This was a great course. Relativly flat, but a challenging hill at about mile 21. Weather was horrible, but thats part of the game. This was my first full marathon and had an extremely positive experience.

Three quick comments to improve for next year
1. More port-a-potties before the half marathoners break away, there was quite a wait for one before then.

2. Faster start: Waited almost 30 minutes after the gun before I crossed the start line, but I know it is difficult with 25,000 runners.

3. When running by the relay stations for the relay runners, they tended to crowd the route making it difficult to get through. This was worse at the station at mile 21. I had to stop running and ask people to move out of my way so I could keep going. Traffic control, or a gate off to the side for the relay would be great.

I would reccomend this marathon to anyone, great course, plenty of water points, and awesome volunteers!

It was cold and raining and I understand volunteers maybe did not show so I can overlook waiting at some water stops to get water poured into a cup or having to stop, go to a table and pick one up.
What I don't get is why there were not at least signs pointing out which building to go to for package pickup.
And why the wait for over 35 minutes to cross the start? Also for $100 I would have expected at least a bottle of water at the end. There was some dinky little cups way off the one side.
The post race was a huge cluster of disorganization with no easy flow to move. The food, what there was of it, had a huge line. And to promote pancakes as a post-race food only to find out the were being sold for $5 outside in the rain is disgraceful. And please, $3 for a 6 oz cup of coffee with no lid? What runner comes with money.
There should have been some thought to a setup for changing, esp. given the advance notice of the rain.
At least the course nice even in the rain with huge puddles that couldn't be helped. Really long walk after the marathon especially when adequate food and water was not provided. This could have been a really great experience in spite of the weather.

I am writing this review for the 2011 race, as a middle of the pack finisher.

The race expo was very well organized and put on well. The pasta dinner was very nice.

Race Day traffic and parking was a mess and chaos. I left my hotel at 6 a.m. Traffic was gridlock approaching Fair Park. Once in Fair Park I did not see anyone directing traffic and helping with parking. I found a place to park on my own at 7:55 a.m. The race started at 8 a.m. I had to run to the start. At the start it was very difficult to enter the corrals.

I think with a race of this size, multiple shuttle pickup points should be utilized with large buses.

During the race many 'water stops' were out of fluids or had totally run out of cups or could not keep up, mostly the first 10 miles or so. Sometimes 'water stops' were on both sides of the course and other times on one side or the other, which made it confusing. Where they did have fluids, sometimes water was first and other times sports drink was first. Plus in my opinion the 'water stops' were not long enough. I do not know what happened with this aspect of the race, but it seems like something went really, really wrong with this aspect of the race.

The race course itself was nothing special, but it was fine. Fairly uneven surface at times.

The volunteers and the spectators that were out were wonderful. It was raining and cool, so my hats off to them!!

The post race food was a let down. The cup of warm soup was good.

This was my experience. Happy training everyone!

I'll start with the good. The expo was nice. For such a large event it was pretty quick and easy to pick up your packet and get your t-shirt. There were lots of vendors giving away all kinds of free samples: yogurt, energy bars, coffee, etc. I enjoyed taking the time to walk through and see what there was. You get a cotton t-shirt and a technical finisher's shirt at this race. Both are nice, but for a $125 entry fee that should be expected. Medal was also nice. For the marathon they use the Clif Bar pacers who are the best. Areas where this race needs improvement.

The corral system was one huge disaster. Either the race directors have no clue how to organize and execute this system or 75% of the runners lined up incorrectly. I was in corral D. It took me 25 minutes to cross the start line. Then for the next 8 miles I had the worst running experience of my life. It was nothing but weaving around other participants (I hesitate to refer to them as runners, as they were not running) and coming to abrupt stops, in order not to plow into someone. This went on constantly from the start of the race until the half marathoners broke away from the marathoners at mile 8. Never again!

Second area in need of improvement are the water stations. Once again, this was primarily an issue in the first 8 miles. I often had to wait in line, serve myself, or go without. I don't know if it was due to the weather and volunteers not showing up but aid stations in this section of the race were not good. I wish I would have carried my own water. You have to be very careful in the first few miles of the race because of all the train/trolley tracks and the brick streets.

With the combination of the rain it made for some very dangerous footing. In general, Dallas roads are not the best. In many areas you had to be on the lookout for potholes. Nearly missed getting my finisher's shirt at the finish, as they had those tables tucked away, off to the opposite side of where they were routing us all to go to meet family members. Some better signage or instructions would have been helpful guiding runners to where they needed to go. Not impressed by this race. It was my 32nd marathon and easily ranks in the bottom five.

OK, the weather this year is probably the worst, freezing rain/wind then entire course! With that said, the organizers put on one of the best marathon experience! The Runner's Instruction Packet was super helpful. I loved the early bag drop off the day before. Packet was a breeze, and I went Saturday afternoon. I like the fact that I can just wait indoors before the race starts, and hang out indoors after (which helped since I was cold and soaking wet!). Course support was great. Course itself is beautiful and mostly flat. I stayed at the host hotel, which has shuttle to and from the hotel for both packet pick up and the race itself. Thank you Dallas and I will be back (may be weather will be better next time)!

This was my first DWRM but I have to say it was one of the best marathons I've done so far. The temperature was perfect, in the low 40's. However, it was very overcast and began to rain around mile 2 and continued off and on throughout the entire race. Despite the weather, the crowd support was fantastic, water stops were about every mile and a half, and plenty of food at the end. The course was very nice going through downtown and many scenic areas. The organization of this race was very well put together and it all went smoothly from my perspective. I will definitely be back next year in 2012!

Loved this race! Swag and shirts are great, volunteers are amazing and rest stops are plentiful and very energetic. Expo left a little to be desired and, like everyone else, didn't like paying to park just to pick up my packet; but that has to do more with fair park than race organizers.

Course is excellent! It's a perfect blend of urban, residential and lakefront running with a few get-your-attention hills - especially in the final 10K.

Not sure why there are so many complaints about traffic. I left from Prosper (about 35 miles north of downtown Dallas) around ten 'til six and was parked at the fairgrounds no later than 6:45. I would recommend people research alternate routes for arrival race morning and traffic shouldn't be a problem.

The indoor finisher's area was awesome but the food was so-so. Would've killed for a slice of pizza, but that's being a bit picky.

Bottom line: I PR'd and had a blast doing it. Good job to all and look forward to running White Rock again!!

I liked the new course. I seldom run this race, but I have run four or more different courses. This was the best course yet, in my opinion. A very nice finish from the top of the neighborhood down Swiss to the finish. Finally a course that was as nice as Cowtown....

Now, I still have a beef with not having hot food and unlimited beer. The finisher's shirt was okay. The race shirt did little for me though... but at least it was long-sleeve cotton, my favorite choice for a race shirt! All and all, this is a perfectly fine race... just not quite a great race.

I liked having the race all in one location... but I'd have preferred if that was the convention center, not Fair Park. Still, the co-location was great! Now, the accident that closed the freeway so that nobody could get to the expo, and the traffic (as the light rail does not get very far out of town) combined to dampen some people's spirits as they remember Dallas is a local runner's race. The race is getting bigger... and the traffic grows exponentially with numbers. I still like the change despite the fact that it was a pain this year. It was a good change; it just did not work out as well as planned.

This is a race worth doing: good neighborhood support, nice finisher's shirt, decent expo... but what happened to the food this year? There was almost none! Well, there was fruit, some bars, maybe some bagels, but no "real" food. Not one of the better years for this race... but I loved waiting indoors for the race to start, and I loved the indoor area post finish....

First, the course was great and the volunteers were awesome! However, the State Fair Park was a horrible experience. First the traffic at the expo was a nightmare. After 45 minutes of sitting in traffic just to pay for a parking space we had to walk at least a mile before even entering the expo building. The expo was overcrowded on Saturday afternoon and the organizers required you to pick up you bib at one end and then walk through the crowd and exhibitors to the other end to get your shirt. This probably would not have been such a big deal if I hadn't already sat in traffic for so long. We were told to get to the run early, which you had to do because of the traffic; however, we then had to stand in the corrals for too long. The run was delayed 10 minutes and then each corral was delayed; some I believe started over an hour late. This is unreasonable when you're running the marathon. The finish was also disorganized. I think the marathon runners felt like an afterthought because their course merged with the half around 24 miles, at which point the marathon runners had to weave in and out of the half walkers and avoid people walking on the course at the end to leave State Fair Park. I'm not sure I'd run the race again if it's at State Fair Park.

My first marathon and 2nd ever major race.

1. Parking was rough but you can't do much about that with 20K people showing up to run. If people want to complain about parking, show up 2 hours early and it won't be a problem.

2. They needed more porta-potties. You can never have too many porta-potties with so many athletes and spectators. And there were only 2 stations where I saw that I could check a bag. The lines was 30-people deep so I didn't bother.

3. They had us in lettered corrals from A-P. I was in corral "O" because I am not a fast runner, but they didn't enforce where you went. They started the corrals separately so by the time I actually STARTED my race, it was almost 9 a.m. I know it's impossible to get 20K people ready to go, but starting an hour late for the slower runners was unacceptable.

4. Weather was perfect with the wind picking up a little bit around the lake.

5. Aid stations were great. They were wearing plastic gloves, which I appreciate for sanitation reasons. Some stations handed out oranges and chunks of bagels. (Unfortunately some people I met ended up with a chunk of onion and garlic bagel. Yeesh.)

6. Spectators were encouraging, which lifted my spirits when things got really rough for me around mile 22.

7. The finisher's shirt was nice and I love my medal.

8. There was not nearly enough food at the end. I finished my marathon in a little under 6 hours and by the time I got to the food area, my options included just yogurt or oranges. The officials should consider putting aside some of the foods for the people who finish in over five hours so that they get some choices too. I may not be fast, but I worked hard and I did the same 26.2 that everyone else did. I was weak and hungry and there was very little left for me.

Overall, I had an okay race experience and I would consider coming back next year.