While there were a few first-time mistakes as mentioned by others, I enjoyed the event. The course for Beaumont was scenic, with great traffic control. We ran on what is normally a busy highway that was completely closed to traffic. The volunteers were eager to help and I must have run at the perfectly-timed pace because I had no shortage of drinks and snacks. The free beer and food at the end were great, plus live bands. I think this marathon has great potential and will run it again.

I ran the half marathon and it was run in early summer heat and humidity. There are no mileage signs, poor hydration, terrible organization, no accounting for "charitable" proceeds, and this year they didn't take American Express for registration. It is a nice course, though.

This was by far the worst marathon out of the 11 I've run. Starting with the packet pickup, there was a line of at least 100-200 people when I got there. I don't remember the reason, but I didn't get a shirt. The two-lap marathon course was a wreck. At mile 13, as I was about to cross the halfway point, an officer kindly yelled out to the racers, "If you are running the marathon you are going the wrong way." Ok, great. He gave no more information than that. A few people asked him what the right way was but he didn't know. We ended up continuing on our way, which I think turned out to be correct, but the last thing you want floating around your head for the next 13 miles is, "Am I even on the right track?" A similar problem happened at mile 26 or so. The finish was just to our right but there was a sign pointing marathoners to the left. Nobody was going left and the guy helping out at that post had no idea which way was correct. I will not run this race again. Zero stars for organization, a black hole.

This was the worst race I have ever run, and I consider myself an experienced runner, having run over 35 full/half marathons. The packet pick-up was a mess. There were only approximately 170 full marathoners. By the time I finished there was no post-race anything except for a couple of volunteers waiting with a few medals. Water stations were abandoned on a day when the temps reached 82 by noon, and the course was confusing to say the least. I know I ran the full course only because I have a Garmin - unlike others who missed one of the loops because the volunteers were to busy talking instead of directing traffic. I would never recommend this one, especially not to a first-timer.

I ran the half; there were few if any mile markers, I didn't know where I was until I asked another runner with a Garmin. The first mile marker I saw read, "20 miles." HMMM, I am supposed to assume that meant I had done 10? I didn't know. The water stops were full of volunteers at the beginning and I had to wait for water. They also only poured full cups of Gatorade. Anyone who runs knows it is impossible to run and drink from a full cup. The weather was no one's fault, but it did stink - too hot and humid. I wouldn't re-run this one ever. Oh, and to the volunteer who called me a b**** for suggesting that they fill cups up a head of time, it's called a RACE for a reason.

This was my first marathon, and if they are all like this I may never run one again. No water or Gatorade at the first seven stops. Not much left at the end, and I only completed the half, though I was entered in the full marathon. I ran early with the slow half marathoners; and we crossed the finish line at the start, after about three miles, and again at 13. I guess I got credit for running the whole thing based on my four-hour-eight-minute time, which would be fast for a marathon, but is embarrassing for the half. But with the heat and humidity, that's all I could do. If I had not been the only person in my age division, I guess I should have said something, but somebody owes us something for this much effort on a day when people were dropping like flies due to a lack of water. I hope next year is better, if there is one.

The loop within a loop was a disaster. We don't know if we ran too far or too short. Loop-de-loop courses have been the death knell of more than one previous race. Water stops at best were minimal.

Some of the later stations had been abandoned by the time the five-hour (plus) people came by. The finish line had nothing except stale beer sitting in the sun and a few bottles of water. Most people I talked to indicate that this race should go the way of many others: away. Too bad; Beaumont could really use a distance race such as the marathon.

There were fewer than 200 marathoners and a couple thousand half marathoners and 5kers. With that small number of marathoners running, you would figure that it wouldn't be that difficult to please the marathoners. What marathoners ended up getting was a course that was confusing and short. Once I reached the finish line, I had only run 24 miles; I ended up taking another loop to make up for it, and crossed the finish line again. If I didn't have a GPS, I wouldn't have known, which I'm sure many a marathoner did not and ended up running a 24-miler instead of a true marathon. This is suppose to be a Boston Qualifier. They didn't have water at multiple stops, which is ridiculous considering the humidity and the temps getting to as high as the 80's.

When you finally finish the race, there is nothing left for the marathoners except maybe some soda. If you notice, the times seem to indicate that this is a fast marathon - but actually, a lot of people either quit, or people from the area who thought it was easy to do a marathon ended up stopping after the first loop.

So if you want to do a half marathon but have it considered to be a full, then come join the Gusher Marathon, were everyone gets a medal.

It was incredibly nice to have streets and highways completely closed to traffic. The numbers of porta-potties was OUTSTANDING. Unfortunately, organizers and volunteers didn't provide those who finished after 4 hours with the same services/courtesy as to those who finished under 4 hours. They offered watery Gatorade (until it ran out), and the water stops had no cups, fluids, or volunteers (the last water stop was staffed by a woman who had just run the half!) - dangerous on a day with extremely HIGH humidity, winds and temps. It should have been nice to wind through and see downtown Beaumont; unfortunately, downtown didn't come out to see us. Definitely not the most scenic course - there were many places where we just looped back on ourselves. Rumors abounded that the 5K wasn't that far (some said only 2.8 miles) and that the marathon wasn't quite 26.2. How can that be?

I'm still wondering what my entry got me, other than a technical shirt with the bib number given at check-in. Post-race food, drinks, music, etc., shut down after 4-4.5 hours, leaving those at the end with nothing. Hopefully, organizers learned many painful lessons and can improve upon things.

The race had some first-time flaws, but good ideas and concepts. I liked the course, though I found out later that most of volunteers did not show up race day. I did find out later in the 5K race that awards were given based on chip time, and not first-runner-to-finish. Bad. I have never run in a race that gives overall awards based on chip time.