I'll start by saying that I brought my family with me and we stayed in historic Charleston and had a nice weekend. The race itself was not very good though. It was a flat course and I ran a PR but it lacked many of the amenities I am used to. The start of the course was nice, but after the first few miles it became boring. It went through unappealing parts of town and had few spectators. There were very few porta-potties, no clocks at any of the mile markers, and no place to register your chip time until the end of the race. The course looped back on itself a lot and at times I got confused on which way to go. When I got to the finish there were no beverages left. I was told there was water and sports drinks in the tent but all they had was iced tea and beer (not what I was looking for at the end of a marathon). Overall I enjoyed Charleston, and I ran a good time that I am happy with, but I would not do this race again.

I had a great race, finally a BQ, first 1/2 is nice, second 1/2 of course not so much but I knew that running it again a second time (ran in 2011). I have one complaint really and I think it is a pretty big onewhen I finished the full there was NO WATER and NO GATORADE available to runners...really??? WowI did not get anything to drink for a couple hours (waiting on friends to finish and then had to be shuttled back downtown, where, I was finally able to buy my own water and gatorade). That is pretty unacceptableI am surprised to see that there hasn't been more complaints about the lack of fluids at the end of the race. Yes, there was shrimp and grits but I need gatorade at the end of a race.

Last 6 miles kind of depressing knowing I had to turn around and run back the same way after 3 miles. Web site said there was bag drop off at water stations 2, 4 and 6 miles. Dropped off my well marked bag at station 2. No bag after 5 hours. Gave my phone # to info station at the finish, who said they would call. Ha! No call yet. Otherwise, the day was what I expected.

I was extremely disappointed in this race (I ran the full), out of the 32 I have run this marathon ranks at or near the bottom. While the course itself could use some improvement the overall organization leaves much to be desired; I was even more disappointed when I reviewed the comments from the 2011 race to see the same concerns had not been addressed. At the start of the race there were 14 porta-johns REALLY??? I was one of the few hundred still waiting to use the john as the gun went off; so I actually crossed the start line nearly 5 minutes after the race start so I guess the chip didn't register: THANKS! Take a look at the results did you think all those people without a listed chip time didn't know how to put it on correctly? It was a good thing I took the time because I only noticed 2 porta-johns during the entire course. I will say that the after race party was really great! But, I do not plan to run this race again unless I hear that serious upgrades have been made. The city of Charleston has an incredible opportunity to showcase itself here; I sure hope they get behind it.

Even though I have read some negatives reviews on the Marathon I would like to say that my wife and I had a great experience.
The issues I have read about can all contributed to the great growth over the number of runners in 2012 over 2011. It is a art to be able to plan and pull off an event of this size.
The number of buses required, the amount of water,cups and yes even the number of metal to order and have available are all based on the number of registered runners. I talked with one of the volunteers about the shortage of metals when I finished and was delighted with his answer.
'A surge of people registering over the last few days caused the shortage'

Well I say Hooray!! More money for the Arts!!
Gosh, I have to wait a few weeks to get my metal, but the Arts gets the extra money up front to fund their programs!! I call that a success where I come from!! CONGRATULATIONS!
I hope the growth and success continues into 2013 and gets so big you have to consider a cut off for the registration in order to fine tune your event.
We will be back in 2013 and many years after that!
To the City of Charleston and its Citizens, a heart felt thanks for opening your city and expressing your 'Wonderful Southern Hospitality' in such a wonderful way!!
To the Marathon Team organization, Thank you all for the hard work and dedication it took to pull this event off. To the Shirt designer! Excellent Job! Very cool shirt. I cant wait to receive my medal and hang it proudly on my wall and cherish the experience of the 2012 Charleston Marathon.
Looking forward to 2013!!

I'll echo the assessments that other runners have about this marathons's issues, but I do believe some of the comments are a bit harsh. Yes, the course isn't the most scenic I've run, but the vast majority of it was closed to traffic- which is a definite plus. Anyone believing that city traffic should be totally shut down so that runners may have a perfectly scenic course is quite naive... it's not as easy as everyone thinks. There could be some improvements in the course layout, but many marathons are run in sketchy neighborhoods or have ho-hum stretches. Shame on the buses not being on time, but waiting until after 7 for an 8 a.m. race to board one is just as much the runners responsibility. I do have a problem with water stops having different flavored Gatorade or not being uniform in how the water/Gatorade was distributed. Crowd support was nice at the finish (like usual) but non-existant elsewhere. The headwinds we encountered for 2/3 of the run were oppressive and probably didn't help anyone's impression of the run. I thought the classical music being played at the expo with musicians in tuxes standing/seated on bare dirt was quite bizarre, but the shrimp & grits at the finish were an awesome touch. This marathon might need some improvements, but it certainly isn't a worthless experience and Charleston folks are friendly hosts.

Great race except for no water until mile 14, no gels as promised except for the first runners, no water only beer at finish, ran out of medals for 1/2 marathon finishers, no time mats during the race-only at start and finish, no space blankets at finish even though it was in the 40's and windy, etc... Won't run again until they prove to me they can organize a race.

I was disappointed in this marathon from start to finish. The hotel had no information even though it was one of the hotels recommended on the registration site. The shuttle to the start line was running late, so we got there well after the start. The course was ugly, there was literally no spectator support, and to top it all off, the runners who were late to the start due to bad shuttle service did not have a chip time. I would not recommend this race.

I know this was only the second marathon but really?! Between the course running through a very sketchy area of town (accosted by winos!)railroad tracks, poor signage, water only every second mile, no oranges, running out of medals (!) then running out of water, closing down the course before runners were finishing,and then a discrepancy on the DISTANCE (clocked as 13.6, NOT 13.1) I would rate this as a very poorly run marathon and half marathon. A beautiful city we never saw! It's tough to organize a race but this was just awful...I don't even know what my real time was since the distance was wrong.

Charleston is an interesting, historic and, in parts, beautiful city. The race whets your appetite, but certainly isn't filling. It probably qualifies as flat and fast - although spectators don't give you a boost in that regard. The downtown section is pretty and interesting - but it is followed by some very UNexciting miles - until a couple near the end go through a very pretty park and along the water before finishing in an industrial area. Race logistics were more of the same - some excellent pre-race food, good registration and shirts, but the course itself had serious logistical issues, e.g. multiple hydration stops had no cups when we got to them (and we were not at the end of the pack and these were not stops late in the race); you could either drink out of pitchers or scrounge a cup off the pavement. Similar issues with porta-potties. There weren't nearly enough at the start and only a lonely porta-pottie a few places along the route, with none until about 5 or 6 miles - typically with lines waiting to use them. These are not good indicators and need to be fixed if the race is to reach its potential. (Note: I ran the half and my experience refers to Half-marathons.)