This was a beautiful race. The hills never stop, but there were so many people to cheer for runners. My big complaint was the food. At the finish there were mini-cupcakes and some M&M's. I was so surprised! I live in a very small town in Florida, and after our marathon, we had bagels, Subway, trail-mix, fruit, etc.... I thought a bigger city like Atlanta would have done a better job at feeding us exhausted runners!

I have run this marathon in 2009 (my first full) and in 2011. I improved my time by 8 min. and 29 sec. The hills were pretty challenging but the watering stations were very well staffed. The gels during the run were wonderful. I carried a few extra gels but there is no need for you to carry your own water or Gatorade. I love how there was a large clock timing every mile for you. I had an even split for the 1st and 2nd half. The expo was great as always. I would like one improvement - the lines for the restrooms were too long before the race. I couldn't start with my corral, which is reflected by a slow 10K mark, but the race just keeps improving!

The course is challenging, but the hills keep it interesting. Keeping a disciplined pace was paramount. Glad I saved a little extra for the uphills in the last two miles. Nice race.

Pros:
1- MARTA train from airport makes it easy to fly into town and get to expo and start/finish line without renting a car
2- Expo was nice and within walking distance
3- Several hotels very close to start/finish line. Embassy Suites was a great place to stay.
4- Volunteers and aid stations were top notch
5- Traffic control was excellent
6- Very nice to have separate lanes for the half- and full marathoners at the end of the race
7- Great medal
8- Hey, I LIKED the shirt! Seriously, a driver would have to be blind to not see me running along the road in that day-glo number.

Cons:
1- Fans were kind of sparse. But they were nice.
2- The post-race food situation was abysmal. I finished the full in 3:40, and the only food left was cupcakes and cookies. I went with nothing. It was maddening to see half- runners walking around with bags of food. Granted, common sense and courtesy toward your fellow competitors should prevent this from happening. But instead it must fall on the organizers to avoid this situation in the future. It put a damper on an otherwise well-run event.

Course was very hilly and scenic. Lots to look at with some really great groups of people cheering you on along the way. My one main complaint would be that there was virtually nothing left but bottled water, mini cupcakes, bananas and M&M's for the marathoners finish. Prior to the race you saw all this great stuff being put out, but nothing was left by the time I came through at about the 4-hour mark!! Really disappointing!! That was my second time, and I will not ever do it again based on that!! The full marathoners pay almost double what the half marathoners do but the halfers got all of the food!!

Course is just beautiful if you can remember to run your training pace and not your normal race pace.

Best volunteers outside of OKC.

Worst post-race food EVER. Warm water and cupcakes? Please, you can do better. Where was the Coke?

Shirts were just plain ugly. Day-glo yellow went out of fashion decades ago.

Being from England, I wanted to try something other than London for my marathon experience. Volunteer at the expo suggested I should have checked out the course and picked somewhere flatter but by then it was too late. Having now run it, yes, it's got hills, but then again, no killers, just lots of them. I loved the course, particularly the scenic Decatur areas. The crowd were excellent all the way, and volunteers and police were brilliant too. Thanks to all for making it a great experience.

I would particularly like to thank the police officer who sang the theme from Rocky to keep me going for the last couple of miles or so.

Loved the fact that the start and finish were in the same place, which made travel unnecessary as hotel was walking distance from Centenial Park.

I had hoped this marathon would satisfy my ambition to complete one, and I could then give up my running shoes. But instead it's got me hooked and I now hope to be back next year.

Overall, I enjoyed this race and would recommend it to anyone who wants to test their mettle on a hilly course. I train in a hilly area (foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains) so I thought I'd be better prepared, but boy was was I wrong! Miles 17-23 are nothing but rolling hills. They're not particularly steep but they really do just keep on coming. Make it up the BIG one after Piedmont Park and you're good to go, though.

The scenery was nice, although I will say that I didn't get to see as much as I wanted (missed the MLK house!) because I was so focused on trying to stay on pace.

I thought the race and the expo were very well organized, although I've gotten better goody bags. I loved the medal (bright yellow t-shirt, not so much). Post-race food maybe left a little to be desired (surprising since the title sponsor was a grocery store).

All and all, if you're considering this race I'd say go for it. It was crazy hard but fun and Atlanta is a cool city.

There is no denying the hills of this race. Maybe it's because of the freshness in my mind, but this seemed to be hillier than Nashville and Boston to me. Definitely one of the most challenging marathons I've done. I read reviews prior to running it and expected hills, but didn't know quite what to expect until running it. That said, the course is beautiful and well organized. My only complaint is that the half-marathoners got all the good food (I know because my brother ran the half!). I finished just under 4 hours, and my only options were cupcakes or M&Ms. Bananas, bagels, chocolate milk, and Lara bars... all gone. :(

I highly recommend that anyone who attempts to run this race do some serious hill-training. I definitely underestimated all the hills, and paid big time. It was the toughest of the 6 marathons I've completed, and I'm still sore 3 days after the race!

The course was well-organized with plenty of water, Gatorade and GU. However, the half marathoners apparently took all the food bags at the finish, leaving the marathoners with none, or at least those who finished with me at 4:20.

I was disappointed with the lack of spectators though. There were only handfuls of them every so often, and only one area toward the end of the race with music. Spectators and live music are my fuel, so I was definitely disappointed. I was told that people in Atlanta are avid church-goers, so perhaps they were all at church rather than at the race!

Personally, I wouldn't run this event again, but I was proud to have tackled the hills!

Nothing to add regarding the hills, and yes, Cardiac Hill is diabolically positioned on the course... just think of it as our own little Heartbreak.

As a first-timer to this particular race, the big positive for me were the fans in Decatur. They were out in force and really seemed to get into the spirit of the event in a very positive way. People were even handing out water, oranges, etc. from their homes!

The one challenge this presented for me was pacing - I got so excited in Decatur that I ran a bit faster than normal! I had to slow it down when I left town. :-) But that's on me. I would've been thrilled to run the whole race in Decatur - looking forward to 2012!