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May 10, 2024

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 71 to 81]

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j. v. from The Great State of Texas (1/21/2011) "Great shirt, hot food, cold beer, good medal!" (about: 2011) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Okay, my first thoughts as I went home were that the race sucked... ugly, boring. Then I uploaded my pictures... hmmm, I wondered. Why did the course seem boring? I had tons of great pictures! I love a course that shows you all of the city - the ugly underbelly as well as the fantastic sections. This race did that very well. We ran under moss-covered tree canopies, though downtown, by the water, by the mansions, through the boarded up district, through the old hill area, through new areas, and through old areas on the rise. Did I expect a prettier course? Heck yes! Did I expect a prettier town? Heck yes! I was somewhat disappointed by the entire trip, but I had a great time. My expectations may have gotten the better on me, but the venue was wonderful... well, I'd have preferred the expo to be downtown and the dinner to be downtown, but whatever. The negatives: maybe the last section was a bit too straight for me, but the out-and-back nature of it was fun! I saw my friends that were faster and slower than me! The expo and dinner were at the finish, not the start... that made you need transportation, but if you had a rental car, you got your bib and then checked into your downtown hotel. The positives: HOT food! Good, hot food! Cold beer (I don't drink it, but I saw people with like 9 cups stacked together, so it must have been unlimited). A great shirt (no advertising on the back!). A very good medal! A nice backpack swag bag (I have dozens, but not everyone does - I ran to the race from north of the airport and you can't tell, so it is well made). Once you get to downtown, you never need your car again! You can walk to dozens of places to eat. Nothing better than a race where you don't have to drive once you arrive! We got lots of communication via email about the race. An easy route to follow full of turns! I love lots of turns and hate long straightaways... a perfect course for me! We went through like six different types of neighborhoods... the art was fun on the Navy base and I do like out-and-back sections. There were hundreds of volunteers, and cute, decorated barricades. There was music! I have never seen the automated voice timers at the mile marks used instead of clocks... it seemed a great way to provide time for those one-in-a-thousand who don't have a working watch with them. This was a good event. Could it have been better. Yes. But it had all of the elements that make for a great race.
L. L. from Northshore MA (1/19/2011) "Well run for an inaugural race" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 I heard many people complain about how this was a run through the slums. The reality is that yes, there were some parts that ran through industrial areas, but NY and Chicago do too. What they didn't acknowledge were the nice parts of the city that we did see. I thought the volunteers were great, and the organization was not bad for a first-time race. I spoke with the race director and some of the folks who put this race together. They were serious about the comments and I would expect that there will be some changes. All in all, I really enjoyed this race.
E. S. from Flint, Michigan (1/19/2011) "Loved it!" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 From the enthusiastic and encouraging volunteers along the entire marathon course to the shrimp and grits at the finish line, GOOD job by the Charleston Marathon for a great job on your inaugural marathon!! Thanks for allowing me to exchange my shirt for a smaller one; for the plentiful water, pretzels and GU along the course; and for having food, water, and EAS drinks left at the finish for us 6-hour marathoners. It was a beautiful sunny day for us girls traveling from Michigan. Your city is AWESOME!!!
A. L. from Massachusetts (1/19/2011) "Flat and well organized" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I liked this race. I stayed with a friend who took care of my transportation so I can't comment on that. But I had a great time. It is not a scenic course except for the start, but it was well organized and supported. At 4 hours I was always around other runners and never questioned where to go. There was music in many spots and lots of marshals. The mile markers could have been a little more eye-catching, but they had a car with a speaker announcing the time at most mile markers. The race director sent out emails ahead of time with lot of information. I only think this race will get better.
Wayne La Groix from Northern Canada (1/18/2011) "A good effort; it will benefit from experience" (about: 2011) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I would like to say that, for a first marathon, the effort was credible. I could echo the negative points raised and the route could have been better - as in "more scenic." However, I understand that there were approximately 25% more people running than expected. I think this is a tribute to the location and the timing of the race. I think that the lessons learned from the race review will highlight the fact that you are on to something positive. I appreciate the fact that this race was organized by volunteers; I appreciate the effort. Thank you for the opportunity to run and I am looking forward to next year.
Don Smythe from Raleigh, NC (1/18/2011) "Fast, friendly course; well organized." (about: 2011) 50+ previous marathons \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 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.
J. B. from Charleston, SC (1/17/2011) "It wasn't horrible" (about: 2011) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 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.
J. B. from New York, NY (1/17/2011) "Nice start, nice finish, terrible in between" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 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.
Joye RunTurtleRun from Roswell, GA (1/17/2011) "Inaugural marathon race with lots of mistakes" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 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.
M. K. from Raleigh, N.C. USA (1/17/2011) "We could have used a map..." (about: 2011) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Charleston Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 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.

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