The race was held on a beautiful day in the Fox Valley. The course is lovely, spanning five towns, a few historic downtowns and some great nature trails. Not too big and not too small, this is a great race to run your first marathon, as I did.

This was an outstanding inaugural event! It was very well organized, on a scenic and flat course, and with a top-of-the-line shirt and medal. It was as well orchestrated as any event I have run, and everyone was super friendly and supportive. Easy access to parking at the race site and there were hotels close by.

This is a great marathon or training run. Beautiful course, well organized event, easy access, and very spectator-friendly.

By mile 21 or so, I found myself in a dead zone with only 2 runners in the distance in front of me and nobody in sight behind between the 4:30 group and the 5 group. I almost felt silly going through the aid stations with so much attention being paid just to me, but the enthusiasm of the volunteers 4+ hours in was just great.

I've run nine marathons and fifteen half marathons in the past four years. For this race, I ran the 20-miler. I realize that I didn't get the whole experience and can't really comment on the 6.2 miles that I didn't run, but from what I saw and experienced, I can say that this is the best-organized, most well-run marathon that I've been a part of. The race information was relayed effectively through the website, Facebook, and Twitter. The gear and medal are great. The course was well marked and beautiful. The handshake from the race director was classy, and volunteers were enthusiastic. The water stops are plentiful. I can't say enough about the day; simply excellent.

This is a beautiful course run along the peaceful Fox River. The course is mostly flat with some rolling hills between miles 17 and 20. It's an easy course from which spectators can watch their runners at multiple locations. The inaugural race was run like a seasoned event!

Very frustrating that the mile markers were off. I would run a 10-minute mile followed by a 7. That happened several times so I was not sure how accurate any of them were. Hard to judge my pace.

Also, I missed or nearly missed several of them since they were right at the water stations.

The split for the 20/marathon was confusing - someone was yelling, "Blue to the right" instead of "marathon" and there was a water stop there, so there were already all kinds of things going on.

This marathon was exceptionally well run. The organizers and volunteers did a great job! Everything went smoothly and the course was absolutely beautiful. I'm definitely recommending it to others.

I grew up in the Fox Valley and signed up for this race because I was familiar with every square inch of this course from years of running these paths. I knew that the familiarity didn't mean it would be boring. Instead, I knew it meant that this would make for a fantastic marathon course. For a first year event, I thought it was run extremely well. Admittedly, I was toward the front of the pack, so my experience may not speak for everyone who was in a more crowded area, but I thought there was plenty of support along the course and that it was pretty well-marked. There was only one area (which we unfortunately crossed twice) that was poorly marked and didn't have a volunteer directing the runners (the West side of Clark Island in Batavia). Thankfully, I knew the area and knew exactly where to go, but my wife, who was standing near there, said she had to direct some people and saw a few people miss the turn initially. I also noticed that, from the 10 mile mark through about 21, the mile markers seemed off. It seemed like every odd one (13, 15, 17 etc.) accurately represented where it claimed to be on the course, but the even ones were up a little early. Those are the only two places that I personally saw room for improvement with this race. I don't mention them to try and bring this race down, but rather to make them known with the hopes that this great day of races will become even better and last for many years. If you're looking for a small, scenic, early fall marathon, this is a GREAT choice.

This was an incredibly organized event, and you would never know that it was the first time it was held. All the pre-race information you could want from the web site, Facebook, and Twitter? Check. Community involvement including a choice of hotels offering special rates? Check. Easy parking near the start and finish? Check. Scenic river course and enthusiastic volunteers? Check. Plentiful water stops? Check. Food actually still left at the finish for those of us in the back of the pack? Check. Gender-specific technical shirts and nice medal to boot? Check. All in all, this is a race by runners for runners.