water stops, maybe highlight some better areas of Huntington (Pullman Square?), and jazz up the tech shirts a bit (add some sponsors or recognize them on the shirts).

Thanks; I really enjoyed this overall!