This was a very flat marathon. The weather was excellent for running. Part of the course had no spectators, but other areas and the finish had plenty. They had many water areas set up along the course which was great.

My husband ran in this race and I came along to cheer. Although there weren't a lot of cheerers, there were some. My friends and I tried to get information at the race starting about where to go to cheer, but no-one knew anything and there was no hospitality booth. In fact, the staff didn't even try to help. The search for information wasn't made easier by the rain in the AM which cleared up after an hour. The course, which we had to figure out for ourselves, seemed to have frequent drink stations which were well staffed.

The only hills are freeway overpasses.
The October weather is very hard to predict.

I was able to qualify for Bosston 2000 on the course last year. The weather is normally very good, albeit slightly warm for perfect marthoning weather. Expect upper 60's to low 70s.This is a great first timer, or racer's course. Unlike the big city destination marathons, where you feel like you're part of some mass migration, SVM offers fields big enough to have people to pace with through out the entire course, but not so crowded that you loose time in the first couple miles working your way through slower runners. 3000 to 7000 can be expected. Support, aid and the orginization is good SVM uses Champion Chip timing, as you would imagine in the brithplace of the computer chip. You gotta love this if you're going for a Boston quallifier. You don't need to stress about how far back you are at the start and when you do get the Boston time, (Power of positive thinking and all!) it's a simple process for The BAA to confirm your 'net time' and seed you in their race without you having to wait for a results card to be mailed to you.
The crowds are a little sparse through many sections of the course and it's not very visually stimulating either. Once you've seen one high tech building, you've pretty much seen them all! It makes this course tough,if you're the type of runner that 'disassociates' during your races. But, if you have good concentration and focus, in other words, 'internalize' well, the flat course will leave you with an excellent chance of a PR.