Had a hamstring act up at 17, so I limped in, but what a fun race. Wasn't running for a PR, so I really enjoyed just having a relaxing run. I must admit I was a little scared when we took the bus tour the day before, but those hills were a piece of cake compared to what we run around here every day. It is a small race, and the organization seems a little scatterbrained, but the intentions are terrific, the execution is pretty good, and the people who support the race really do a great job of it. I'd run it again and again if my schedule allowed.

The course was hilly. I was expecting that though. The course ran through the zoo and by Rosenblatt. It was overall a good course if you train for hills. Needs more fans though that is for sure!

I had my slowest time at this race (yes, there are hills in Nebraska!) and yet, in many ways it was by far my favorite of my 5 marathons. I simply cannot say enough great things about the volunteers who were friendly, organized and encouraging.

Omaha is a sweet city; stay near the old market and enjoy the great eats and drinks.

Good choice for 50-staters. Great weather (50 degree start), well-marked, good traffic control, plenty of water stations, friendly people, great medal.

No clocks on the course, so take care not to get caught up with the 10K-ers and half-marathoners and start out too fast. Less than 300 marathoners and probably around 1000 total runners at the start.

The race packet included sunscreen, which concerned me, but I didn't need it. There was plenty of shade on the course. I ran in all-terrain shoes instead of racing flats, and boy was I glad I did. Even though it didn't rain, much of the zoo part of the course was wet and potentially slippery. Also, some of the roads in the back half were a bit rough. My feet came out of this race in great shape for a change!

We stayed an exta day to see more of Omaha. Nice city with plenty of good restaurants, shopping, and micro-breweries. We had an excellent time.

I am running Chicago in 2 weeks and felt that doing the half in Omaha would be a good training run. I didn't anticipate all the hills (most of the comments around me also focused on the number of hills). However, the course was nice (for Omaha), the organization was topnotch (plenty of water, Gatorade, food at the end). And while there weren't thousands of people cheering us on, those that did show up were very animated and supportive. All in all, a great first experience.

Pros: Start outside and ending inside the Civic Auditorium was nice. Pasta dinner included (although it looked like they may have under estimated the runner's appetite). Nice Market Area in downtown.

Cons: First half were killer hills but my fault for not preparing properly. Not much of a cheering crowd at the end.

This had a halfway cool course and a halfway boring course. Running in the middle of nowhere was pretty bad. The heat wasn't too tough. Nice people and organization.

I was not able to finish last year's marathon due to severe leg cramps at mile 24+, so had to come back this year to claim my finisher's medal. I was mentally prepared for the hills on the return loop where I had to quit last year, but the course was changed. And, for the better. The new course was more interesting and enjoyable because it cut out some of the hot and boring parts of previous year's course.

My biggest complaint was that it took forever to find the new Quest Center where the packet pick-up was held, then there was no parking because there was a 'fair' going on at the Center. When I finally made it to the building, no one seemed to know anything about a marathon! Finally among all the farming & ranching displays I spotted a couple people that looked like runners.(They were not eating a whole quart of ice cream). Three flights up, past the flower displays, blue-ribbon-winning pickles and Cousin Joey's school craft project, I found the packet pick up. Would you believe there was a live stock show going on INSIDE the building, also?

Then, the pasta dinner was at the Civic Center, which, due to construction downtown was also hard to find. Other than all of the confusion, it was a good marathon and worthwhile.

I did the half as a training run for the upcoming Chicago Marathon. The course was hillier than I expected. I didn't need to use a porta-pot, but I did notice they were VERY scarce on the course. Hopefully, they'll remedy this next year. The volunteers were great and the Gatorade & water plentiful. Bottom line, though, it was a boring race because of the lack of crowd support and because of the small number of runners. Maybe it was just because it started much too early for the end of September (when the heat is less of an issue), and because it was exceptionally cold for spectators to be out on a dark, cold, Sunday morning. It was more pleasant and sunny by the end of the race. It was neat finishing inside the Civic Auditorium, but that last, gigantic hill before the finish I thought was a cruel joke... lol.

I will probably do the half again next year, but I don't think I would ever do the full marathon... as a back-of-the-packer, I think it would be grueling to run the last half with no crowd support and a very sparse group of runners around me. Maybe with time, a course change, and more porta-pots it will become more popular.

This was my first attempt at a half marathon. I was so excited and then that all faded away as I wasted 22 minutes of my race time in line for the port-a-potties. I couldn't just go behind the tree if you get my drift. It was horrible and frustrating. There were a total of 3 on the whole course for the half. I don't mean 3 different stops, but 3 total. If that would have been attended to better, I would have had a much better time. As for the spectators, there weren't any. That was also disappointing. Maybe it was such a let down because my husband ran the Twin Cities, and that was so awesome with spectators. This had no one out there. The full marathon ran too much through the industrial area and bad part of town. Nothing to look at. So if this is the first one you have done, it could be disappointing. I wouldn't recommend driving from afar to run this one.