I loved this race. Very impressive organization considering this was the inaugural running. So much live music along the course - loved it! Well stocked and manned water and aid stations. Great community support along the route. Great post-race areas with shaded rest areas and a beer tent! Beautiful medals. Nice that it was the same weekend as Art Hop in downtown Kalamazoo. All my runner friends also expressed how much fun the day was. The course itself is certainly hilly, but that's Kalamazoo. Can't wait for next year!

This was my first ever marathon and I had so much fun running it that I'll be doing it again next year.

Challenging course but good. Loved the community support. Weather got hot; we needed more closely spaced water stations in the last 10 miles or so. Didn't much like miles 16 to 20 because that stretch was not an attractive part of Kazoo and there was no shade, unlike in some of the neighborhoods. A last-minute change to the course appeared to add an additional 0.25 to 0.3 miles. Expo needed to be held in a larger room.

Most of the killer hills were in the last 4 miles.

The course was not clearly marked and I almost went the wrong way twice. The start was crowded because both the half marathon and marathon started at the same time and it was confusing when the two courses split. It was confusing to tell the difference between the gu brew and water. The awards were not organized and I had to wait three hours after completing my marathon, also there was no award for the top three overall male and female which is a big accomplishment and should have special awards. There was barely any crowd support by Parchment, where the hardest part of the race was.

I would like to see the split times from tracking.

excellent organization, amazing support, great course. only suggestion for next year would be to have water and gu brew stations consistent (maybe w/ signs). sometimes water was first and sometimes brew. I inadvertently dumped a couple gu brews on my head. :)

Not many port-a-potties or toilets before the race, or on the course during the race. Since the marathon was first, followed by the other races, it would have been nice if there was an announcement over the PA asking for people to allow those running the marathon first dibbs on the bathrooms. The course was OK. You got to see part of downtown Kalamazoo as well as Western Michigan University. The splits for the marathon and half-marathon were poorly marked. There was very little notice, and no colored arrows or other markings to let you know of the split. At the end of the race, there were spectators in the shoot area where runners were after finishing the race. The medal for the marathon finishers was nice.
There was a huge grass infield after the race with a few vendors, and served as a place to meet family.
A lot of races are now finishing at a football stadium. I would like to see a finish at the Western Michigan University football stadium next year if all possible. We ran on the road next to the stadium, so it's certainly possible.
Overall, not a bad race. However, for a race of similar size and nearby, the Grand Rapids Marathon is a better race in every aspect.

To be honest, as a local, I was a little apprehensive about the expansion of the annual 1/2 marathon to a full in 2011.
Some positives: The organizers reached out to various running groups and communities to stage the event and I was impressed by how much local attention and involvement they generated before, during and after the event. The planning committee was and is very attentive to runner comments/ideas so I expect any shortfalls this year will be ironed out next year.
Organization along the course was pretty good, lots of Gu stations (more than I've seen in most of my races), a few neighborhoods really were out in force and (since some of the course isn't closed) good traffic control.
As a local though, I think the course was 'fair'. Having the race start and finish at the sponsor Borgess complex rather limits some creative opportunities around town (i.e I would have liked to see the finish at the festival site downtown).
Anyway, my biggest concern; however, was the starting zone congestion. It was not very organized and you had friends/family milling about with the runners while pace groups were clumped together until the last minutes and runners/spectators were pushing their way in and out to get to their respective places. Like I said though, I'm certain that will be sorted out next year.

The course, aid stations and crowd support were very well planned. The weather was perfect. The kid-friendly finish area, with inflatables for the kids and shade tents for anyone were tremendous. Course had more hills than I expected, but its rolling nature kept it interesting. Loved the funny, chalk-written messages on the asphalt on the way up one particularly big hill. Pace teams were spot on. This was my second marathon and I PR'd.