I loved every bit of this marathon. It could have used more vendors at the expo. But when I got the email about the metro being open at 5 a.m., I got this warm feeling of love. It had a great course, great spectators, and great medal; I will definitely be around in 2009 to run the half marathon.

Best course yet. A couple of hills, but not overdone.

What can I say? I had a six-minute PR and qualified for Boston for the first time. Of course I loved this race! Train for the hills and you'll be fine. I hardly noticed the uphill from miles 4-7 since it was so gradual (about a 200-foot climb). The hill at 24 is tough, but only about a 1/2-mile long. Good mix of city streets, riverside trail, parks, and great views of the capitol. The last 1/2-mile was a slight uphill to the finish. That was tough, but a great finish line crowd. I may run the 1/2 in 2009 to prep for Boston.

This was a very nice marathon and a perfect size in my opinion. The start was not too crowded and the fact that there was also a half marathon gave us marathoners nice company for the first half. The spectators were great, although at times they were a little sparse. For me that is ok because it is nice to have a little break from spectators as well. The course gives a nice tour of DC and some of its neighborhoods. There were some smallish hills at times during the first 7 miles, a lot of flats in the middle and a couple of decent hills at miles 24-25, so be prepared for that. The Metro enabled my cheering squad to see me a couple of times. The 7 a.m. start is perfect and the weather this year (40 degrees at the start) was perfect.

Just a couple of negatives: 1) the expo wasn't much, although I don't run marathons for the expo, 2) the starting line area wasn't totally set up yet at 5:30 a.m. when I arrived, and 3) I don't know how/why they had the 26-mile marker at 25.5 miles. Other than these few things, the race was great and well organized, the website had good information leading up the the race, and there were plenty of porta-potties at the start, well-stocked aid stations every 2 miles, and excellent volunteers. I hope to be back in 2009.

This isn't the course, if you are looking for FLAT, but it's much much better than Marine Corps! Not nearly as crowded, and nice spectators/water stations.

But I MUST complain about the 26-mile marker being so completely OFF. I started to really run it out and STILL had 0.5 to go! I found it very unprofessional! PLEASE take care of your markers! Especially AT THE END!!!

I encourage everyone to seriously consider this race. The course was more than fair, the scenery was great and spectators (at least for the first half of the race) were rather plentiful and enthusiastic. I enjoyed the fact that people were on their front stoop or hanging out a window to cheer us on. The band and cheer squad near Howard University was also very much appreciated.

In terms of the course itself, if you train on any hills whatsoever then there isn't really anything too much daunting about this marathon. The uphill near mile 8 was definitely manageable. The only hills that are really troublesome are the rolling hills around miles 23-24. They're neither steep nor long; it's just that after having run the vast majority of the race, any little elevation gain will take its toll. I was feeling fairly good until after the hills, which took most of any kick I had left out of me. Still, I managed to maintain my overall pace and still get a PR (3:13 and change) by over 5 minutes.

In terms of improvement, I would just reiterate a concern posted by many of the runners of the 2007 race  more on-course porta-johns in the first few miles of the race. I don't recall seeing one until about mile 5 or 6, and then it was only 1 or 2 (as I recall). My buddy and I finally took time to take a pit stop around mile 10, where there were four potties, but we still had to wait for just a bit. I should also add that the big increase in attendance this year really strained the number of porta-johns at the race start - the lines were VERY long with 10 minutes to race start. It would be helpful to open the armory race morning for some additional toilet facilities.

Overall, a highly enjoyable race, and in terms of size, just about right. The expo the day before isn't much more than a "stop-in and pick up your shirt and number" affair, but again, it's not a Boston or NYC.

I have read the comments so far posted and agree with most. In general this was a great marathon!

Issues:
Porta-potty access was rough. Lines were entirely too long. I had read that this was an issue last year, and planned accordingly. There are some personal potty devices on the market or even your toddler's little potty can come in handy. May be a little gross, but better then waiting in line forever.

The final .2 was incorrect! I wore a Garmin the entire run and hit my watch at each mile split. The 26 mile mark came about a quarter mile too early. Since it was flat on the ground, and the winds were blowing, I assume it was blown down the road.

My Garmin actually had my final run distance as 26.7. A full half mile longer. This is most likely due to early people weaving and lots of turns on the course. Only a 100 extra feet per mile will give you an added 1/2 mile. Keep that in mind when you look at your results.

The drawbridge. I had forgotten about that until I read the below comment. The running surface was like a metal crate. I actually felt dizzy looking down at it and tried to look up. The footing was weird too.

The start was crowded and narrow for the first bit and I wish people would line up according to their pace. But, that's the runners, not the marathon.

The course was more challenging, in my opinion, than the elevation charts indicated. Definitely a rolling marathon.

I would have liked to have seen GU available in the first half. And please, no red Gatorade. Messy!

Pacing groups: I was really excited to use the pacing group provided, but was unable to find them at the start. Later in the race, I was surprised as I passed the 3:50 group (they had bibs on their backs). I was on a 3:40-or-so pace and I was passing them after the halfway mark! No wonder no one was with them.
I had planned on trying to stick with the 3:40 pace group, and saw them at a turnaround point, about 5-8 minutes ahead of me! I finished in 3:41. I was on; they were too fast. It would have been nice to have a group during the winds and tougher spots.

Every marathon has its issues, but when the day is done, I liked the experience I had and would do it again! Plus, I qualified for Boston!

I have nothing but great things to say about this marathon - perfect size; challenging, but not too challenging course; easy, convenient and well run expo; great transportation options; great view of the nation's capital. I PR'd by 12 minutes on this relatively easy course. For those looking for a perfectly flat course, this is not it, but none of the hills are too severe and they are properly spaced - except for the three consecutive climbs between miles 24 and 25 (I would have preferred to hit those a bit earlier in the race).

Overall, this was a really great race. The Metro opening early was brilliant, and the start/finish being so close was just really convenient. I loved how small (relatively) it was because you didn't have to worry about being squished among people - especially after all the half-ers left!

All of that being said, I also wonder if that last .2 was measured correctly (or maybe the 26 sign had been moved inadvertently), and was bummed to see that the t-shirts were unisex because the small goes halfway down my thighs. Also, the support for the second half was pretty sparse and I was a little peeved that the half-marathoners got most of the attention. And all of the bananas were gone when I finished.

Other than that, I really can't complain. I PRed and qualified for Boston and was completely ecstatic despite any shortcomings there might have been.

This was my first marathon and I would highly recommend this race to anyone. Entry fees are reasonable, the organization was awesome and the city did a top-notch job, opening up the Metro two hours early just for us runners!

I got to thank Mayor Fenty somewhere around mile 4, but when I had run out of steam in the last mile he came out of nowhere and passed me up. Having a "celebrity" to chase, I tried to speed up, but my body wouldn't do it.

I liked the course a lot. The less scenic points came along when I was oblivious anyway. Perfectly distributed hills provide refreshing changes of pace at the beginning and mostly easing up toward the end, though miles 24 and 25 were up and down, this year against a headwind. I'm from Indiana so I likely wasn't prepared for the terrain. Aid stations were well placed and one of them had hot women handing out Red Bull (??).

Downsides:

The packet pickup was sort of intense - not sure why I had to go through metal detectors. The post-race food selection wasn't terrific but ingesting food was nearly impossible. Bonus: they give away FREE BEER and bottles of water. If I'd have needed to use the facilities, I'd probably complain about a lack of those.