I had endured the 2012 Boston sweatfest and looked to RFTR to be my 'makeup' marathon, but unfortunately the weather was only marginally better. That's no one's fault, of course. It's a pretty course with huge downhill in the first half. The volunteers could not have been nicer, but I cannot ever remember a more completely disorganized marathon once we left the start. Water tables were often poorly staffed with no water ready. I needed some medical help at one stop but none was available and no one knew where it was. What others have said about the late buses and lack of course monitors was absolutely true. Well intentioned people don't make up for a lack of organization. I won't run it again.

Generally had a good experience with this marathon despite the incredibly hot weather. The course is very beautiful rolling hills, the last 8 miles or so with little to no shade. Because of the heat, my friend and I took it much slower than usual. Because 5 hours had elapsed, toward the end of the race, there were points where the cones leading you in the right direction had been taken away with no race directors at those points to show you where to go. I had to ask a spectator at one point which way the course went. Made the finish a bit hard to find.

The organization was pretty good about getting everyone as much water as possible during the race. One neighborhood was wonderful and had hoses out to spray us with lots of extra water.

If you plan on bringing any friends or family with you, it may not be the best choice. This is why my spectator rating is low. All of the spectators we saw were very encouraging and wonderful, but very scarce. My husband was with a friend from the area and tried to find me at several points listed on the course map as good spots for watching the race. Unfortunately, even with his 'local guide' he found that most of the roads to access any of these points were blocked/closed. He was very frustrated by this, and only found (by accident) one place to catch me around mile 23.

All in all, a good experience, but if you depend on your friends and family for more water or fuel at different mile markers, this may not be the best one for you.

I thought this race was pretty good. The course was downhill for the first half of the race. The 2nd half had lots of rollers. 17 had a nice steady grade not bad at all.

The organization was not the greatest. Buses arrived late. When they left we follwed a bus that actually got lost. That was not good. The race is not family friendly. The viewing points had poor directions. This very fraustrating. They needed more ppl to hand out water. When kids hand out water its nice but difficult to reach down. No pre race refreshments like water on a very hot day. There was no cover near startline. HS was packed and hallways were cramped. Consider having gym or bigger area open. Its kind of difficult to cramp over 1000 ppl in a hallway.
Consider having local companies man water stations along the course. I would come back if they improved spectator viewing points. NO viewing points at mi 20. That is a critical stage in a race.

The course is advertised as fast. It can be. However with the late May date it can also be a hot day, as it was this year.
I recommend booking the hotel room early(with a 24 hour cancellation option), and registering for the race at the expo.
Then you can let the weather decide if you will run the race.

It was my 2nd time running this course and my running partner's 2nd attempt to qualify for Boston. The organization for the race is fantastic but no one can control Mother Nature. The crowd support was better than in 2011 but this is not a big city marathon. Unfortunately Mother Nature decided to send us a bit of heat and it took a toll on the runners and we regularly heard ambulances coming and going. The latter aid statons had ice avaiable and once you entered Stroudsburg, people had water hoses set up. The post-race food isn't anything special and there were delays with the buses to our parking area but the race officials were profusing apologizing for the delay (They lost access to the school parking lot a week earlier and had to scramble for a back-up plan. Based on the organization of the group, I expect this to not be a problem next year.).

I would recommend this race to most runners. If you need crowds cheering you on, try another race. But this race does support a great cause.

This is a smaller event with good support. I only give the Organization 4 stars for the website could be improved and the expo was small and also needs improvement. Course:very rural and scenic course that is net downhill however has some significant rolling hills in second ½. If you hammer the 1st half you will pay later. The ice bath and showers at the end were awesome! The pace teams really were excellent runners and maintained a good pace. Areas for improvement
"Please ask the volunteers at the H20 stations to spread out or be on both sides of the street, many times we had to go off course and on the back side of the table grab our own cup and then move back to the street.
"Some sprinkles system or hoses in the last 10k of the course, the blacktop was radiating the heat and I ran well, however slower runners really cooked on this section
"Balloons tied to the mile markers hard to spot if you were running in a group.
"More buses back to the parking area having to wait: 25-:35 minutes for a bus when you are ready to leave is UNACCEPTABLE
Overall I was impressed with the event and the volunteers. I would recommend the event

At one point, between miles 12 and 13, me and a bunch of other people actually went off course. I was the second female at that point and believe I would have hit the half marathon mark around 1:23ish but instead hit it around 1:29. I gave up at that point out of frustration...there were females behind me who hadn't ran the extra mile and passed me. My marathon PR is 3:02, but I ran this in 3:30. Overall, it was an awful race and no apology was ever issued for us going off course. I wouldn't recommend it.

A quiet run through woods, crossing beautiful creeks. Most of your spectators are hawks, but when you do pass people, they are completely supportive. My 11th marathon and I highly recommend it!

The 2011 Run for the Red Marathon was my first marathon, and it was a tremendous experience. My lone regret was that I thought my time would be much better than it was, because the course was deceivingly easy for the first 18 miles. After the 18th mile, I started to encounter some rolling hills over the final 8.2 miles, but I still finished, which was the important thing, from my perspective. The hotel situation is a bit tight, and I had to use a Holiday Inn three miles down the road, but this was still a great experience, & I'd recommend it for any runner.

This was my Second time ever running in the Run for the Red Pocono Marathon and my second ever marathon that I have run in my running career!!! I had alot of fun running in both the 2010 and 2011 editions of the Pocono Marathon its a great experience and some day hope to run in the New York City and Boston Marathons down the road in the near future!!! There are a bunch of other marathons that I would to participate in too!!!!!