Fun, flat marathon with an exorbitant amount of BQ potential. This was my 4th marathon and I must say it was probably my most enjoyable. I ran an 11-minute personal best and qualified for the Boston Marathon. The expo was nice. All of the free goodies and BEER was a plus! I got a massage from Naomi at the finish and it sure helped things the following week. The shirt and medal were a nice added plus.

However, I did not like the start of the race. I started right in front of the 3:10 pace flag and found out really quickly that I was in the wrong place. When the half-marathon runners merged with the full-marathon runners, it forced me to run on the sidewalk and pass large groups of runners to catch up. My first mile was 7:39 (from my watch crossing the start line) and should have been around 7:00. Thanks goodness I had plenty of time to get back on pace.

All around, I enjoyed my Myrtle Beach experience. If you can hack all of the winter miles and harsh weather, MB is truly a great reward. I honestly got all my course and detailed information regarding this race from this site. I feel that most of the posts are correct and are a great resource for those new to the MD marathon. Good luck and take it one step at a time.

Your opinion of Myrtle depends on your goals. Need a BQ? This is a wise choice. The course is flat and the field isn't too huge.

But if you care about a noteworthy marathoning experience, Myrtle lacks inspiration. It's really kind of cheesy, from the ill-advised shirt, to the blah medal. And that flat course often runs along horrid, horrid Kings Highway (insert shuddering flashback here).

- D

The course is somewhat dull, but it is flat and fast! The areas where you could see the ocean were quite scenic. Organization was quite good (full disclosure: did not make it to the expo; a friend got my stuff). Spectators were wonderful and cheered everyone. Police support was excellent.

More food at the finish would have been nice. The beer was good. The medal is nice, but relatively non-descript. The shirt... well, sometimes I like it and other times not so much. Got my BQ here so it will always be a great race for me.

After failing to qualify for Boston at New York (Oct. '06), Delaware (May '07), Steamtown (Oct. '07) and Philly (Nov. '07), this was my last best hope, and it didn't disappoint - qualified with a 3:29, a whole minute to spare.

Lots to like about this marathon:
(1) Really flat. Read some prior posts saying it has hills or is rolling. Meh. You can't get much flatter than this.

(2) Pre-race number option. For $35 they sent me my chip and number 10 days before the race. Highly recommend this as it took away a lot of worries and enabled me to avoid the long lines on race pick up day.

(3) Starting line. Have read some complaints here. Found it not to be an issue at all; inched up along the sides and was crossing the start within 20 seconds of the gun. Plenty of porto-potties and good cheer. Like the 6:30 start; lets you get 3 miles under your belt before the sun comes up.

(4) First few miles - a bit congested, but certainly nothing compared to the congestion at NYC or Philly.

(5) Support - plenty; was happily surprised by the number of people out cheering.

(6) Weather - about 50 at the start, overcast. Couldn't get much better.

(7) Post-race - I'm not one to eat a lot after the race, so looked like plenty to me. Plus, there was a Starbucks person walking around with a big (40 pounds) vat of coffee on their back, handing out free cups of java.

(8) Myrtle - had never been, and was under the impression it was a spring break; honky tonk kind of town with a million t-shirt shops. While there was some of that, I was happily surprised by how pretty much of it was, and how friendly the people are. Stayed at the Marriott host hotel, which was great.

This is a great, great race. Did I mention that I qualified for Boston? If not, you would have heard me screaming it as I crossed the finish line.

Thank you, Myrtle and all the race directors and volunteers, for an unforgettable weekend.

This event has a lot going for it. I love the variety of events available, the (marathon) course was scenic for the most part, and the volunteers were plentiful and encouraging. The 6:30 start time seems rather silly though considering that Myrtle is a ghost town until golfers arrive in March.

I have a huge complaint about the pacers, or at least the 3:10 pacer. At around mile 10 he just took off his pace shirt and started walking in the wrong direction. Aren't pacers supposed to be good at this kinda thing? I found this especiallyunnerving due to the quote by Bart Yasso on the marathon's website promoting its pacers. Maybe the other pacers did just fine, but 3:10 not so much.

The House of Blues is beautifully masochistic choice to have a post-race party due to the fact that you're putting a bunch of people who just ran a marathon into a standing room only venue. The free beer greatly made up for this oversight however.

This race was terrific, beginning with the organization and volunteers, and including the course and weather. All in all, I was very pleased with the event. It appeared that the feedback from the 10th anniversary race was taken and mile split flags were better positioned this time. I was a little disappointed in not seeing more of the digital clocks that were to be placed every two miles - they may have been there but hidden a bit. It would also be nice to have different race starts for half and full racers. The roads in the early miles were very crowded and difficult to maneuver. I will most likely come back to run this one again. My only real gripe was the choice of technical fabric for the race shirt - it was, as my daughter and wife said, "Not a pretty sight!" Overall, terrific event for all levels of racing.

This was my 27th marathon. I thought everything was nicely done. The one suggestion I have for improvement is to have more tables at the refreshment points so the volunteers can spread out more. Things were really congested in the first 13 miles.

It was a awesome marathon experience! I will definitely come back again. I was so glad I wore the red Wisconsin shirt; there were so many Wisconsin snowbirds among the spectators who cheered me on heartily! I thought the packet pick up area was a little chaotic. Perhaps it was because so many waited until late Friday afternoon or evening, when the pick-up was available as early as Thursday evening. If so, I recommend picking up your packet as early as possible, especially if you don't know Myrtle Beach very well. I wish to especially commend Microtel Inn for being such an awesome host hotel. They have a bit of a disadvantage of being a little farther away than the other hotels. The staff all did their homework and were extremely helpful with everything I needed to know. I arrived in town much later than I planned and was quite lost. It was my first time in Myrtle Beach, and the hotel staff saved the day for me. It was also great chatting with marathoners from all over in the hotel lobby! Keep up the good work everyone at Microtel Inn!

This was my first marathon. The police and volunteers were great. It was beautiful going along the ocean. Just a little concern: not enough porta-potties around miles 6-10 (at least I couldn't see them). There was no food and no beer by the time I finished (I was pretty slow), but overall that could not take away from a wonderful experience.

This was my fifth marathon and my first time running MB. The weather was great for a mini vacation and the rates were reasonable. I found the expo well organized and informative. I asked a volunteer about parking for the race and he was very helpful.

The volunteers were very friendly and encouraging during the race. The Sun News,the local paper, had several fun and informative articles about the race during our stay.

I hope to make a return to the MB Marathon in 2009 and would recommend it to other runners.