Top of Utah is the first marathon I've run twice. There's just too many good things about the event to resist, including the impeccable organization, the beautiful scenery, the terrific volunteer and aid station support and the fun finish line atmosphere.

The bright orange tech shirt is one of my new favorites; if I'm going to run a marathon, I may as well brag about it with gusto! The medal, on the other hand, was rather disappointing. With such a classy-looking shirt, the cartoony medal just seemed odd and out of place.

While I love this event, I don't think I'll run it again unless it's just for fun. The twists and turns of the last 10K wreak havoc on my momentum coming out of the canyon. When there are endless corners to turn as the minutes tick by, it tends to become frustrating and disheartening.

Despite my few complaints, this is definitely a top-notch event that every marathoner in the nation should experience at least once!

Great value! I can't think of a single major flaw in the organization of this marathon.

Minor Cons:
- The text messaging of my times to my friend (available on the official website) didn't work.
- Some complained about all of the turns later in the race, but it makes have the start and end locations at the best possible choice work.
- If you're not a morning person, beware; you have to get up early to catch the bus (no worse than big marathons), but that makes closing the road and the start up the canyon at Hardware Ranch possible.

Pros:
- Start at Hardware Ranch (best view of stars I've seen in a long time).
- Course: beautiful run through the canyon, with fall colors. (But downhill, so my quads were sore for days.)
- Organization was great, with warming tents at start, efficient planning (with buses to the start line), well stocked aid stations, and a nice and well stocked recovery area for runners at finish.
- Volunteers were friendly and helpful.
- It's a good value; you get a long-sleeve tech shirt and unique medal, as well as good snacks at end. Low price if you sign up early.
- Nice size - you're never overwhelmed with the crowd, but never isolated either.
- It's a Saturday race, so it's nice to have an extra day to recover before work.

This is one of my favorite races. The organization is flawless, the course is beautiful, and volunteers are great. There are no spectators coming down the canyon, but that's okay. The scenery is enough. The spectators at the bottom of the canyon were the best, cheering loudly for everyone. There were plenty of aid stations, and they were all well-stocked. I really like the medal and shirt this year too. Be sure to include downhill runs in your training; although the canyon isn't steep downhill, running downhill for almost 15 miles can do a number on your quads. Great race!

This marathon is outstanding for a number of reasons (scenery, course, etc), but primarily because of its superb organization. From packet pickup to bus loading, to bag retrieval at the end, everything was perfect. I have run this marathon 3 times, and plan to be back for more.

This was my first marathon. I was disappointed in my time, but that just means I will be back. The first 18 miles are great! I loved coming down the canyon. However, there is no rhyme or reason to the zig-zagging route for the next few miles. It would be nice to have the course re-done so that it is a little more of a straight shot.

The volunteers were absolutely wonderful and there was plenty of Gatorade, oranges, bananas, water and GU at the aid stations. I really enjoyed this marathon and hope to come back next year and improve my time.

This was only my second marathon, but running it was sheer joy! The organization was great, the rest stops were well stocked, and the canyon was beautiful! The people of Logan were awesome to come out in such great numbers to cheer us once in town. Thanks for a great experience!

Excellent organization - kudos to the race director and staff of volunteers for how they handled this event. I stepped out of the shuttle bus at the start, and the stars were amazing! The run down the canyon was awesome - with the beautiful mountains, fall leaves, and river following along the course, it was a beautiful run. The downhill really makes for some fast running - there are some hills near the end, but for me it was a welcome break even though I could not run the same pace (but probably could not anyway by that time). There was plenty of course support. I'm glad there were no spectators in the canyon - I really didn't need them at that point - but plenty met us when we exited the canyon, and there were folks out in the neighborhoods cheering us on the rest of the way. Logan is a beautiful city, and a great location for side trips too.

I just ran the TOU Marathon and had a fantastic time. This was my third marathon and I would do this one again. I did not rate the course 5 stars only because there was so many turns on the last miles of the race that it tended to take the momentum out of the run, and coming down the canyon we kept getting scooted over for traffic to get through because a permit was not obtained to have the road closed. Otherwise I would give this course a 4.9. The canyon run was breathtaking (no pun intended). Even after getting out of the canyon, there was still quite a fair amount of downhill running. I love that the top five in each age group received a moose trophy. Whoever made the trophies, kudos to you. I wish the shirts were as cool as the ones I saw others wearing from the years before - the moose logo just seemed to be missing this year.

Wow! What a great marathon - deserving of all of the praise by other posters. I do have a few minor complaints (see below), but I should start with the positives since they far outweigh the negatives.

First, the course is breathtaking (figuratively speaking, although that might be literal for some runners coming from sea level). It's also quite fast. The first half is downhill, but the key is that it's all a very gentle grade so your legs don't get too beat up. The second half is almost pancake-flat. I wasn't as bothered by the twists and turns at the end as some other posters, but I suppose the course would be even faster with a straight shot.

The organization is also superb. I wish other cold-weather marathons with a crack-of-dawn start would put up a warming tent with propane heaters. It was really nice. The glow sticks and bottles of hand sanitizer around the portable toilets were also great. And as others have noted, the large runners-only area at the finish is an excellent idea. Post-race food was good (especially the ice cream) and I enjoyed the live music.

I was surprised at how many fans there were on the second half of the course, given that Logan is a fairly small college town. Not the most vocal, but still pretty good support. The volunteers at the aid stations (which were all well stocked and well organized) were phenomenal.

As for my admittedly minor gripes:

1. There were only two portable toilets at the bus-loading area. Not NEARLY enough.

2. Another poster wondered why so many other runners were raving about the medals and I fully agree - the cartoon moose is very cheesy. Why not go with the moose silhouette printed on the T-shirt instead?

3. And speaking of the shirts, the quality is very nice, but construction-cone orange? That's probably the LAST color I'd pick for a race T-shirt. I guess I can always wear it for dawn and dusk training runs to increase my visibility.

All things considered, this is a terrific marathon that I would definitely run again.

I honestly cannot think how anything about this marathon could be improved (other than my time, of course).

Everything about this race was perfect - from the hauntingly beautiful high-mountain start to the crowds lining the all-American, small-town streets to the volunteers and, finally, to the idyllic park at the finish line.

Well done, Logan! I plan on doing this race every year.