The race was fine. Crowds were great. Relay runners made it less enjoyable. Really packed for the first 4 miles. RacePhoto prices are almost $100 for digital images. The cheapest thing is $20 - for a single print. That is just crazy. Please use somebody else and maybe I'll buy a pic. Otherwise I'll simply "Print Screen" and "Paste" into MS Paint.

First, the good part  the course is great. Just the right combination of hills and flats. Seriously, it may not be as flat as Chicago or as historic as Boston, but I think I prefer it to both (and I've run them). The loop around the lake really gives you the feel of a smaller, more intimate marathon, but then the big-city start and finish are great. (I'm a sub-3:00 guy; mid-pack runners might have a different experience.)

Now, the bad news. The corral system needs work. Personally, I'd start the marathon a half-hour earlier, followed by the relays, followed by the half-marathon. You could also institute some sort of wave seeding policy like in Chicago. It doesn't need to be as comprehensive - maybe just sub-3:00, sub-3:30, and sub-4:00, along with the corresponding half marathon times. In any event, the way it currently is kind of sucks. I was dodging through a sea of humanity during the first mile  - easily 1,000 runners - and fewer than 100 in all of the races combined ran a faster pace than I did.

I'm also not sure I wouldn't bump the start up to 7:00 or 7:30. The weather was great this year, but that's not a guarantee in Texas in December.

The post-race party also could stand to be tweaked. After my marathon, the last thing I wanted to do was fight the 2:00+ half marathoners for food and drinks. I gave up and just went home. If you're going to have separate finishes for the half marathon and the full (and thanks for that!), there's no reason that you couldn't let marathoners have at least some sort of food/drink station prior to the party tent.

This was the third time I've run White Rock. With each marathon, some things improve and some things worsen. The expo was very nice. This marathon is run on a beautiful course with great spectators, volunteers and bands along the route. Special thanks to police officers on traffic control. They were cheering us enthusiastically throughout the marathon. Some of the streets were very rough though. Major complaints: Start was very crowded. I think the wave start made it much better this year. Anyway, the start is still much too crowded - so much so that I will not run it again until they address this issue. Maybe separate starts for the half, relay, and full would help with the congestion on the narrow downtown streets. My other major complaint was the finish area. No water at the finish!!! We got our medals and shirts immediately coming out of the chutes, but had to walk a block through a packed crowd to get to the finisher's area. Crowd control was horrible through here. Get the water closer at the finish and keep the crowds away from the route for the finish chutes to the finish area! Probably a bit harsh, with my "2" rating for organization, but the start and finish issues need to be addressed.

Ran the Dallas White Rock for the first time - and loved it! I very much enjoyed the diversity between the urban landcapes downtown, and the natural beauty of the White Rock Lake. While the hills were a bit of a challenge - especially the two "Dolly Partons" between miles 20-21 - they were conquerable and added to the course. I thought the logistics of the race were good, and really appreciate the corral system (I was in the "A" Corral, starting about two-thirds of the way back, and while there were plenty of walkers in front of me, it was relatively easy to negotiate.

I appreciated the presence of the pacing groups (I ran with the 3:20 group), and while I wasn't able to hold onto them past the "Dolly Partons," I took advantage of the downhill thereafter and managed a 3-minute P.R.!

Only minor minus is the understandable lack of strong crowd support around White Rock Lake - but considering the beauty of the course at that point, I'd keep the course as it is!

Good marathon!

The spectators are wonderful in Dallas. They weren't just blindly cheering, which would have been okay too. The Dallas spectators would read the names on the bibs and yell out their names, encouraging the runners on. I can't tell you how many times I heard my name being yelled from the crowd. As a runner, it was greatly appreciated.

This marathon could be great with a few much-needed tweaks. The first six miles were way too crowded. I saw two runners take a fall because of this. They need more running lanes or more separation between the corrals at the start.

More port-a-potties. I saw a lot of dudes taking a whiz in the bushes and in the lake. Hope that lake doesn't supply drinking water.

The food was a joke: Plain bagels, a granola bar, water and plenty of beer. I loved having a cold beer, but a few more food choices would have been nice.

Any day I get to run a marathon is a good day. The DWR Marathon was fun, but it could be much better.

Traffic and parking were horrible. We were two miles from the start at 6:45 and still a mile away at 7:15, so we found a parking lot and walked the last mile. The streets were much too crowded in the race as well. I didn't have room to run until after the half/full split. I wasted a lot of energy going side-to-side instead of forward. There must have been a lot of slow runners at the front because I passed hundreds in the first three miles and I was holding back. Post-race refreshments were hard to find and skimpy. Nobody directed us to medals, finishers' shirts, or refreshments. On the plus side, the expo was above average, the spectators were great, and the downhill finish was nice.

If you are interested in running a full marathon, avoid this race. I was assigned the A corral since my plan was to run sub-8's. The corrals were a mess! I had several people in front of me in the A corral who started to walk after a half-mile. I lost the pace leader because he darted through so many people. I never did see him again. I will say that the full course was stocked with plenty of volunteers. This race could be a great race, but the organizers need to figure out the start.

I don't know if organizer are getting smarter in the way they design marathon courses, but this course is a must-run course. No, no, no. YOU NEED TO RUN THIS COURSE! Do I need to say this again? This is a well organized course that has plenty of supportive fans. Dallas has done a wonderful job of making their marathon a successful one. I will be running this race again.

The start was awful. It was a narrow road to have 20,000 people - who were running 3 different races, no less (marathon, half marathon and the relay all in one start)! It took me 3 minutes to pass over the mat, and even with chip time, I stalled my first 2 miles by a few minutes as well.) The aid stations were great, though, and plentiful - as were port-a-johns, if you needed them. The course was ok, and the gentle rolling hills were good too, but the finish was... meh. Hardly any spectators in the last couple of miles, and then NO WATER AT THE FINISH!! And then when you finally weaved through the crowds, the water was in little cups. Seriously, water NEEDS to be at the finish line regardless of how hot or cold it is out there. I won't complain that the "finisher's shirt" doesn't even get the word "finisher" on it because it was a nice gesture even to give us a second shirt, but someone else might.

It sucks that a marathon doesn't have enough water due to the half marathoners taking all of it at the first few water stops. The marathoners pay more and have to go farther; the need those fluid stops at the beginning. This is my 10th White Rock. Every year they cater less to the marathoner. It's all about the money, even if it is for a good cause.