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May 2, 2024

Providence Marathon Runner Comments

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Course 3.6

Organization 3.4

Spectators 2.9

Number of comments: 169 [displaying comments 11 to 21]

More Comments: [ < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 .. 17 > ]

N. C. from Boston, Mass (5/13/2015) "Not Very Scenic" (about: 2015) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 We stayed at the Omni Hotel right at the start. The good news is that all marathon runners get late checkout and the marathon start/end is literally at the next block. The bad news is that the Hotel is overpriced, not soundproofed, under maintained and does not have it's own restaurant ... good luck getting a quick breakfast. I was running the marathon with my wife and we were aiming at 4:30. We were very pleased to see that there was a 4:30 pacer provided. That said, the poor woman was clearly overpowered, she ran way too fast for the first couple miles and then did not get relieved at her expected 12 mile mark ... she tried to keep pace but just could not and was slowing down more-and-more until she was relieved many miles later. I almost wanted to take over, but was committed to making sure my wife finishes, regardless of time. The marathon started 15 minutes late and that was a bit annoying. There were just enough water stops I would have said 'plenty', but there was a long stretch without one. There were relatively few spectators and most of them were parents of the Dreamfar kids (High School Marathon project). It seems that there is no awareness in the city about the marathon the waitress in a nearby restaurant we were the night before had no clue there was a marathon going on the next day. However, the biggest disappointment was the route. The route was less than scenic for most of the first two-thirds of the race. There is a long stretch on a bike trail at some point and that is great. I only wish the entire race was on that bike-trail, it would have made all the difference. There were a couple of hills, but nothing worth fretting. There is a short-but-steep hill towards the very end that literally every single runner we saw walked up, but you will not lose much time it really is short. After the race, we wanted to grab lunch in downtown, but most of the restaurants are closed Sundays. :( Too bad, the city could have so much going for it.
S. J. from Columbus, OH (5/4/2015) "Not a race I'd run again." (about: 2015) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 My partner and I are 50 staters so were attempting the marathon in each state. This was our RI race. As we ran a marathon in NJ the day before, I decided to take it easy and run with him who is naturally a 5:30 ish runner. Here's my take on the race: 1.) Very small and underwhelming expo. Why anyone would pay 200 to 300 a night for a hotel room is beyond me. We stayed at the airport for literally a third of that and its 9 min from DT. 2.) Yes the course is hilly but not overly bad and its more hilly up front so I'd take it easy at first knowing its flat for the majority of the middle half of the race. My gripe with the course is that if that was what Providence has to offer why would anyone live there? We were either running on the shoulder of a somewhat busy unscenic road or on a bike trail. As others have mentioned the roads are bad with potholes etc and I agree the non race runners and bikers on the trail were oblivious to runners. 2.) We finished in 5:47. There was nothing besides bananas at the finish. No pizza. Nothing. When I inquired about pizza which was advertised, the said they ordered a couple more for the 'straggler' runners but that's it as they were over their agreed allotment. Yes the person at the pizza counter actually said this. 3.) The race started late once again which seems to be a yearly thing. 4.) The medals are actually nice. 5.) Very little spectators. 6.) Their website is as if a 10 year old made it. Try finding any info on there. It's a shame RI can only put on a race such as this. I will say we have run all over the country and use this time to gauge areas we want to return to for family trips. RI isn't one of them.
E. G. from Salem, MA (9/24/2014) "Nice, small marathon - but a windy 2014!" (about: 2014) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This was only my 2nd marathon, my first being Philly, so I was shocked (in a good way) by the intimacy of THIS 'city' marathon! Hotel booked was at Omni just steps from start/finish. Prices were very reasonable and accomodations were great. It's connected to Expo (packet pickup) and mall. There was a cheer competition going on, but the Desk Agent mentioned they were putting marathon runners and cheerleaders in opposite towers. Phew! Expo left a little to be desired (I did the upgrade package and wouldn't recommend it). The shirts were so over-sized and ill-fitting. I was kind of bummed out, as I've been to local half marathons with nicer shirts. Maybe in the future they'll offer women's sizing instead of unisex?Then again my previous experience was Philly's huge expo. Overall though, I found everything to be well-organized and got my bib quickly. Race day I was surprised when I lined up by pace to be maybe 10 deep from the start. (I'm not that fast - 4hr marathon). Just shows how small it was - which is great! Loved that the blue trailer lockers were there to store your stuff. Plenty of potties w/ minimal wait as well. They thankfully also had different start times for the half and the full. I didn't think the course was THAT hilly. A noticeable hill around mile 6 and mile 20... and then a really steep horrible hill at around 22 that I had to walk up. (Everyone was cursing it)! Also, you run through a park area around mile 23/24 with cobblestones for 1/4 mile. UGH. Cobblestone - really?! Otherwise, it's a fairly flat course. Most of it is on bike paths (and streets weren't heavily embanked either). I did hate how they couldn't close the paths off to bike/pedestrian traffic. No major issues while I was running, but it was a pain having to weave through more people that didn't care to move out of the way of the action. Not as much crowd support compared to bigger cities, but those that were there were energetic and positive. I carried a fuel belt so didn't notice any funky water stop placement. Only around mile 23 was there an issue with the water stop. There was so much wind, they couldn't keep dirt out of the cups. They resorted to individual pours which bottlenecked things a bit. The only real negative I encountered were the 25-30mph headwinds I dealt with for the last 10 miles. This is out of anyone's control though. Had it not been for the wind I probably would have PR'd. Found food to be plentiful at the end (at least when I finished). Fruit, turkey wraps, and of course the beer tent. (I was too nauseous to eat any of it, but it looked good)! Didn't even realize there were food trucks - just too out of it at that point I guess! I do recommend this race and would even race it again in the future if I needed a local Spring marathon and didn't want to travel too far. (I live in MA).
m. d. from New York (5/18/2014) "First marathon" (about: 2014) First Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was my first marathon and I thought the route was very scenic. No there weren't a lot of spectators along the route but I didn't expect there to be that many. People complained about the hills but they did post an elevation map. Like any race, you should know your course. Aid stations were listed too. As for the wind, not much anyone can do about the weather. I received my medal and a heat wrap after I finished the race. For those people that complained about the volunteers, volunteer at a race. It was my first time to Providence and I really enjoyed the city and would love to go back again. My one disappointed was that on Saturday night I couldn't enjoy all of the food trucks that were out! It would not have made a great race day.
David Weiss from Bay Village, OH (5/12/2014) "An enjoyable race for the most part" (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Overall, enjoyed the race...just a stone's throw from Boston where I was visiting for the weekend (hr 20 min drive) The Good: Very easy getting into/out of town race morning, simple race pack pickup available on morning of the race-I LOVE this being an out of towner, considering most races do not do this, this is a huge perk and is something I look for when picking a race; very nice finishers medal, I really enjoyed the course, I thought it was a fairly flat, scenic course; aid stations had plenty of aid, volunteers at aid stations were friendly and helpful, plenty of port a potties at start, police officers did a great job of traffic control, results posted very quickly, love when marathon given its own start separate from 1/2ers The bad...running through a park system and the weekend bikers out riding their bicycles 20 miles an hour and not really seeming to care about the runners, the aid stations had plenty of goodies, but they had wierd spacing, some very close together, other times longer distances between aid stations (that being said, i never felt stations were ridiculously far apart); at the finish line, typically my experience has been volunteers out handing medals to finishers are extremely enthusiastic, help guide absolutely exhausted runners to where food is, etc...in this case I finished, got a foil warmer, no one stopped me and I realized, oh crap, i didnt get a medal...had to walk back adn tap a volunteer on the shoulder to get a medal, who then quickly handed it my way without a word...also got no guidance anywhere as to where any food was; I was given a bottle of water and gatoraide, which happened to be quite warm...I did LOVE the line of food trucks, however not knowing about this, I had no money since mine was all in my car in the parking garage-and no way was my tired self walking all the way back from my car to get some of that food! (advertise the food trucks being there!) Ive seen other races do a great job of creating a pre race buzz via email and social media, and this race unforunately didnt do that The ugly....no one has control over it...but the STRONG winds against/crosswinds the last 5-6 miles were tough! Overall, an enjoyable race
charles west from pottstown, pa (5/10/2014) "Decent small city marathon" (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Having heard complaints about the last half of the Newport marathon course, I chose Providence to cross Rhode Island off my list. The area hotels were not gouging you like most do during big city marathons. The city was a bit hectic with the circus in town and parking was tight if you were arriving around the same time as the start of a performance. The course could be described as rolling hills. There was a bit of wind during the race and additional water stations would have been nice but they were about 2-3 miles apart. I found the breeze off the bay to be refreshing. Here are my cons: 1) Thru no fault of the race directors but the course ran by a classic car show and there was someone at the entrance that tried to stop runners to let the cars thru. Most runners kept running but I did see one car just go thru the crowd and resulted in many curses from runners who were nearly hit. 2) There was not much food. The directors need to provide more than a banana and a 1/4 of a chicken tortilla. There was unlimited beer and it was good beer (no coors light or bud light) so that helped. I don't expect buffet but I hope for at least 600 calories to help replenish the 3000 I just burned. The race was nice. I would not go out of my way to repeat but the directors did their best to hit the highlights of the city. It would have been nice if Hasbro (which has it's corporate headquarters a few blocks from the start) would be a sponsor.
c. s. from Boston, MA (5/8/2014) "Decent Small Marathon" (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 This was my 14th marathon so I like to think I know a thing or 2 about what to expect. This was exactly what I expected. This was my first small marathon and it actually was nice break from all the craziness involved in the major marathons. The start was easy to get to and seed yourself in. There were pace groups and it was easy to navigate the course with less runners then my usual experience. The course has hills yes.. but the only one that really got me was around 21& but at that point anything will get you. I have run some hilly courses this didn't seem to be that bad to me. The wind was the only real issue I had with the race which is out of anyone's control. The water stops did seem to be spread out and the gatorade was only available at certain stops and was very warm/watered down. I would also recommend bringing your own water bottle just in case. There were times i needed water or expected it at a major mile marker so I could take a GU but then there was no water stop. The whole race joy thing I guess was a disappointment. The idea was great&kudos to Providence for trying to get a tracking system. I know it didn't work..When I figured out that you had to carry your phone with you for real tracking and pay $1 for the service I opted out. The only tracking you get for free is the half marathon split which didn't work. The expo was very small.. seemed to be just thrown in the convention center in a random spot due to the event going on there that weekend. There is no real direction of what to do.. who has your bib.. etc.. But as I said this is a small marathon and I pretty much knew going into it this is what it would be like. With the hills and wind I still ran a BQ here which was my goal. The crowds at the finish line were fantastic.. the volunteers along the way were great. I didn't partake in the after party they had b/c my hotel was so close I decided to head there instead. The food was fine I thought.. i don't know what people expect at the end of a race? They have your typical banana's .. etc. I mean it's a race. There were food trucks there that you can get food from as well if you need more or want something different. In fact I loved that idea. Overall Providence was a decent experience. The course was nice, the crowd was nice. It is what it is.. it was a beautiful fun day.. crossing the finish line still feels the same as it does in a major marathon. I would consider it again. The positives outweighed the negatives for sure.
John Eng from New York City (5/8/2014) "Addendum - Nice Race" (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 In addition to the review I just previously posted, I wanted to address some of the specific negative feedback that was posted about this race in order to give a more balanced and fair perspective to others considering this race. 1) 1 Sensor on Bib - I've run 33 marathons and most bibs have 1 sensor that I wore. Bottom line - Did your time get recorded? 2) 'No water from Mile 1 to 6' - That is simply not true. There was a water stop right before Mile 3 and another one right around Mile 4.5. How he/she missed those water stops I do not know but they were there. 3) To the person complaining about having to backtrack to get his/her medal after getting their heat wrap, the volunteers giving out the medal were literally stationed directly alongside the volunteers giving out heat wraps. 4)As far as the complaint that they didn't like the course 'because of the hills'...Why register and run it then? The elevation profile was on the website. 5) As far as complaining there were no vegetarian options at the finish line.. A race is an athletic event and shouldn't be considered a buffet experience catering to all possible dietary needs. If you have special dietary needs, then you should pack your own food in your bag. Just grab a banana, water and/or Gatorade and then head to baggage pickup. 6)As far as not 'being made to feel special' at the finish line because the volunteers handed them the medal instead of kissing them while putting the medal gloriously around their neck, you have to understand that these are volunteers. After how many hours of handing thousands of medals to the half marathoners and marathoners, they should be appreciated and thanked. They can't spend too much time on each individual to 'make them feel special' since that would cause a big backlog of people getting their medals. I make it a point to thank each and every volunteer. 7) As far as 'lack of spectators', I thought there were more than enough spectators. It really wouldn't bother me if there were no spectators but there seemed to be good pockets of them. Keep in mind that this race is in Providence RI and to even compare that to NYCM is simply not fair. I thought the spectators were great and saw lots of funny signs. 8) As far as the long lines for packet pick up race morning...Simple solution was to have picked it up either the day before or 2 days before. Not many races, especially marathons even have the race day pickup option so that should be considered a big plus rather than draw complaints. Besides my previous review, another nice positive aspect about the Providence Marathon was that the race photography pictures are free to all athletes! That's a big perk! I think the race has a lot going for it. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 stars is that the water stations could be spaced out better but not sure how possible the logistics of doing that are.
J. P. from Cleveland, OH (5/7/2014) "Quiet and Scenic" (about: 2014) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 Despite concerns from runners in previous years, it is 26.2, as advertised! The route is very scenic, don't expect much crowd support. There are a few hills, but if you train for hills, they are nothing to get excited about. My biggest takeaway is that the marathon is more on key with a quiet small town race. That is not a bad thing. Bib pickup was easy, the start/finish line area was easy to navigate and get where you needed to be, and there was sufficient amount of water stops along the route Be aware ahead of time though, do not expect a 'big city' race experience. If you do, you will be disappointed. If you expect lots of swag, food, water every mile, and thousands cheering you on, you will leave feeling disappointed.
John Eng from New York City (5/7/2014) "Nice Race, Pretty Course, Great Logistics" (about: 2014) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Providence Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I'm a bit surprised at many of the negative comments below me. The course was very scenic, especially the last 8 miles or so. Unfortunately, the scenic parts also meant lots of headwinds! It's a bit hillier than expected but nothing terrible. It's a nice mix of bike trails, streets and ocean running that serves well to distract you at the right moments. One of the things I really liked about the race was the separate start of the full marathon from the half marathon. No crowding on the course and you knew the person next to you was in the same race. I found the spectators to be more than enough. They all had great signs, enthusiastic and you knew there were there to specially support the marathoners since it's a separate course. As far as the water stops, they were very well run and stocked by enthusiastic volunteers. As far as spacing of the water stops, the only noticeable one was the gap of approximately 3 miles from Mile 20. However, I knew this having looked at their course map so I was prepared and drank an extra cup at Mile 20. I've run quite a few marathons and this is one of the easiest logistics wise. I took a Greyhound bus from NYC. The bus station where I got off was literally across the street from the start which is literally a block away from the Providence Biltmore Hotel where I stayed at which is 1.5 blocks away from the expo. Tip: Even though the Biltmore didn't advertise it, they were giving late checkouts to the runners who asked for it. As far as the expo, it was pretty much in the halls of the convention center. Very easy. Just walk to the end to get your bib and shirt. There were a few vendors there selling all the basic necessities. Expo was efficient as it took me all of 2 minutes to get my bib and shirt and leave. Traffic control was smooth, efficient and friendly. Never had any issues or problems with worrying about traffic. The only time I was nervous was running on the bike path when the occasional cyclist would come barreling down around 20 mph thinking they are in the Tour De France and disregarding the safety of the runners. Obviously, this is not the Providence Marathon's fault. The finish line experience was fine. As soon as I finished there were volunteers with wraps and medals. I don't know how someone could have walked past them if they tried since they were literally about 20 feet from the finish. As far as food, they had bananas, water, gatorade, pinwheel sandwiches, free beer at the Skating Center and some assorted other choices. I'm not sure why there were so many complaints about this. I'm the biggest foodie there is but races aren't supposed to be Las Vegas style buffets. The variety and quantity of food was more than adequate. Trivia - Yahoo named Providence one of the top 10 food cities in the U.S. and I took advantage of it. Nice, small city! Had a fun time in the city as well as the race and have absolutely no reservations about recommending it to others.

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