Again the weather was perfect and the race organization outstanding. Thanks for making extra aisle space at the expo. The medals were improved this year, although I miss the shoe bags from past years. Loved the new blue color for my race shirt (1/2 marathon this year). Plenty of parking near the start and finish. Please add room where the racers finish if possible - it was very confining and guests won't grab the food if that's what you were worried about. I will run an event here every year till I retire from running!

I really enjoyed running the Columbus Half Marathon. The bands were great, and the hydration stations were excited to see everyone and very encouraging. There were 3 minor cons to it though: 1. The bathroom stops were VERY crowded during the early part of the race (recommend more porta-johns in these spots). 2. There were a lot of turns onto back streets (it was a little hard on the knees). 3. Be prepared at the end of the race to come to an almost complete stop. The racers' reception area only had a VERY small entrance to go through and people were having to fight their way up a small set of stairs. Recommend having wider reception gate to go through. Being downtown made it feel even colder than the everyday post-race chills.

My first Columbus Marathon was in 2008, which was my first ever, and I came back in 2009 because I enjoyed it so much and qualified for Boston. It is extremely well organized and the course is very flat and fast. Yeah, the crowd thins out a little in parts of the second half of the race, but overall, I would recommend this race to anyone, especially a first-time marathoner! Planning on returning for 2010....

As my first marathon, Columbus was a good choice. Overall, I really enjoyed the course... for the first half of the marathon. After the half marathon turn-off, it cleared out. Hardly any spectators, especially around OSU. But, there were water/Gatorade stations every mile, with porta-johns about .25 miles away from the water stations. The bands were also great.

My REAL complaint was the lack of anything for the big, slow runners like myself. When I passed, some of the bands were packing up. When I finished, there was only ONE tent open that tried to get me to buy something! No finish band, no massage, no nothing! I wanted to buy several Columbus Marathon shirts, but they only offered S, M, and L. No XL shirts for tall, big guys like me. That was a bummer.

Even though there were some CONS, I still had a wonderful time. It was also nice walking into the Hampton Inn-Downtown Columbus to a round of applause from the staff!

I have run this race several times. It is very well organized and has lots of runners at different levels. I have my PR here. My suggestions: 1) Watch crowds at the beginning; they can last a couple of miles, depending on your pace. 2) Early water stops were crowded, but get water anyway. 3) Look for the governor (I think it is about mile 6 - 7). You go by his house. 4) Coming up on the half, there was lots of crowd support; don't get carried away. 5) Draft on High Street. It's always windy!

The Columbus Marathon was my eighth career marathon. My whole life I had always heard how flat and fast this marathon was. I went out at a good steady pace, but a little bit too hard. I didn't realize it was so hilly. I had to back off a little bit to finish. The race was well organized and had tons of spectators. If you haven't run this marathon, you have to run it. The weather was great.

This was my first marathon. The bands were great, all of the water stops were organized and well stocked, and the spectators were very encouraging. I thought the course was very flat, and I am not sure what some consider hills, but I did not run anything I would consider a hill.

The only thing I thought was lacking was the goody bag; everything else was great.

I used this race to go for a PR, since it was billed as flat and fast and I had already BQ'd. The first half was as advertised - I could have PR'd for 13.1. However, there were more hills than anticipated in the second half. But my main problem with the course is that there are too many (44) 90-degree turns, and one very tight hairpin 180. It's a hip buster!

Other than that, the expo was good, the number of bands on the course was awesome, and I still managed a BQ for 2011, if not a PR. The T-shirt and medal are both pretty ugly, but I like the finisher hat. That logo is as old school as Jim Tressel's offense!

For not being one of the bigger marathons in the nation, it sure was exciting. Many thanks to all of the cheering spectators and musicians. I remember the cool saxophone and the man jammin' "You may lose or you may win, but you will never be here again... take it easy." Nice.

I have some perspective on aspects of the race that most readers will hopefully not need, but it's nice to know it's available. I collapsed before the finish line of the half marathon due to a problem with my heart. The medical team came to my aid immediately and calmly packed me up and got me to the emergency room only a short drive away. I was very impressed with the efficiency of the entire process.

My biggest surprise arrived yesterday when my drop bag that I had waiting for me at the finish line arrived in the mail. (I never had the chance to pick it up.) That is the kind of "going the extra mile" attitude that runners really appreciate in a race. Thank you very much to the entire organization for putting on such a quality event.