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☰
Charleston Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Charleston Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 2.9 
Organization 3.3 
Spectators 2.8
Number of comments: 90 [displaying comments 41 to 51]
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J. S. from New York
(2/9/2012)
 "Meh" (about: 2012)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Charleston Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 The last few miles are run through a desolate industrial area, and you have to turn around and run right back through the same area. Passing the finish line and doing that last out and back really took a lot out of me. The design of the course makes it hard to stay motivated those last few miles. Water was not as frequent as advertised. Otherwise the aid stations were good. Only the first few miles have really pleasant scenery. Great shirt - one of my favorites now for winter runs! Nice and soft. Unlikely I'll be back (flew down from NYC for it). | |
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B. K. from South Carolina
(1/31/2012)
 "Needs support from the local businesses and city" (about: 2012)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Charleston Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 To RC from Greenville who said there was no entertainment, the race I ran had plenty of school bands to listen too. The race was not perfect but not as horrific as some people are making it out to be. The water was an issue but not one that I encountered, I am not a fast runner so I don't know where it went wrong. Thank you to all the volunteers. The shuttles being late was bad but a runner has to take some responsibilty, get there early. | |
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carl casterlin from Summerville, SC
(1/30/2012)
"gear bag returned 2 1/2 weeks later" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Charleston Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I wrote on 1/17 that I never got my gear bag back. Well, today, 1/30 it was delivered by mail! Glad to see there was good followup. Late is better than never! | |
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C. M. from Charleston
(1/23/2012)
"Great medals but disappointing course!" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Charleston Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 This was my dad's 9th marathon(he flew in from CA to run the race together) and my 8th so we have a few races to compare to Charleston. We live in a beautiful and interesting city but didnt get to see much of it! Usually the race is the easiest part of the training... as you dont have to carry water, there are bathrooms to use and people to cheer you on.....Well there were few bathrooms and running out of cups at 3 water stations is inexcusable!!!!! If it wasn't for my amazing friends who cheered my dad and I on,this race would have been even more challenging. We started out with a pace team but had to stop running with the very small group as the leader was running faster then the indictated pace. The end of the race was disapponiting seeing all the folks ahead of you! Also both of our watches were off by at least .5 miles...was there an issue with the distance? | |
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J. M. from Morehead City, NC
(1/23/2012)
 "Needs a little work" (about: 2012)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 The end of the marathon course needs to be redone- the out and back for miles 21-26 needed to be a little more exciting to help finish the end of the race. Also- they need more bathrooms! There were not enough porta johns at the beginning of the race and were almost nonexistent during the race. The first one was at mile 5, and there was only 1! | |
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M. L. from Jax, FL
(1/22/2012)
"POOR PLANNING" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Charleston Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 I have run 27 marathons and this was the first without water or gatorade at the finish, and I finished in the top 50! The headwind on the very uninteresting course was brutal. The boring out and back between miles 20-25 were discouraging. I had looked forward to spending an extra day or two in Charleston, but left the next morning, the race left a bad after taste. The tent needs to go! How about a real expo and finish line location? I will not be back, there are better races closer to home. | |
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D. B. from Spartanburg, SC
(1/21/2012)
"Not bad, but room to improve." (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Charleston Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 The course isn't much on scenery particularly except for the first few miles, but I knew that going in. It's a complex course with lots of turns, but it seemed adequately marked. There was a big police presence so there was no problem with cars on the course. The last five miles- just when folks are hitting the wall are pretty desolate until you are right at the finish, which doesn't help, I have two real complaints with the run. The water stops were frequent, but the cups were too small. Even worse, when I finished there was no water or Gatorade at the finish. This is nearly unpardonable for any race, especially a marathon. Changing a course is difficult to do, but fortunately, actually having water and gatorade at the end should be easy to do for next year. | |
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A. S. from Elm City, NC
(1/21/2012)
"Big Improvements Needed" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Charleston Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 This race needs some improvement, if they expect to continue drawing a crowd. The positives I can speak of (compared to some others) were the shuttle service to the race start and the porta potty situation. I had no issues with either of these. I agree about the expo... it was dusty and dark and easily could have been set up on pavement instead of in a dirt lot. As for the course... like most race courses, it had nice and ugly parts. The most disheartening portion was the last 6 miles. Knowing how close the finish line area was, the full route turned into a wasteland of nothingness, following a line of cones out for 3 miles, knowing you had to turn and come back 3 miles. It was terrible. In what normally are the hardest miles of a marathon, this is where you really need something nice to look at, or at the very least NOT a down and back route. The biggest issue of the day was lack of fluids. With aid stations approx every 2 miles, I went past three stops in a row where there were no cups. People were picking up used cups off the ground, or in some cases, drinking straight from the pitchers used to serve runners. NOT GOOD! So for 6 miles, I had no fluids. This was before the half route split off. After the split, there were no issues with this. However, once I finished, there were no fluids there either, or space blankets. It was a cold, very windy 40 degree day. This would have been nice after a cold run. I love the city of Charleston and would love to return. But without some changes, I don't think I'd run this race again. | |
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M. P. from South Carolina
(1/21/2012)
 "Poor Organization/Poor Post-Race Accommodations" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Charleston Marathons
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 The race organization and race staff assistance was extremely poor. There was no water at the finish which is inexcusable. There were no bottles of water and I all I saw was the green tea. The expo/finish tent was dirty/dusty which covered everything including the food. There was not sufficient porta johns and there was no toilet paper at all in any of them after the finish. I needed assistance from race staff regarding some confusion with my registration and the staff was rude and never addressed my concern. I am from this area (two hours away) and have brought my family for this event starting with the half marathon two years ago and both last year and this year's marathon. The continued lack of organization is very disappointing. This was my 13th marathon and I have enjoyed some very nice both big and small marathons, but this is not one of them. | |
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A. C. from Salt Lake City, Utah
(1/21/2012)
"Enjoyable race, fast course, lacks port o johns!" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Charleston Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 Overall I enjoyed this race very much. A chilly start but after mile 8 the weather was nice and sunny with a slight breeze. The course was nice and flat, the scenery was southern (and I have a hard time dissing a race that's nice and flat). The spectators were enthusiastic, at some points few & far between but for crying out loud it is 26.2 miles! Honestly my one and only complaint is not enough port o pottys. I didn't want to miss the gun so I skipped out of the line after waiting 10 minutes anyway. There was one potty every 2 or 3 miles, and for the first 8 (I'm guessing also because you're running with all of the 13.1 mile people as well) there were HUGE lines. Finally stopped at mile 8 because I couldn't wait any longer, and still stood for at least 5 minutes in line. I enjoyed the post race boiled peanuts, beer & grits, the medal and shirt are nice as well. Overall well done! |
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