Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

May 21, 2024

San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americas Runner Comments

Back to San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americas Information & Reviews

Course 3.3

Organization 3.5

Spectators 2.6

Number of comments: 122 [displaying comments 51 to 61]

More Comments: [ < 1 .. 4 5 6 7 8 .. 13 > ]

W. R. from Houston, Texas (5/5/2006) "Pretty good marathon" (about: 2005) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americass COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 I ran this marathon in 2003 and it was much better than this year because the course does two loops, which kind of stinks and then it goes past the Alamo like six times, which also stinks. I would have to say they were well organized; there were water stations at about every mile, which is nice. The fan support was about the same as in 2003, which wasn't that great, but it was ok.
D. S. from Harlingen, Texas (4/28/2006) "Very bad course" (about: 2005) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americas COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I live in Texas and like San Antonio as a city. The marathon was really bad. As mentioned in the other comments, the course was a painful double loop. The course also had a long out-and-back part, which was longer on the second loop! The fan support was good and there were lots of water stations, but I won't return to this local marathon until they fix the course.
m. m. from texas (3/16/2006) "The course SUCKED!" (about: 2006) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americas COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 I'll say it again. The course sucked!! This is the only thing holding this race down. The loops have got to go. If you improve the course, the people will come. I love this town. Love the crowd support. But I will never, ever run this race again without a big improvement on the course.
J. B. from Texas (2/21/2006) "awful course" (about: 2005) 3 previous marathons \| 1 San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americas COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 Terrible course. It really took the joy out of the run! I will not run again unless there are major course changes.
S. S. from Austin, TX (12/11/2005) "Terrible course, great volunteers, costly parking" (about: 2005) 1 previous marathon \| 1 San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americas COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 As mentioned time and time again, the course was terrible. Too many loops within loops, very surprised that it would be as easy to cheat on a Boston qualifier course. Volunteers and police were great. I found the water stations to be too close together, but not complaining since it was a hot one that day. It cost 10 bucks to park on race day.
R. L. from Houston (12/5/2005) "Not really terrible" (about: 2005) 50+ previous marathons \| 6+ San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americass COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I have been running this marathon since the early 80's. The course was steadily improved from a point-to-point to a beautiful city-wide loop starting and finishing at the Alamodome. I had not run this race in 6 years and I decided to come back in spite of all the negative comments. As it turns out the comments were well founded. The numerous loops within the loop are impossible to monitor even with electronic chips. Many people ran fewer miles and many ran more miles than they should have. I have run over 100 marathons. All 50 states and DC and in the Carribean. This (San Antonio) is the worst course I have ever seen. On the positive side: The water stations and the volunteers at them were the greatest. Plenty of water, Gatorade and encouragement. And I salute the San Antonio Police who were present on the entire course to protect the runners.
M. T. from san antonio, texas (11/26/2005) "Course is an embarrassment" (about: 2005) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americas COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I live in San Antonio and this course embarrassed me. SA has an incredibly beautiful and historic downtown, yet this course didn't offer runners the chance to appreciate it. The double loop inside the loop? Insane! Conducive to cheating (at worst) and confusion (at best). Those poor volunteers at the fork at Durango and the access road tried their best to direct people, but it was impossible. There is no reason a city this size can't host a wonderful out-and-back, or even point-to-point course. Why not start it at Fiesta Texas or Sea World, where the parking would probably be free? Ahhh, yes, the parking. Nice job by the city to price-gouge runners by increasing their parking fee at the Alamodome on race day. I do have to commend the race directors on the number of water stops. It was a hot, humid day and the volunteers at the stops were incredibly enthusiastic and helpful.
M. D. from San Angelo, Texas (11/23/2005) "I'll run this one again. " (about: 2005) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americas COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Some of the previous comments notwithstanding, I actually enjoyed the course. It was attractive and varied enough to keep it interesting. I can certainly sympathize with those who were misdirected on this overlapping route but I didn't find it all that confusing. Kudos to the well trained volunteers at the aid stations. I've been to many a race where volunteers did not master the simple but important task of properly filling and handing off a cup. I also like the smaller-town feel to the race. I was able to walk from my hotel room at 6:15 and easily found a spot to line up at for the 7:00am start.
P. O. from Austin (11/18/2005) "More course improvement needed, but good support" (about: 2005) First Marathon COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This marathon has more potential than the others in Texas. There are many great streets in downtown San Antonio, if only we could run down more of them, not run loops around a few and up and down highway overpasses. The many loops around the AlamoDome are unacceptable. Someone needs to work harder with the city to come up with a route that will draw more runners who want to run a beautiful course. I ran the half (and it was my first) and I can understand why the marathoners would not want to go out for another loop (and another two or three around the AlamoDome). I'll run my first full marathon here if the course runs through more narrow historic streets. This really could be one of the best U.S. marathons. The many water stops on the course were wonderful (especially for such a hot day), and the crowd support was okay (esp. considering that this, like other Texas marathons that want to minimize daytime heat, starts at the crack of dawn). Anyone who knows downtown SA knows you will have to pay for parking, so I didn't mind--its not run from a shopping mall parking lot like so may other races in Texas (Austin, Dallas, or Houston). There should be more mile markers. The pre- and post-race setup was good, and warm food along with the usual fruit were very nice. The race had a very family-and-friends-oriented small-town feel. And, of course, at the end, you can take in the sites and the foods of San Antonio. We in Austin (and elsewhere, I suspect) don't want head to another state to find a great marathon to run (Austin's has the strip mall course). Find friends at City Hall and nail down a good course and we will come!
S. H. from Austin, Texas (11/17/2005) "Not recommended!" (about: 2005) 50+ previous marathons \| 3 San Antonio Marathon-Marathon of the Americass COURSE: 1 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 Has the race director ever run a marathon? SAM was my 76th marathon. This was the most screwed up course I have ever run. Could it get more confusing than having to run 4 times through the same area without any clear signage? What about marathon etiquette? What was the deal with the guy running with the baby jogger? Why didn't the course marshals pull this guy off the course? The guy wasn't even considerate enough to start the race at the back of the pack. Could race directors please advise runners to begin the race from a point relative to their expected pace? Even more important, couldn't race directors start walkers after runners start the race? San Antonio isn't the only race that is bad about this. It is difficult and dangerous to go around or through groups of walkers blocking the course during the first mile of the race while they are walking in groups 2, 3, or 4 abreast. Please, if you are going to walk the race then stay to the side of the course, single file, until runners stop passing you or to be even more considerate, start at the very back of the pack. The best thing about the race was that there was plenty of water and the people at the aid stations could not have been nicer. A big thank you to all the volunteers!

More Comments: [ < 1 .. 4 5 6 7 8 .. 13 > ]

Quick Links

Marathon Search
Upcoming US Marathons
Upcoming International Marathons
Search Marathon Results
Latest Running News
Recent Newsletters
Race Director Tools

Become an Advertiser

Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

Click Here: Please visit our Sponsor

Become an Advertiser

© 2000-2024, All Rights Reserved by MarathonGuide.com LLC

Privacy Policy Refund Policy Terms of Use