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May 18, 2024

Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 4.1

Organization 3.5

Spectators 3.7

Number of comments: 347 [displaying comments 331 to 341]

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L. D. from New York (6/21/2005) "Tough race in 2004, very hilly! " (about: 2004) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 Very hilly. Half marathon kept weaving in and out of the marathon making it difficult to run consistently. The course has been changed for 2005 and looks much better and easier (with less weaving in and out of the slower half marathon participants).
j. b. from kansas (1/18/2005) "Very disappointed they didn't provide medals" (about: 2004) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I'm very disappointed that they did not provide a traditional finisher's medal. Instead, they provided a very dainty necklace. This was the first marathon for many people that I know personally (men and women), and they were very disappointed. I've done 40 marathons and I still appreciate the medals I receive. It's the badge of honor that you get to keep your entire life. I was fortunate to finish second in my age group and thought they'd recover from the mistake on the medals, but was again disappointed. I received a key chain. Maybe my expectations of Nike were too great. The course was very scenic, albeit difficult. The only downside to the course were miles 22-26 which was an out-and-back stretch on a road paralleling the beach. It was extremely boring and contrary to the rest of the course. There were a couple of places (around mile 14) where runners ran up on walkers and it was extremely crowded. They could have done a better job monitoring the course in these locations. The start/finish line (same location) were very well organized. Not much of an expo for a race of this size.
G. A. from San Francisco (1/11/2005) "Great first marathon" (about: 2004) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was a really good first time marathon for Nike. The course is really pretty, and challenging, and well supported with lots of electrolyte drinks, gels, and chocolate at the 22nd mile. Plus, the finishing necklace and Dri-Fit t-shirt were a lot nicer than most of the large finishing medals and cotton t-shirts given at the end of marathons.
K. S. from San Francisco, CA (11/14/2004) "Beautiful course, well organized" (about: 2004) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 The inaugural Nike 26.2 was well organized and the course beautiful. The race catered mainly to charity runners, which should have been obvious to anybody visiting the website, so I don't understand the complaints about it. I am not a charity runner myself but thought it was great to see so many people of all ages and fitness levels try to make it for a good cause. The necklace is a wonderful idea although it is disappointing to get the same one for the marathon as others get for the half marathon. Only request for the organizers: Please post the race results! Three weeks later, they are still not available.
B. M. from Albuquerque, NM (11/13/2004) "Scenic and hilly, nice necklace" (about: 2004) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 This was my second marathon, and the course was beautiful, but tougher than was advertised. I was a non-TNT runner, and felt a bit invisible in the crowd of purple shirts. TNT is a great cause, but I would not recommend this race to non-TNT folks, as you will feel a bit like a second-class citizen. The most annoying part of the entire race was the early start given to the walkers and slower runners. The 90-minute head start resulted in many of us having to weave our way through crowds of folks walking, chatting, and taking up the entire width of the road. It is hard enough setting a steady tempo up the hills without wasting energy going sideways to find an opening in the walkers. Some of them even acted put out when I asked to be let through. Please let everyone start early, or at least instruct the early starters to walk only 2 or 3 abreast and stay to one side of the course. The last 5 miles were a killer, in spite of being the only significant flat part of the course. Making us run south for miles 21-23 while watching the runners coming back the other way made the finish more painful than it needed to be. In spite of the issues mentioned, or maybe because of them, finishing this marathon felt like a real feat. I love the finisher's necklace. Beats another medal. San Francisco is a beautiful city, and we had a great weekend (though we skipped the post-race stuff). Hopefully some of the problems will be addressed for next year's race.
K. R. from New York City (11/11/2004) "needs change" (about: 2004) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 This was my first marathon and I was a TNT participant. To all of the anti-TNT people - excuse me if I raised $5,000 to be trained and flown across the country to participate in a marathon that is a fundraiser for TNT! The marathon was also advertised as a way to encourage women's athletics by Nike. Nike needs to be better prepared. The expo, which was very small, was focused more on feeling pretty and the booths devoted to athletes were overcrowded with lines of up to 2 hours to talk to someone about shoe analysis or sports massages. (Remember this is only a 9,000 participant runner and walker half and full marathon.) The expo did not have much race-day wear or clothing advertising the race, seeing that they wanted you to go to Niketown. I didn't receive the shirt size I had requested on my registration form either. The course was nice but the hills were brutal and made worse by the large number of people who were walking or the runners who could not run up them and had to walk up them - they blocked those people trying to run. At the course split for the half and full there was very confusing signage and mileage markers. The last 4 miles along the bay were awful. It was an out-and-back loop that never seemed to end and did not have good mile markers. The spectators were very sparse in the popular tourist areas - Fisherman's Wharf, downtown, etc. (The town of SF didn't help either - the hotel workers were on strike and I was harassed during my entire stay at the hotel without full services but full price, of course.) The after-party was a disaster. The amount of money I paid for awful, cold, unappetizing food was a huge waste. I should have just planned a nice dinner. I didn't even stay for the concert which my friends told me was another huge flop. It seemed like Nike had this well organized up until the day. Yet, the course was much more difficult than they advertised, the food stops were empty even for those at a very reasonable pace, and there was much confusion at the finish line as to what to do next. The biggest disappointment, seeing that this was my first marathon, was that there are no pictures of me crossing the finish line or right after. All of my friends have this from their previous marathons but not this one that had so much hype. I have a nice necklace and an oversized shirt as the consolation prizes. I am glad that the money we raised is going to a phenomenal cause but I don't plan on running this again.
J. R. from Novato, Ca (11/9/2004) "Disappointed with Nike" (about: 2004) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 This was my 1st marathon and being from the Bay Area, I was prepared for the hills. The course was beautiful. Nike could have been a much better sponsor. The expo was disappointing, not too many freebies. Nike sold out of all pre-race clothing very early. Aid station with bananas were non-existent and we REALLY needed them! Good thing my husband was there at mile 20 with a few to share with fellow runners. Only finisher t-shirt available was a large. I'll never wear it. Overall, disappointed in Nike as a sponsor, most aid stations were well stocked and crowd was super. I would do this again.
T. B. from Ridgeland, Mississippi (11/9/2004) "Glad this was my first marathon!" (about: 2004) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 I loved this marathon. The course was more challenging than what the description on Nike's website led me to believe. I think that the marathon went through a great deal of the key city sights and I appreciated that since our stay was relatively short. The Expotique was fairly nice; I was looking forward to an opportunity to get the 'stuff' offered at traditional expos, but I did receive a wonderful massage and a gait analysis that I was pleased with. I love all things Nike so I was grateful to receive a coupon for Niketown! It would have been nice to see products of other vendors though. I plan to do this race next year and hopefully for years to come. I am sure Nike will work some of the kinks out as time goes on.
David Leech from Brooklyn, New York (11/4/2004) "Please change the expo & the course" (about: 2004) 11-50 previous marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 The 'expotique' was super-hyped, and super-tiny. Left you feeling, 'is that it?' It was pure and simple a way to funnel as many people as possible into Niketown and Macy's. Can you buy those $1 throw-away gloves in Niketown? Can you, heck. Choice of vendors? No way. The course - The hills through Cliffside and the presidio were actually wonderful as long as you had trained properly. The bad, bad part was the 4-mile out-and-back at the end. Horrible, horrible. Please fix. The bananas, power gels and chocolate had all run out by the time I came through... needs fixing. The money raised through the marathon - $10 million to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society... thank you, thank you, thank you.
Rachel McKinney from Wichita, Kansas (11/2/2004) "Nice day, challenging and scenic course" (about: 2004) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Nike 26.2 = Nike Women's Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 This was my third marathon, and by far the best course. The hills were challenging, but added to the San Fransisco experience. While I enjoyed the run, the organization of the race was not very good. This race was publicized so much and everyone kept saying how great a job Nike would do, but to be honest, they did a very poor job. The expo was only Nike products, no other options were available. They ran out of power gel, chocolate, and bananas before I got to those aid stations, and I wasn't in the back of the pack. Basically the only aid was the endurance drink and water. Once I did finish, I expected to receive the size medium shirt that I had put on my registration, only to find out the only size left was large. Oh, and I don't want to forget the horrible celebration party afterwards. The tickets were 38 dollars and it was a complete waste of money. There was one buffet line, with cold, square pizza, hard and stale tortillas with fatty chicken, and nachos. No drinks were provided for free, not even water. When I asked the workers for a cup to fill from the water fountain, they were very rude to me. Plus, there was inadequate seating. Half of the people there were forced to sit on the floor, which after running 26.2 miles is quite difficult. They even ran out of food by 6:30, and dinner was supposed to end at 7:30. Very few people stayed for the concert, since everyone was so disappointed with the celebration. The marathon itself was a nice marathon to run, but maybe next year Nike will have its act together a little bit better.

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