Even though this was advertised as a 7.5-hour race, the course was aggressively closed by police and organizers, leaving numerous marathoners on the course with no support or directions.

This is my 11th marathon, and I would have to rate this course the worst I've ever run. Sure, it is flat, but it is UGLY! With the exception of the first 3-4 miles, you are running through the blighted areas of North Charleston for the majority of the race. Not only is it ugly, but it is depressing. We ran past a strip club, numerous liquor stores, and boarded up houses. This should not be called the Charleston Marathon as the majority is in North Charleston. There are so many beautiful areas of Charleston. It is confounding as to why the organizers would have us run through this area. It shows Charleston in its worst light and does nothing to promote the city.

As for organization, it was below average. The expo was chaotic. There were no directions to the start or porta-potties when getting off the buses on race morning. Everyone was stressed. No corrals at the start. If there were announcements, you could not hear them. No timing mats anywhere except start and finish. Also there were supposed to be water and gels at every mile from 20 to the end, but this was not true, they were still two miles apart.

Something positive: the shrimp and grits at the end were delicious. The volunteers were enthusiastic and the water stops were well-staffed. The police did a great job at the intersections.

Overall, I would not recommend this race unless the course is drastically changed. It is a fast, flat course, so maybe if you don't care about scenery, and are gunning for a PR, you might be ok. But otherwise, I cannot recommend it.

Having traveled from out of state, I was disappointed by the race. I ran the half-marathon. The City of Charleston is beautiful and the people are very friendly, but the course did not show much of the city. Most of the route was along unpopulated (industrial) roads along a train track.

The biggest fiasco was the transportation. The start and finish lines are in different places. They charged (in advance) for bus service from the finish back to the start. People waited for an hour or so just to get on what appeared to be only bus they hired. Finally, they "called in" for another bus at the last minute to accommodate hundreds of waiting people.

People didn't know where to catch the bus, or where the bag pick up was after the race.

I understand it is their first attempt at organizing a race, but you couldn't find anyone after the race who could answer questions.

Visit the city; skip the race.

I had a very enjoyable race, which helped me BQ and AG again. This was my 26th 26.2, and 24th state, so I guess I know a good race by now, and Charleston was fine, and overall more than the 3 1/2 stars it gets with these rankings - more like 4 to 4 1/2. No one would have known this was their first full - all the details were taken care of and the runners' needs met. It was small and fun, in a great little city. And there are only a few others in January - and I really didn't want to go to Jackson or Mobile (and was glad, since they got hit by the ice/snow last week) and have FL done so Disney was out. I would definitely recommend this race.

Pros: Flat course with only a couple of minor hills; great weather (34 at start with light wind, and it warmed to 46); more than adequate course support, including GUs starting at 20, and plenty of nice volunteers everywhere; closed to traffic streets; no relay (it is so annoying to get passed by speedy guys only running 6 miles); long-sleeve tech shirt and carrying bag; easy to use web page and pre-race emails; free parking at start; lots of good hotels within a 15-minute walk of the start (I stayed at the French Quarter Inn, which I loved); good restaurants every where; Charleston is an excellent destination with a proximal airport, and the expo (also the finishing tent) was on the way in from the airport so it saved a separate cab back out there; expo is small and well organized; bag check worked fine; a few bands on the course to perk things up; excellent finish area with plenty of the food you want, including bagels and peanut butter (a first for me), beer, and shrimp and grits, which I didn't eat since I'm a vegan but others praised, and other food if you bring some cash (plus a good announcer at the finish who read as many names and cities as he could); only $3 to ride bus back to the start; etc. Lots to love.

Cons: I'm not a big fan of point-to-points, but Boston and NYC and other famous ones are, and the course wasn't memorable, and often boring/ugly, several out-and-backs, (but the first 2 miles through the historic downtown were nice, and hey, most of NYC, Chicago, Boston, and most of the other city races I've run aren't that pretty, but what cities have 26 miles of beauty?); very few fans; the half, but that was not really a problem since it wasn't that full and there was plenty of room to run; and the final 10K were final. These are just some picky points, and nothing to stop you from coming.

Run through the ghettos of Charleston. Wow! Could have been in Detroit.