Well organized for any marathon - for an inaugural event, very impressive. Weather was perfect, course was flat, and we got shrimp and grits at the end. I finished in 4:45 or so and found the bus ride back to the free parking garage easy to manage. We spoke to the RD after the race and he seemed very eager to hear any suggestions. I predict this race will become one of the big ones on the East Coast. I'll come back for sure.

This was my first marathon and I had an overall good experience, but there were many things that need to be cleaned up about the race itself. It was very difficult to find where to go once you got to the general vicinity of the race start line after parking. I was first directed to one place where the start line was, but then was told to walk over to another place 4 blocks over where the port-a-potties were (and told that everyone would walk over together). No one seemed to know what was going on. As others have mentioned, the course was in the ghetto of North Charleston. Hopefully next year, they will redesign the course to see the beautiful scenes of Charleston (i.e. Mt. Pleasant, Ravenel Bridge, etc.). The spectators were great, and once the race started everyone seemed to have a good time. The course is very flat and well marked. The finish line was good, but I was expecting a festival - given the name of the race - and instead it was just the expo tent with a few vendors inside.

I ran the half. The first couple of miles were fantastic and scenic. The last mile through the Navy Yard area was nice also. Middle section? I thought a COPS episode was going to break out at any moment! The half started at 8 a.m. I tried to look for a bus back to the start to get my car and they said they weren't sending buses until 11 a.m., three hours after the half started. They finally summoned a bus to take back a bunch of freezing cold, half marathon runners. Positives: race director was accessible and friendly. Needs a more interesting course and better bus service if this is going to be a point-A-to-point-B race.

As a marathoner with over 45 races - both domestic and international - I thought this was a typical inaugural marathon race with lots of mistakes. The course should have been so much better. If only the start/finish were from the same location, with more miles in the Charleston historic district, and fewer miles in industrial areas/shipyard and fewer railroad crossings (especially at the end, when legs are so tired that it's easy to trip). Ugly areas should only be used to connect the nicer areas, and long out-and-backs at the end are never a good idea, especially when it's flat and unflattering to the host city. Time limits should be exact! The clock should remain up; and someone should be there to place the medal around the runners neck, and give them nourishment and encouragement. If you have ever been in the back of the pack, cramping, and just wanting the damn thing to be over, you known how hard it is to see the finish and there is no one there. I spoke to some of the race crew, made some suggestions and hope they will correct their mistakes. Right now, I couldn't recommend this one.

Taking into account that this was an inaugural race, perhaps many of these issues will be resolved by next year. The City of Charleston is a wonderful place to visit, even in the "dead" of winter, and I am hopeful the course will be redesigned to include more of the scenic areas.

This was really a 6-hour marathon advertised as a 7.5-hour marathon. We had a first-time marathon runner in our group and had set an easy pace to allow us to finish in 6.5 hours. We chose this race BECAUSE of the 7.5-hour time limit and we wanted them to feel relaxed and unhurried during their first full marathon. This wasn't to be.

At every single mile, our pace (a sub-15 minute pace!) was being pushed, including the first mile, when we were harassed by the "sag bus" and its fumes. The police and course monitors began telling us to run on the crappy sidewalks and not the streets long before the course should have been closed.

When we were "abandoned" on the course, no one gave us a map. There were a few water stops where there was NO WATER, because the volunteers were told the race was over and they could leave.

At least at 6 different points, the course crossed over itself. At one intersection, we couldn't figure out where to go because the course cues painted on the road were going in every direction and the course monitors were gone! (Shout out to the cyclist who found someone to help us!)

The timing people began removing the mats at 6.5 hours, until my husband told them they were supposed to stay down until 7.5 hours were up and that there were still runners on the course.

When we finally did cross the finish line, we were told our medals were in the "tent" and then we had to dig them out of box. How hard was it to designate someone to be at the finish to hand us a medal, at least until the 7.5-hour time limit was met?

We maintained a 15-minute-per-mile pace for the entire race and even with a long emergency stop, we still finished well under 7 hours!

I understand this is an INAUGURAL marathon, so there will always be issues to iron out. I am a slow runner (5+ hours), so my expectations of finish line amenities are somewhat conservative. There was PLENTY of beer and shrimp and grits LEFT, so that was a most excellent surprise.

Lesson Learned: Even though I've never had this problem on any of the other 6 fulls I've run, from now on, I will ALWAYS print a map of any race I am running to carry with me, even if it's open for 10 hours.

I was disappointed that the course was mostly through. I finished in five and a half hours and there was no "festival" to be found. More port-a-potties are needed at the water stops and the start of the race. The expo was small, and the walk from the parking lot to the tent was not lit! The volunteers were fantastic though. The kids playing music along the course were fabulous. The Gatorade was NOT watered down! Thank you! This race has potential and I suspect that it will improve in years to come. Please change the course to reflect Charleston's beauty and this could become SC's premier marathon.

I love Charleston and visit quite often. I ran the marathon and had fun - and I even got a PR - but I have to agree that the course was NOT scenic in the least. The first 3-4 miles through Charleston were very nice; after that, it did not show off the city at all. Really, if it were my first time visiting Charleston, I would not have the best impression of the city. There are so many possibilities for a beautiful course that they did not take advantage of; I hope that they will make significant adjustments to showcase the city (and PLEASE get rid of the last out-and-back for the last 5-6 miles of the course - that was truly horrendous). On the positive side, I thought the organization was TONS BETTER this year, the water stops were great and predictable, the long-sleeve tech shirt was nice, and I did have a fun time. Food and atmosphere were great after the race too - A LOT of people hung out for quite a while, which made it fun. I am sure I will run it again in the future because I love to run races and I do love Charleston....

I had the pleasure of pacing the 4:30 group on Saturday, and this was #49 of marathon or beyond for me. This race really feels like a junior Myrtle Beach race to me. It's low-key, and not some over-the-top commercial race. I like that. You could tell the people cared. The course for this year was a bit industrial (it is getting very hard to get municipalities to work with races), but I hope the success of this race will convince the city to let them incorporate more and more of the nice parts. A few technical glitches like GUs a little late, and initially offering only espresso-flavored ones, and a congested out-and-back, but not too bad. I enjoy races like this, and I hope this one makes it. In a few years it could be one of the best in the south, with some upgrades.

First, congrats to the organizers for successfully staging the initial running of this marathon. Organizing an inaugural event is a daunting task, in that everything had to be built from scratch, including the big things like securing a large pool of local volunteers to draw upon and little stuff like mile marker signs and basic procedures for how and where to distribute packets. I'm sure the granularity of the nitty gritty details is much more detailed than most runners (myself included) realize.

Given that this was a first-year event, I don't judge it with the same critical eye that I would a more established race. If it were the 18th annual running, I would expect that everything runs like clockwork. For the first annual running, it is more a case of putting on the show with minimal challenges, and learning what can be improved in the future.

From reading about the organizer's efforts in getting this race up and running, it seems that getting the various local municipalities on-board with staging the race was a bit challenging. While there is opportunity to draw up a course route that winds through more of the scenic and historic parts of the area, my sense is that the organizers did the best they could with what local officials would allow. That's a miss, but not on the part of the race officials.

Preamble aside, this was a fun race. It was a bit chilly at the start but we couldn't have asked for a nicer day to run - temps were around a crisp 50 F once we got a couple of hours into the race. While the crowds were pretty sparse, the volunteers (who were great) and musical groups along the route were very energetic. On-course support was terrific, aid stations were plentiful, and the shuttle bus system after the race seemed to work well.

Some suggestions to enhance future runnings. This is all minor stuff so  it may look like a laundry list of complaints, but really it's more of a list of "do this better to go from good to great":

- Consider holding the expo in downtown Charleston. That's where the majority of the hotels are, so that would likely be a more convenient location for many participants. I chose not to rent a car, which made it impractical to wander up north for the expo.
- There's an opportunity for better signage near the starting line (I found it by following the crowds) and the race day packet pickup location.
- The PA system at the starting line was not loud enough to cut through the din. I started mid-pack, and if there was any sort of countdown prior to the air horn, nobody around me heard it. You should get the model that goes to eleven.
- Need more overtly-labeled garbage cans near the start for the bottles, gels, etc. that will be discarded.
- I assume this will happen, but please field a post-race survey and attempt to quantify the impact of the race on the local economy. I can't begin to guess at an accurate number, but I know I dropped somewhere in the range of $600 between hotels, meals, and local activities/excursions. Putting a tangible number in front of the local poobahs might engender a more receptive attitude toward future runnings.

Would I recommend this race to others? Yes - it's a well-organized event in a city with a lot of history to offer, and as the logistics get tightened in the future, it's bound only to get better.

Course allowed a realistic view of varying living conditions of the area. I felt safe. Organizers should put more interest in the transportation of the participants.