Well organized. Course is boring at times and repetitive... but hey, this is Myrtle Beach, if you don't run on the beach at dawn, there isn't a lot of natural beauty!

I consider MB almost as a second home, so the course was fine with me. Good race support, lots of water and gel. Kudos to all the friendly volunteers (boy there were a lot of them!). Good traffic control; drivers are a little impatient. Overall a fun race, and a good place to hang out for a few days.

I ran MBM last year, and it was okay. This year MBM had significantly improved from last year. The starting line was moved to Grissom, which is nicer than before. The finish chute was also improved and more "professional" than last year as well. This is a small/medium-size marathon, so the half and full starting at the same time does not bother me personally.

Kudos for the MBM are:

1. The organization is much improved.
2. After-race food was in abundance this year - tons of bagels, muffins, chips, pretzels, bananas, oranges and plenty of drinks including beers.
3. Spectators are light but very enthusiastic. High-maintenance runners should go to NY/Chicago for larger crowd.
4. I like this year's medal. It's nice and almost as big as the Chicago one. ;)
5. The volunteers, police, and shuttle bus drivers are great. Thanks folks.

Here are a few things that may have room for improvement:
- Water stations at each mile after the 20th mile mark. It gets harder and warmer after 20 miles (the wall....).
- Carbo-load dinner is kind of pricey ($15) for two kinds of pastas, lettuce, cookies and drinks.
- Porta-johns need to be closer to the starting line. Runners overload the Mobile gas station bathroom.

Overall, MBM was very good this year. Keep it up. Thanks Myrtle Beach.

After reading some previous comments, I'm glad we're all allowed our personal expectations. First, the course is very flat and can be fast. As for the scenery, I myself liked the variety. True, there weren't any vast ocean vistas, but, if you were to run 26.2 miles along a beach, half your view would never change. What would the complainers have to say then? The course support was more than adequate, which also goes for the crowds. I don't train with crowds, so I consider even a few people a good crowd. The people that were there gave me a lot of support. Overall I had a good time in the Myrtle Beach area, enjoyed the marathon, met some great people, and would recommend this marathon to anyone.

This was a horribly boring and poorly laid out marathon. There are horrible stretches of boring landscapes. The last 4 miles are on a slight incline and are right next to traffic on 17. The half starts at the same time. The whole goes nearly to the end where the half runners split off and you can hear people at the finish line cheering them on while people running the full must go out and run another loop.... A mental hurdle. I would NOT recommend this as a first-time marathon. POOR crowd support also.

Road was very broken up in places, but the terrain was nice and flat with a great view.

This was my first marathon. It took me 6 hours 32 minutes and I finished! By the time I crossed the finish line, there were no medals left, the vendors had closed shop...not even a bottle of water. Took the wind right out of my sails. It would have been nice to see a smiling face as I accomplished this unbelievable challenge. Why allow 7 hours to finish when everyone goes home after 5 hours?

Second time at Myrtle Beach. Much better than the wind in '04. BQ'd with a 3:18. Very pleased. Plenty of quality runners to pack with. The '04 ocean wind not a problem this year. Great weather. Wonderful for a family get away. Reasonably priced, lot's to do. Ocean is too cold for swimming though. Despite the negative comments about the race director (whom I met last year), they are all professional and are managing the best they can. I trust any problems will be worked out. The more of you that preregister the better things will go. Your family has access to you in several spots along the course.
This is my 2nd time coming in from Ohio because it is easy to make reservations and lot's to do.
If you like pancakes, you will love this course.
Post race party sounds like a great time. I was too pooped to party.
ps. Boston '05 was great!
Thanks Myrtle Beach

Second time at Myrtle Beach. Much better than the wind in '04. BQ'd with a 3:18. Very pleased. Plenty of quality runners to pack with. The '04 ocean wind not a problem this year. Great weather. Wonderful for a family get away. Reasonably priced, lots to do. Ocean is too cold for swimming though. Despite the negative comments about the race director (whom I met last year), they are all professional and are managing the best they can. I trust any problems will be worked out. The more of you that pre-register, the better things will go. Your family has access to you in several spots along the course.
This is my 2nd time coming in from Ohio because it is easy to make reservations and there's lots to do.
If you like pancakes, you will love this course. Post-race party sounds like a great time. I was too pooped to party.

Ps. Boston '05 was great!

Thanks Myrtle Beach.

To be fair, I wanted to post and say that I finally received my medal in the mail. Four days before that I received an e-mail from the race director explaining the medals were delayed in shipping. It would have been better if they had responded more promptly. I understanding things happen but it was still a great disappointment after crossing the line. Hopefully, they have learned from this mistake and no one will have to ever receive another I.O.U. after cross the line.

I saw the ocean for maybe a mile or so but I can say that I?ve seen every Wings and miniature golf course that exists in Myrtle Beach. While the course was not the best, it would have been a good race if this had been the only issue.

I had to rename the race ?the check-at-the-next-water-stop race? because they ran out of sports drink after mile 10 or so and didn?t have any available until the last water stop of the race. This was pretty disappointing and could have thrown a runner off their game plan. I understand that sometimes things happen but this unfortunately is not where the poor organization ended. After running 26.2 miles and coming across the finish line, we are told that they didn?t have any more medals but plan to check to see if any are still in storage. After waiting 15 minutes for them to come back (totally exhausted), we are told they have run out but they will be happy to mail us the medals. Again, I understand that things happen but after over a month and 2 unanswered e-mails (although an e-mail I sent prior to the race regarding payment was answered within 24 hours), I still do not have a medal or response.

This race was not the most scenic but the race organizations do the best with what they are given. The lack of sports drink and the failure to purchase enough medals to present to all runners is inexcusable. I do not recommend this race until they are able to get a new race director or whoever is responsible for these failures.

I do have to say that my poor experience had nothing to do with those that volunteered for the race. I think the volunteers for this race were the best I?ve ever seen. They were cheerful, positive, friendly, outgoing, helpful... pretty much everything you can ask for in a volunteer. Unfortunately, their leaders, those in charge of organization, were nowhere near as competent at their tasks. I wholeheartedly do not encourage anyone to run this race based on my experience. The mere chance that these things could happen again requires me to do this. There are plenty of other races out there that have the organization that deserve your patronage. Don?t reward incompetence by running this race.

P.S. I traveled over 7 hours which makes the experience even worse.