My second year, and with the cool weather and flat course, my time was 15 minutes better and got me a BQ. The only real negatives were a few potholes and what looked like a 6' pipe hole before we went into the park. If any one stepped in it, it would be bad news. Put a cone on it or something.

Why so harsh with the previous comments? There were lots of positive aspects: the medals (wow!); quick and efficient awards ceremony; free beer; great sand sculpture at the end; early start; great volunteers and medical help (one of our group needed medical attention, and he got fantastic care); effective traffic control. Things to work on: convert some of those half-marathon runners to running the full; give gels much later in the race - say 10,14,18 and 22 miles instead of at 8; add smaller sizes for race shirts. And, maybe the organizers should consider changing the half course or start time, as I heard that the front-runners had to fight their way through hordes of half-finishers.

Ft. Lauderdale is a beautiful and friendly city in which to run a marathon along the Atlantic Ocean. The race is the right size, with a total of 3,000 runners. Ft. Lauderdale has a great running group called the "Road Warriors." The expo at the mall was small, but nice; and packet pickup was organized and quick. The new bamboo shirts are great. There was lots of parking near the start line. The medals are really nice. There was plenty of food and refreshments afterward, and the entertainment was excellent. The course was nice and shaded until the last six miles, and those are always hard anyway. I paced the 4:00 hour group and had a great time. The bus ride back to the start was so nice, with comfortable, roomy seats and air conditioning. The hardest part was getting back up out of the seats. I will return next year if I am able.

I enjoyed this race. The start was at 6 a.m., which gives you about an hour before the sun appears. The early temps at the start were upper 50s/low 60s with a mid-afternoon high in the upper 70s. The finishing stretch along Beachfront Ave. is in direct sunlight and obviously the warmest part of the race... but the light breeze and beautiful scenery made it very enjoyable. It is an "easy" course that had plenty of aid stations and volunteers - big shout out to the VOLUNTEERS!

Loved it. Would do it again.

The course change this year made the race much more enjoyable. The park is now what it was intended to be - a pleasant diversion, not a torturous delay. There were more fans this year, and the move to the Galleria for the expo was a brilliant idea. The smaller space gave it much more energy than it has had before. Top to bottom, everything was greatly improved. It is inevitable that people will complaint that the crowds are too small; however, they don't seem to understand that this is a small, local race. I, personally, hope it stays that way. If you want Chicago- or NYC-size crowds, run those races. This is loads of fun with one of the most beautiful settings you'll ever find. Lots of water/PowerAde, and a GU station. They did miss the winner coming across the line (how did he pass his escort without the escort noticing?), but it is always a learning curve when you put on any event. Good job!

Having run 75 marathons, I have to rate this marathon at the bottom of my list. The day started by my arriving at the finish area parking lot early as directed to catch the 4:30 shuttle to the start. Well, about 150 people were waiting at 4:30 and there was no bus or event spokesman to explain what was going on. Finally we were told that they could not contact the bus company and had no idea when they would show up. At this point, many of the runners took taxis to the start. Well, I don't carry that kind of money when I race. The buses did show up at about 5:15, which made for a short time for restroom breaks and warm-ups at the start. Then we waited for the start, as we could not hear the announcements; it came about fifteen minutes late.

The early portion of the race was enjoyable, with nice scenery and cool weather. Then, as the day wore on, we started to encounter cyclists and an occasional vehicle in the running lane. I am a 5:30 marathoner and signed up for this race as it was advertised as a six-hour course (before we would have to move to the sidewalk). I was well on my way for a sub-six hours when at about 17 miles something went wrong, as my Garmin indicated a long mile. Since there were no course monitors, I have to assume we missed a turn. My total distance came out to 26.53. Then shortly after that, while I was still projected under the six-hour mark, we were told to move to the sidewalks and they started to pick the traffic cones. Here the race started to turn bad as the sidewalks included many residents out for a morning walk in addition to driveways, which made for difficult running. Now with no traffic control, we had to fend for ourselves at many intersections. In addition, many of the water stops were no longer manned, so it was serve-yourself. When we got the beach area in Fort Lauderdale, we had to deal with the beach-goers who were parking and unloading there beach gear on the sidewalk. At this point it was almost impossible to maintain any kind of pace. Arriving at the finish line I was handed a medal and bottle of water and it was finally over. From reading some of the other comments, it was still good that I parked at the finish, as the parking at the start was bad. I actually saw people lined up in the parking garage trying to pay for parking after the race had started. It is too bad that this had to happen, as this course has so much potential. There was nice scenery and many nice residents cheering for us.

This was a pretty good race. I wouldn't travel for it, but since I live locally, I'll most likely run it again. The course is kind of boring... it's an out-and-back, running by lots of condos, and I'm not crazy about the loop through the park. Aside from a single short bridge, it is almost completely flat, so would make for an excellent PR opportunity.

The weather cooperated this year, although I felt bad for anyone still running past 9:00, because it was getting pretty hot and the sun was beating down.

Plenty of water/Gatorade stations, and gels were passed out around mile 8. Not a lot of crowd support, but enough.

The expo was small, but I don't really care about that. Tech shirts were okay. Medals were pretty cool.

The Cleveland Clinic medical staff at the end was doing a great job; they were actively out assisting runners who had just finished (including me... I needed some ice for my knee).

If you're looking for a great local race, I vastly prefer the ING Miami, which takes place a month before this one. But as I said, this one was good enough to run again.

Raced the half, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ocean views for most of the race were breathtaking, just like the sunrise. Nice field of runners - not too many, not too few. The expo was somewhat small, but I can live with it.

The tech shirt... what's wrong with you runners? It was nice, soft, and breathable, and somewhat reflected our South Florida tropical climate.

Having run this race all the years of its existence, I see so much potential wasted. It can be a great race, but not much history has yet been made to draw out the locals. The field is not stellar, perhaps because of all the local 26.2's leading up to it. The weather has not cooperated - too hot, too wet, too windy, which probably has hurt. Most participants' comments about year after year of bad conditions probably deter others. One perfect weather year could change that. The announcements and organization at the start this year were horrible. Runners milling about on the course at the wheelchair start; there was a pitiful PA system, and you could not hear any announcements or even the national anthem from the corrals. They really ought to change the direction in the park as it is totally uphill (how is that possible?) and maybe a change might lessen the despair and loneliness felt in that loop.

The medals have been and continue to be first-rate and unique, but this years shirt.... What were they thinking?! Small expo, but I hope this is a growing event. I don't know how it can hold a whole lot more runners for the first 3 miles; it's kind of crowded. Parking issues have to be addressed also. Definitely need a 10K mat and a mat at the far end of the park to ward off potential course cutters. Some entertainment along the 6-20 mile stretch would help, because there are no spectators. It might sound like I didn't have a good time, but I did; I love the ocean stretch, the run down Las Olas, and my medal. Better course control on A1A for the marathoners is vital. I had groups of morning bikers barreling at me and lines of walkers coming at me who expected me to veer out of their way. Trust me, I had no veering in me at mile 25 and darn it all, they had beers and half medals and tried to be encouraging. But... I will be there for 2009. It's Fort Lauderdale, after all!!!!

The course is pretty enough in that it runs along the Florida coast for the better part of the run. Unfortunately, it also runs past endless cross streets and driveways with too few people to prevent cross traffic. Cyclists (other than the support crew) were on the course riding both with and against the runners. There were few spectators. I was only offered a bottle of water at the end, which was too little because it was hot and I was drained. I went to a local mini mart to buy some cola. Still, it was a good place to run. It was the flattest course - training or otherwise - that I have ever run.