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May 5, 2024

Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon) Runner Comments

Back to Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon) Information & Reviews

Course 4.3

Organization 3.9

Spectators 4.2

Number of comments: 338 [displaying comments 51 to 61]

More Comments: [ < 1 .. 4 5 6 7 8 .. 34 > ]

D. P. from Waxahachie, TX (12/5/2011) "Great race despite horrible conditions" (about: 2011) 4-5 previous marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 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!
J. W. from Longview, TX (12/29/2010) "New location, better race" (about: 2010) 4-5 previous marathons \| 2 Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon)s COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 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!!
j. v. from Dallas, TX (12/28/2010) "nice changes, but room to improve!" (about: 2010) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon)s COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 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....
M. S. from Oklahoma (12/14/2010) "Great course; State Fair Park was horrible!" (about: 2010) 6-10 previous marathons \| 3 Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon)s COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 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.
A. H. from Texas (12/12/2010) "great course, great specators, bad start" (about: 2010) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon) COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 5 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.
Todd Kelley from Denver, CO (12/12/2010) "Loved this race and PR'd by 10 minutes" (about: 2010) 4-5 previous marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This is my 5th marathon after running Denver, Philadelphia, New York and then Chicago on 10/10/10. I stayed at the Aloft Hotel downtown and took the train to both the expo and race and had no problems. I loved the course and thought there were plenty of downhill sections. The uphills were really not that big of a deal. I had a great time cruising around the lake with the 3:30 pace group. Who cares if there weren't spectators out there? I didn't expect it and it was great to stick with a group of runners. I ran a 3:28:27 after finishing 3:38:44 in NY last year so I was stoked at the finish line! Great volunteers and I really enjoyed the spectators and music. The many turns broke up the course nicely. I liked focusing my mind on running the tangents. It was a wonderful experience and I got my food and everything at the finish. The starting line was cool because they shot confetti and flames at the starting line. Would definitely run this again.
C. G. from Overland Park, KS (12/12/2010) "Good race but needs some improvements" (about: 2010) 11-50 previous marathons \| 4-5 Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon)s COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 This was my 5th consecutive White Rock marathon, and while it was still a good experience, but a big step backwards from previous years. Things I liked: the course was 90% the same - great scenery, minimal hills, good bands (way better than the R'n'R marathons I've been to). Things not to like: 1) Switching the start/finish from AA Arena to Fair Park. The reason publicized by race management was that they want to grow the race and need more parking and facilities; if so, it does no good to have more parking if the access to parking lots is backed up for miles. Increasing the numbers but not the space allocated for start corrals, and having a 30-foot wide bottleneck 600 meters into the race, makes for a crowded and dangerous start. Touting free parking on race day but charging $10 for expo parking isn't good. A cynic would say the race management wants to grow the race alright, but only in terms of revenue/profit, not in terms of making the race experience more enjoyable for non-fun run participants. That's to be expected from for-profit races but I thought White Rock was different. 2) Merging full marathon racers and half marathon walkers onto the same course the last 1.5 miles made the marathon finish unpleasant. It was actually worse than in past years when the half started an hour after the full - this year 3-hour marathoners were "sharing" the road with walkers who had gone 12 miles in 3 hours. That's OK if the walkers would pick one side or the other, but most of them were walking 2 or 3 abreast with their BFFs. It didn't help to holler "on your left/right" as most of them were babbling to each other or cranking their iPods. Really disconcerting after 24+ miles. 3) Volunteer staffing was great and they did a fine job for the most part, but next year the gear bag pickup needs to be better organized. Most other large races have multiple drop-off points/trucks, categorized by bib number or name, which makes it easy for the pick-up afterward to be arranged similarly. White Rock's crew had only 2 drop-off points so it was no wonder the bag sorting at pickup was messed up. I found my bag after looking 20 minutes and am sure others went missing for hours. Think "Horton Hears a Who." All in all, the race was OK, but it felt a lot more like an R'n'R event than previous White Rock Marathons. It seems that race organizers are embracing the "It's not a race; it's an event!" philosophy. If that increases fundraising for the Scottish Rite Hospital, that's OK; but I think next year I'll send the hospital a check and run somewhere else.
J. L. from Columbus, OH (12/11/2010) "Great big-race atmosphere (a PR too)" (about: 2010) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon) COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I thought the expo was very nice, but even in the middle of the day on a Friday, the traffic was bad (when did Dallas become LA?). On race day I got a drop-off ride with a local who knew a back road but could see that ingress was a little tortured; not sure why though - with a 92,000-seat stadium on the grounds, it shouldn't be that hard. First time with a wave start. The corral assignments seemed odd. I predicted 4:10 but had to jump forward from corral "I" at least one (maybe two) to start with the 4-hour pacers. We were passing slower runners for miles. I guess that still beats the mess of a really big race starting all at once. How the assignments were made should be looked at (but it did feel great passing gobs of people at the end of my 3:56 PR). Nice course; more bands would have been good but I guess I'm spoiled in Columbus where there were 80 this year (seriously). Best for last: having the post-race inside was AWESOME even though the weather really wasn't as bad as reported. It was a long trip for me but I could be back.
Kendall Black from Grand Prairie, TX (12/11/2010) "move to Fair Park was underwhelming" (about: 2010) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon)s COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 The move to Fair Park was supposed to ease congestion, but it may have been worse. I would suggest either riding DART or getting there early, and I do mean early. I was parked by 6:30 a.m. The corrals were the right plan, but they weren't monitored. Lots of slow runners were in the wrong corrals. Also, we had to pay $10 to park the day before to get to the expo. I wasn't happy about that. If race officials plan to increase the cap next year, remember to give yourself plenty of time to get there. Otherwise, the course is great. I will be back next year.
M. R. from Brooklyn, NY (12/10/2010) "Great course/fans vs. Poor organization" (about: 2010) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Dallas Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock Marathon) COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 First and most importantly... this was a beautiful, even and fast course. The fans were great - the city really does turn out to cheer on runners. Definitely worth running. That being said... The organizers did a poor job all around. The course wasn't released in a timely manner and there was hardly any communication about it. There were not enough port-a-potties and bag check vans to accommodate all of the runners quickly on race day. After the race the bag check was a complete nightmare... you had to go look for your own bag. After 26.2 miles, bending down to search through bags is pretty hard. I really hope the organizers get their act together. I'd hate to see yet another local race be taken over by "Rock and Roll" or another large group, but a race organizer's job is to minimize the stress on runners and this time it was a failure all around.

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