The course preview by Carlton Ray, President of the IMM, was indeed a very accurate description. Today was my 19th marathon and I really enjoyed running through the local neighborhoods of Indianapolis.

As we all know, there are very different ways of categorizing "scenery." Even though this was an urban marathon, the course took us in and around a lot of great neighborhoods, the Indianapolis Art Museum and Butler University. The architecture of the houses/buildings really kept your attention the entire course.

Another thing that I really liked were the long straightaways. This made it so much nicer to see where you were going as opposed to constantly twisting and turning.

As for the hills at mile 15 and 17, they are truly nothing to be concerned about.

Overall, the organization was great. The water stops were plentiful and well staffed, and the local police and volunteers did a nice job in protecting the runners from the local traffic. (I will say, though, that there were a lot of traffic jams out there so I am not sure how well the media promoted this race to let the locals know of road closures/delays. Even though there were a number of drivers honking, the police did a great job of protecting the runners and letting them pass through intersections safely.)

And to top it off, I set a new PR by 10 minutes to finish at 3:58:51. My first sub-4 hour marathon! I have to give a lot of credit though to my good friend, Big Mike, who set a strong pace to get me in a great position through the first 20 miles. From there it was up to me, and thankfully I was able to pull it off. Thanks, Mike!

By the way, the finisher's medal is nice, with a decent weight to it, along with a printed ribbon. The tech shirt was good too.

So, if you are looking for a November marathon in the future, be sure to give the IMM a try. I would like to think that you too will have a similar experience as I did today.

Thanks to all of the volunteers and police officers who really handled those intersections like the pros that they are. This was my 37th marathon. Beautiful day. Course is well thought-out, as even though you had full sun, you were running under a lot of trees during the day. Yes, there could be some improvements, but this was an inaugural race and it was terrific. No whining by me or any other racers allowed; this was about as good as it gets, as marathons go.

This race is THE Indianapolis Marathon and finally Indiana has a premier event that could grow into something special. Thanks again, Ken!! 'Nuff said.