I've run the Omaha Full Marathon once and the 1/2 Marathon several times. Here are my pros and cons:

PROS
*Much better fan support this year!
*Volunteers were extremely friendly and helpful!
*Regular aid stations.
*Terrific finish! Much better than years past when we finished in the Civic. This year we finished lakeside, with a giant party, music, food... it was awesome. This really encouraged runners to stick around after the race.
*It is apparent the organizers are really trying to improve this event.

CONS
*The "expo" was in too small a space. The packet handout was well-organized, but there was not enough room for all the people. Only a couple of "vendors."
*The start was confusing, as to where to line up, pace-wise. The pacers with sign were not lined up in order.
*I must admit, I didn't like the new 1/2 marathon course, but I'm probably in the minority here. I loved the old course, as the hills were spread out evenly, were a good challenge, and it was very scenic. I didn't like how this year the first "real" hill didn't come until after the first 10K.
*I didn't run the full marathon, but friends who did were disgusted by how unimaginative, industrial and lonely the later miles of the race were.

Organizers... Omaha is a beautiful city... SHOW IT OFF! The biggest complaint is the second half of the course. Surely there is a way to map this out to make it more inviting and scenic.

Omaha had made some really good improvements, and I'm hoping they'll build on that and get better every year.

For now, however, if you need 50 states, run your Nebraska Marathon in Lincoln.

This was my second half marathon, so now I have something to use as a basis of comparison. All in all, I thought it was a good race. The organization was great, pasta dinner was nice, the music along the course and at the finish were great, and the course was challenging. The only complaint I have is that there was NEVER anyone calling out times. When I did the Lincoln half earlier in the year, there was a volunteer stationed at every mile marker shouting out times. It was great... I suppose I could/should wear a watch, but I really would have thought someone would have been calling times, at very least at the 10K mark.... But all in all, I'd do it again.

I had fairly high expectations for this marathon from their website. The website was pretty well organized with a nice look. I came to Omaha to get Nebraska. In the quest for 50 states, I'd like to do the marathons with the coolest medals (just me) and nice scenery - I struck out on both accounts. I did get a Nebraska medal (pretty plain), but the scenery was terrible; and the t-shirt was cotton, but not too bad - though I would have rather had a technical shirt for 60 bucks!

Many others have commented on the hills. Although this didn't bother me much, the lack of a scenic course was disturbing. The zoo was a little cool (would have been cooler to run through it), but the t-shirt had a reference to a cool footbridge and I saw another cool footbridge close to the start/finish - neither of which we got to go over.

I'm with the other guy - hilly for the first half and old homes and an industrial district toward the end.

Please tell me there's more to see in Omaha than what I experienced!

The Omaha Marathon unveiled a new course and it is an improvement. Runners still get to run through the Henry Doorley Zoo, and by Rosenblatt baseball stadium. Also, there is a new start/finish area, which was excellent. There is also a half-marathon and a 10K. Unique to Omaha, there is a barefoot runner division! The aid stations are manned by enthusiastic volunteers.

The Omaha Marathon was a great race. The fan support was the best I have ever seen - this is marathon #5 for me. So many people - total strangers - personally encouraged me with "Good job, number 205," and other similar comments. I am glad I participated - even though my time of 5 hours and 28 minutes was far from spectacular.

While running the race, when we crossed over Interstate 80, coming back from the Zoo, and up the 10th St. hill, I could see a whole congregation of people in the road. They were all cheering and encouraging me (and other runners too, of course). And I thought, these are like personal cheerleaders! It is amazing. Then when voting for the best water/aid station, I saw that in fact these girls were cheerleaders. So I had to give them my vote. (I hope they won the competition.)

Thanks to Race Director Susie for a great marathon experience. Thanks for all the hard work of Susie's staff. And the volunteers truly made this the best it could be.

P.S. The pre-competition pasta diner was included in the registration fee and the Gatorade was not watered down as some races have a tendency to do. These were added pluses to the rest of the marathon experience.

I ran the full marathon in 2006 and had such a good time that I came back to do the half (due to time constraints) this year. The revised course for 2007 contained fewer hills than last year, and most of those were not too steep, just long and steady. The riverside is a great start/finish venue. I also enjoyed seeing the building where TV dinners are created. While the heat and humidity definitely made for a slow pace, I had a beautiful race experience. Spectators, while sparse, were vocal. If you don't take yourself too seriously, this is a fun event.

The first 15 miles of the Omaha Marathon were very difficult and hilly. I enjoyed running in the zoo and by the baseball stadium and along the river at the end, but at the end there was someone with cold water but not other food to speak of (just some cake). My brother-in-law ran the 10K and he said they had lots of fruit and bagels, but not much for marathoners. Also the shirt was just a plain, long-sleeve, cotton t-shirt.

There were a number of spots along the course with fans cheering, and that was helpful. The medal also was not the most attractive medal I have seen. I probably would have to recommend people look for another marathon unless they want a real challenge with not a lot of benefit.

This was my 4th Omaha Marathon, and first with the new route. I did well in it; I had a great day and I look forward to running it every year.

Being from the Omaha area, I have always had a soft spot in my heart the Omaha Marathon! I ran by lots of personal memories from the zoo and Rosenblatt Stadium from when I was a kid to some of the companies that our company had done business with in more recent years. Race Director Susie Smisek, as always, did a great job with organizing everything - volunteers, awards, the bands etc.... The new course was kind of like a "revised" version of the old one. I loved the new start/finish area of the Lewis and Clark landing along the Missouri River. Some of the hills from South Omaha were not on the new course. The previous course's mile 20 - winding uphill between Carter Blvd and Florence Blvd. - is now run in the opposite direction. Going DOWN that hill as opposed to UP that hill for mile 20 is a big change!

From the marathons I have run, I would still rate the new Omaha marathon slightly above-average difficulty - a bit easier than the previous Omaha course, but certainly not nearly as challenging as Boston or others. I think we should WELCOME the challenges instead of daydreaming of a pancake-flat course with perfect weather conditions. The hills on 6th, 13th and 10th Street are tough, but they absolutely CAN be done (and done well) if you put in your "homework." Although there were not big numbers of spectators, I still gave them 5 stars because they made up in heart what was missing in numbers. You have to remember also that Omaha doesn't have the monster population that Chicago and New York do!

Please run Omaha and support our wonderful community! See you in 2008!

Marathon was as advertised. It is a regional marathon that is well run and worth the effort.

Half the course was hilly and definitely took its toll on me, but I knew that going in. There were plenty of well-manned water spots and ALL of the intersections were manned by police officers. I thought it would be confusing with a 10K and half-marathon, but it was no problem. As for criss-crossing other runners, it consisted of exactly one spot where you rejoined the half-marathon. At worst, that would have cost a runner about a tenth of one second. Very nice medals.

My two suggestions: have the pasta dinner at the same place as the expo and have more Clif Shots/Gu, as I was pretty drained by mile 18.

I live in Omaha and have now ran the marathon for the third time. I was anxious to run the new route. The weather was perfect and the timing of the marathon was great as I planned to use Omaha as a training run for a later fall marathon. The hills from miles 7 to 12 are killer. They are not rolling but fairly long and steep. They took there toll on my quads later in the run. The first half was nice, running through the zoo and Conagra, but the second half was not a pleasant sight. The older, rundown neighborhoods are not something I would think the organizers would want out-of-town marathoners to see. I was also disappointed in the packet pick up. Using the lobby of In-play, with no room and virtually no expo booths, was disappointing. All in all, I was disappointed in the marathon. I finished with a PR but don't have much good to say after that.