This is a flat course along the Maumee River. You can usually count on the weather for this event being cold and windy (as it was this year and in many previous years).

The scenery is not particularly wonderful but interesting - first seeing the shipping boats and docks of Toledo, then the luxurious neighborhoods of Perrysburg, and lastly uptown Toledo before finishing at the Seagate Center. It was wonderful to have a place to sit and gather at the end of a race that has seats, tables, and is indoors. Good food and snacks too.

Spectators are very scarce for this event, and with the small field, often there can be no other runners in sight. This race mostly consists of relay participants. Runners share the road with motorists, which generally is not a problem; crossing traffic is controlled by the TPD. The worst place is on River Road by the turn-around. Eliminating the cars at this location would really be a plus.

Awesome shirts/jackets! This event excels in this department - better than many other big events.

My biggest complaint has to do with road surface. The roads in Toledo and Maumee are in very bad condition. Add in the rain, and I could never tell how deep the potholes were when I ran along. It's a twisted ankle just waiting to happen - one must stay alert and watch his footing the whole way.

I went to Spaghetti Warehouse after the race. Food was good, price was right, and service was very slow.

Thanks to the GCM for an overall positive experience.

The organization is great, the course is great, but move the race to the fall. Make the GCM a great alternative to Chicago and New York. This will give local runners time to train and will boost your attendance by four fold, at least!

- Scott from Sylvania.

We had a 22 deg. F wind chill at the start, and I donned my running tights.

The bridge over the river was slippery on the metal expansion joints.

We had snow the night before the race, but it had mostly melted away by morning. It was nice to watch, when it was snowing. The host hotel was wonderful, and so was the pasta feed.

The race results for some individuals got mixed up at the end, and there was some follow-up required to correct the mistakes.

Overall, a wonderful Ohio marathon.

After reading all the glowing 2006 reviews, I thought I'd give this race a try. I had a great experience: the volunteers were great and the race was well organized. The course itself is basically flat except for a couple very small hills and winds out and back long the water. The center of the course was very pretty as it goes through a small park or nature preserve. It's a small race so you're never jostling for space. A small downside is that there aren't many spectators but there are a few. It was the smallest marathon I've run and everyone was very friendly after the race. I also had a fantastic massage afterwards: you had to pay but was very cheap and excellent value for money.

Overall, a great race and a big PR for me.

I enjoyed the race and will always remember Glass City as my first marathon. I had a great time. I was a bit disappointed in the lack of community support. The other half marathons have been "bigger" races and have had spectators all over the race course. Support is key in a long distance run. I was also a bit disappointed in the expo; I really wouldn't call it an expo.... It was race packet pick-up. It was a bit disconcerting that the roads were open to traffic and drivers were not very courteous... that is no fault of the race or the directors just uninformed people!

After that, the course was quite pretty, and the race was well organized - I would do it again!

This is an excellent, well run marathon. The only complaint I have is that the first mile split was definitely short. Although the course was open to traffic, I didn't have any problems due to good traffic management. The course is fairly flat and can be fast depending on the wind.

I really enjoyed running the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, last Sunday, April 15. Not just because my taxes were done, but mostly because it was a well-organized race, clearly marked, with fantastic aid station personnel. The friendly, spray-painted white and blue directional arrows on the streets along with the helpful volunteers at intersections made navigating the course a breeze. For five-hour+ finishers they offered an hour early start, which I took advantage of. Spectators, although few, were extremely supportive. I would go back and run this race again just to get more of the delicious homemade chicken noodle soup that was part of the post-race refreshments.

Ditto all the positive comments from 2006. The course is fairly flat but scenic along the Maumee River. The start and finish were convenient to 3 downtown hotels. The time caller at the first mile was misplaced this year (at about 0.9 mi), but all other markers seemed dead on. I found aid stations at least every 2 miles and they were well stocked with water and Gatorade at every station, and also GU, oranges, and bananas at most of the later aid stations. One risk with this type of course is that if you get a strong north or south wind you will face a headwind for at least half of the course. This year a 10-20 mph wind from the north provided a boost heading south, but meant the last 12 miles were a fight against a nasty headwind. The spectators were enthusiastic but few in number. Overall a very good marathon experience.

Overall, this was a great marathon and a wonderful experience. I know it looks like my bad comments outweigh my good, but my bad comments are mostly small, picky things. This really was a great marathon.

GOOD:
- Fast, flat course. I made a PR and qualified for Boston!
- VERY convenient setup. The race starts and finishes right outside the host hotel. The hotel catered to the runners and the staff were very friendly.
- The small size of the race was great. I met a lot of awesome people.
- Great volunteers around the course. A lot of water stops.
- For the most part, the race was very organized.
- If you're looking for a PR or a Boston qualifier, run this race.

NOT SO GOOD (note, that I'm being very picky):
- Award ceremony started 30 minutes late. My name wasn't called for my age group, so I thought I hadn't placed. But when I got home and looked at the website results, it showed that I placed second. I emailed them but never got a response. Never got an award. :(
- But that's ok because the awards were pretty lame. They were bright red bags and there was no place distinction on them. First-place bag was the same as the third-place bag.
- The wind shirts given to all marathoners were great quality, but the same bright, ugly red. Who wears this color???
- Info stated there would be GU at mile 14 but no one was handing it out. At about mile 20 I finally realized there was GU at the stations, but you had to go pick it up from the table yourself. I think the last station they were actually handing them out, but it was too late by then.
- OK this hurt: at mile 24.5 there was a station and all the volunteers were shouting that we were at mile 25. I asked them, "Are you sure this right here is mile 25??" Was thinking, "Boy, that last mile just flew by!" They said, "Yes! Less than a mile to go!!" Ok, I knew that didn't make mathematical sense but it was mile 25 and my brain didn't work. So I was getting all excited that I was almost done... kept jogging and 1/2 a mile later... 4 laborious minutes later... I jogged across a big sign on the ground marking mile 25. I wanted to cry.
- Because of the small size, a lot of times we were running on streets that were not closed off to traffic. Some jerk actually honked at me twice when I was passing some runners on the left because I was taking up too much street space. How rude.
- Pasta dinner at spaghetti warehouse not so great. Unimpressive food, and understaffed. Why not have the pasta dinner at the host hotel?
- The race is not chip-timed.
- Because of the size, there were not many spectators like in the big races. However, the ones who were there were very cheerful.
- It got VERY windy towards the end. At least it wasn't snowing.

How much easier can it get? The start and finish right at the beautiful Wyndam host hotel. Nice, flat run across a couple of bridges and along the river with historic homes on the route. Seeing an incredible number of fishermen catching walleye in the Maumee River was quite the sight. Not a lot of spectators but those there were great. Late checkout of 2 p.m. was perfect. Highly recommended.