I actually would run this marathon agian just for the home made chicken noodle soup at the end of the race. That soup was delicious!!!!!thanxx

Excellent organization, fast course, beautiful city and entertainment. will be back again next year !

My many thanks to Medical crew at finish. Only complaint was it was too far from finish and too hard to find water supply after race when I really needed it.

All of the following thoughts are based on someone who drove 4 hours to get to the marathon and who non-competively ran/walked the marathon in just under 5 hours.

I enjoyed the expo. It wasn't small and it wasn't large. Good, relevant booths and it was nice to be able to have quality beer on a donation basis.

The course was as flat a course as I have ever run. Volunteers were good although fans were very much on the light side throughout. Where the director really dropped the ball was in three primary areas: 1) there was a food station advertised in the pre-race booklet at mile 16 and it did NOT exist on the course. To me, this is unforgivable as runners expect it if you advertise it. In addition there was no gel offered anywhere on the course. 2) The colors on the shirts were horrendous. Very feminine colors and ugly to boot. 3) There were very few bands on the course. Is it really that hard to go to the local Churches, coffee houses, schools, et cetera and ask if anyone would like to set up and play music during the marathon? It really means a lot to many runners if there is music along the course (even if it is not the best music) and to me this is a very easy thing to secure especially among the teenagers who are literally begging to play and get attention. I was, however, impressed by the arm warmers that had the marathon name on them. I don't have any and have used them many times since the marathon. I was also impressed by the medal which was unique and high-quality.

I thought the post-race food was really superb. Many different varieties of food including soup! I did not stick around but the massages were still going strong when I finished and it looks like people were still able to get beer if they wanted it.

I liked the separation of half and full-marathoners at the start line as it let to less congestion. Two other minor things I liked were having runners select a name to put on their bibs for people to shout out while you run by and the foam chips that were already attached to the back of the bibs.

I did hear of three runners that I passed complain that their pace group had gone ahead because they felt so good which to me is unacceptable as a pacer because people will nearly always get left behind as in this case.

Also, the pictures from Brightroom photography are numerous and good quality. I loved the video of me crossing the finish line. That's a nice touch!

This is a great family getaway marathon. We stayed at a hotel on the beach for cheaper than any other marathon I have run. We also walked to the start line from our hotel!

The course is painfully boring and flat. I honestly do not recall running a more blah course. But as I mentioned before, this is a great marathon to take the family to as there is plenty to do and the hotels are very affordable with great views of the ocean!

Overall, a family getaway marathon that is flat and boring but has great volunteers and some nice medium-sized marathon perks.

My husband and I vacationed to Myrtle Beach many times so we decided to travel from PA to try the marathon. First of all, for my overall impression, I thought it was very well organized.
The race expo was a decent size with many vendors. My gripe was that we paid $3 for parking for being there about not even an hour, but it was not affiliated with the race and that's our fault for not parking elsewhere. The lot was pretty empty, most runners walked from their hotels.
I enjoyed the arm warmers - something different, and the little towels.
When I walked up the shirt table at first I thought maybe the women's shirts were purple and the men's were orange. A suggestion for next year, split the shirts as to male/female instead of marathon/half.
The race booklet was a good read, very informative.
Driving to the race was easy and there was ample parking.
The port-a-potties were very plentiful.
The start wasn't too crowded. I enjoyed starting in the dark - soon the sun rose as the miles unfolded.
I was pleased there were 2 mile water/Powerade stops throughout the race well marked with huge flags.
The course was not terribly exciting. The hotel stretch seemed very long, couldn't wait to get past it. The mostly flat terrain made up for it. I enjoyed the second half more than the first but maybe that's because I had already seen the hotel row so many times before.
Coming from a very hilly area I was worried that it would be totally flat and kill my hip flexors but there were little inclines that kept my legs feeling fine.
At the finish the food and drink variety was terrific. I had chocolate milk, yogurt, donuts, and beer.
There was a tent where you could walk up and print out a receipt with your race time which was something I have not seen at any other races.
Instead of mylar blankets that I am used to they handed you a bagged poncho which I really didn't need since it was warm enough but will come in handy someday.
All in all a very good race.

This is a fabulous race in a fun city. I would do it again if I lived closer. This was my second time through Myrtle Beach, which influenced my choice to run and to visit again. I stayed at the MB State Park, which is conveniently located near the Market Commons and - of course - the beach. Probably not the most logical place to stay during a marathon but this was more of a destination marathon rather than my 'A' marathon.

Pros:
- Expo: location, and lots of swag if you like that
- Shirt: cut more like a surfers shirt but purple, which people may not like. I didn't mind.
- Start: location, parking, plenty of port-potties and timed corrals, which everyone seemed to respect
- Flat scenic course and good running weather
- Excellent stations: water, Powerade, port-potties and medical (terrific support). I did see food at the mile 22 (oranges and bananas) but not at mile 16.
- Mile markers at every mile (a lot of math for us Canucks)
- Good bands: one band played 500 miles from the Proclaimers & cute & er, I think
- Great finish: location, running chutes, massages, music and food (Chicken soup, chocolate milk ... beer & donuts)
- Fun after-race party

Cons:
- Ran with halfers at start i.e. crowded until 11 mile marker but as a marathoner I expected this
- After the finish line put the water closer or have someone handing them out after the medals. It can be disorienting at the finish line especially after finishing a race and with the crowd milling around.
- Restrict food to runners only. Sadly, there was one volunteer trying her best to keep non-runners from entering the food area. I would hate for them to run out of food for late marathoners. As a RD I don't think feeding everyone's friends and family cost effective but that's me.

Overall, this is a well run and well organised race. If you have the chance put this on your calendar.

Others have posted how great this race was for the flat (mostly) traffic-free course, the nice swag, including a fun medal unlike any other, and the super post-race food, including beer! Kudos for all of that. But there were three little things the organizers did that didn't cost them a cent and made the race that much more enjoyable:

- Separating the marathoners and half-marathoners at the start. Given the number of people running, it was one of the least congested starts I've had in any race.

- Putting names on bibs. I'm not one who needs a lot of screaming spectators, but I gotta admit, it gives me a boost when folks shout out my name. More races are doing this, and that's a good thing.

- Having fluid stops at mile markers. This is especially helpful for us Galloway-type runners to get our walk breaks consistently during water stops.

A super race overall, but a complaint of sorts that didn't really affect me because I wasn't in the group: Pacers, we love what you do and appreciate that it's difficult to run slower than what you normally do, but 'banking' miles isn't the way to get your group to reach its goal. My goal was about 20 seconds per mile faster than the nearest pace group. As a Galloway runner, I expected the group to pass me during early walk breaks, but figured by 5 miles or so, I'd be ahead of it for good. Didn't happen. At mile 21, I caught back up with it, when it ran 35 seconds faster than it's per-mile goal. I heard the pacer tell a struggling runner that it was OK, they had gone fast enough that he could almost walk it in and reach his goal. Turns out I finished about 3 minutes ahead of the pace goal, but the pacer finished about 30 seconds ahead of me. Please, pacers, try to run a consistent pace and hit your goal, not beat it by more than 3 minutes.

I selected this race as a flat and fast course to qualify for Boston (I did, by 4 minutes). And lets be honest, it's always easier to persuade the non running wife to go to a marathon at the beach. Being from Pennsylvania, you won't hear me complain about headwinds (what wind?) or hills (there aren't any). This race is a fantastic medium size marathon. Off season hotel rates make it very affordable. Size of the expo and packet pickup was manageable.

Race day - The shuttle bus from the Market Common ran as advertised, though we were dropped off pretty far from the start line, and then walked down an empty road to the start. Starting area was well planned, with rows of portable toilets as far as the eye could see. I only waited a minute, ten minutes before the race started. I liked that the half marathoners started on a separate side of the street. Race course is bland, though there are several miles with ocean views. I heard someone refer to the finish area as a logistical masterpiece. I would agree. Chocolate milk and free beer from a local microbrewer was awesome. Plentiful food and drink left for marathoners and the volunteers were really cheerful. The flip flop finishers medal is the best I have.

The only serious problem I encountered was that gels were advertised as being available at miles 16 and 22, only they weren't. I was running with a pace group of 10-15 runners (most of whom were trying to qualify for Boston) when we came through miles 16 and 22. Both times runners looked for gels, and both times I heard curses as we came up empty. It's pretty demoralizing at mile 22 to think you're going to get a nice little sugar boost and its not there. If you advertise gels on your course they need to be there, plain and simple. I'm sure I would be much more upset about this had I not qualified.

My only other suggestion for improvement is to FIRE the person responsible for selecting PURPLE as the t-shirt color (said in jest of course). More specifically, my wife says the color is fuchsia. Unless you really want to test your manhood at the local gym, I can't imagine wearing this one outside the house. I actually tried to trade mine at the expo to a female running the half (the half shirts were orange), but didn't once I found out the female shirts had a v neck.

Overall this is a fast and fun race, and one I'd come back to. Great job Myrtle Beach, and please, don't forget the gels next year.

This was my second time running this marathon, and this marathon has greatly improved over the years. I hade a great experience pacing the 4:30 group at this marathon as it was wonderful to see all those first timers out on the marathon course. Congratulations to all those that finished the marathon, especially those that ran with the 4:30 pace group somewhere along the marathon course. The weather on race day was near perfect conditions, as compared to what the weather would have been like had the marathon been run on Sunday. Great race overall as I liked the course and overall race organization. I like all the extras we obtained when we picked up our race packets like the - arm warmers, towel, and bag. I liked the tech shirt and I loved the finishers medal. The spectators were great along the course. All the volunteers really made special efforts to make the runners feel welcome.The post race party at the House of Blues was great, but I would suggest getting there to get in line at least 15 minutes before the doors open as the line does get long, but it does move fairly fast. The only issue I had overall was that there were no food stations at mile 16 and mile 22 as promised, so hopefully that will be corrected next year.

This was my first marathon. The course was perfect. It was very flat except for a few slight hills that were just enough to give your muscles a change that actually felt good. It was very well organized and ran smoothly. The Aid stations were really awesome. The volunteers were enthusiastic and did a great job with the fluid and food provided. There were plenty of places to take bathroom breaks as well. The spectators on Ocean Blvd were great and the bands along the course made it fun. I will definitely be back for this race!!