I ran this coming off a three-week sinus infection that keep my training to a minimum and was not completely recovered on race day. With that in mind, the crushed gravel surface looked and felt like concrete. I found my calves in pain by 18 miles. I noticed the effect of the slight uphill in my breathing and, on the way back, my hamstrings tightened considerably. Again, much of this may have been a lingering effect of my illness, but I was surprised at how badly I faded when I thought I had taken a conservative approach to this race.

As mentioned previously, very flat course along a crush & run surfaced bike path. No hills, just a slight percent grade on the way out & slight downgrade on the way back. Easy on the legs! Not easily accessible for spectators to line the course, but the very enthusiastic volunteers made up for that. At a few of the water stops, they would look your number up as you came by & shout encouragement by your name. Very personal touch. Other stops were manned by costumed volunteers. Nice small town atmosphere nestled in the scenic North Md. countryside. If you're looking to avoid the mass of humanity of the huge marathons & run a PR on a flat course, this is your race!

This is a great low key marathon. The course is beautiful, run on a packed crushed gravel trail next to a stream. The first mile and a half are a fast, rolling downhill to the start of the trail. The next section to mile 14 is a slight uphill with water/gatoraide about every 3 miles. The turn around at mile 14 means the remainder is slightly downhill. If you dont need spectators to keep you going this is a great run. Volunteers were wonderful, and I got water from the Easter Bunny and Uncle Sam.

I found this course to be a very 'runner friendly' race. I was hoping to qualify for Boston on this race and did. While there are limited areas for spectators, the creek and trees along the course make for a very scenic race. Too bad it's not a little earlier in the Fall as I'm sure the foliage would really look fantastic. Easy on the body too.

This is a great low key marathon. The course is flat on packed dirt trail. Run entirely next to a stream, in the woods of northern Maryland. Very peaceful and the sights are fantastic. Great organization and support.

I run a marathon a week and this is a must do. A little on the isolated side but that isn't bad. Weather was a little wet but I appreciated that too. Probably one of the best marathons logistically. It was real easy to get to and start running. The course is more of a bike path (paved) like the Kiawah Island marathon than a real trail (dirt) like the Pacific Coast trail ultra. I look forward to running it again next year and highly recommend it to everyone.

I really enjoyed this race...easy on legs...I qualified for Boston at this course...Very little crowd support but Elvis does make an apperance...I liked this better then the larger runs...Seemed to be a lot of quality runners.

This was marathon number 14 for me, and was the easiest course I have ever encountered. Running on the trail for the last 24+ miles was great for the legs, and then the slight downhill after mile 14 allowed me to get into a strong, consistent cadence that built to the finish.

Very friendly and competent organization - and the shirt is a keeper! I would recommend this race to anyone, but particularly a first time marathoner (who doesn't mind the sparse number of spectators) or someone who was looking for the optimal Boston qualifier (who doesn't mind the sparse number of competitors).

I too ran this after running Marathon in the Parks the weekend before. Thank goodness it was flat (except for the 1.8 mile warmup getting to the trail). The pebbles/stones were a nuisance (I'll wear gators for sure next year). I had to clean out my shoes at least 6 times. The event was extremely well organized except they ran out of doughnuts at the end (I'm a slow poke so I missed out on the doughnuts). Top notch quality shirts. Long drive for me each way but easy to get to if you leave early in the AM. Would love to see them change the date to a month earlier to enjoy the foliage. It is a gorgeous course! I would highly recommend it. Plenty of room to run and plenty of different paced runners so that you can have company or hang out by yourself. Would definitely run this again!

I agree with all the good comments by others. Plus, I saw a couple of famous people at the race. Water Woman was at one of the water stops dressed like Wonder Woman. Elvis was one of the crossing guards. I missed the entry cutoff last year so I applied early this year. I'm glad I did. This was a PR course for me, by one minute under Richmond.