What an awesome race. The course was great, not too flat, not too hilly. Loved the wave start to keep down congestion in the early parts of the race. Organizers compensated for unseasonably high temps with water stops every mile. The best part, running through the St. Jude campus. Can't imagine a more meaningful race! I'll be back every year, some for the full and some for the half, but I'll be back every year!

Race was great. Spectators were a little less after half split (expected). Aid stations were well stocked. Volunteers were great. Post-race food was plentiful and diverse. Plenty of beer also. Finishing in stadium was cool. Wave start was very organized and efficient. I PR'd!

I really enjoyed this marathon. It's for a great case & the spectators are fantastic. Lots of music, water stops, & the volunteers were still full of energy & enthusiasm for even us slowbies. But who came up with making us finish by having to climb the stairs of the stadium after completing 26.2 miles!!

Plenty of aid stations and 3 with gu. course was well marked and clocks at every mile. A lot of food in the finishers area including pizza and beer! course had some rolling hills to keep it interesting, but none were challenging.

There were 2 u-turns in the course that took away some momentum, but those areas had tons of spectators and sort of necessary for the great finish on the warning track.

I recommend the race for both fast runners and recreational.

Ran this St. Judes Marathon in December 2011. Great city and a fun marathon to run. Well organized, you get to see many hi-lights of Memphis and very motivational running thru St. Judes early on. Very positive vibe to this race start to finish.
PS Check out the Ducks at the Peabody Hotel and have a Jack Daniels post-race. Pretty cool!

This was my first time running in Memphis and it was great.
I raised money as a St Jude Hero and received lots of pre-race communication.
The expo was pretty typical, did not experience any problems.
The pasta party was a tear jerker hearing about kids with cancer.
Race morning: great, you could stay warm in the indoor part of the stadium, plenty of bathrooms.
Wave start went well, was crowded the first couple miles but not as bad as other places.
Hills were all a matter of perspective, I didn't think it was anything.
I thought the crowd support was good. In the last 6 miles people were very supportive, calling out your number and cheering you on.
Aid stations were great and just after every mile marker from 3-25. It was fantastic to have them so predictable.
Finishing in the stadium was awesome, getting to take a shower was great too.
Food as mentioned was good, loved the soup.
My only complaint was the pacers, 4:10. They were all over the place on times. We would approach a mile marker and they would call out the goal time, we could be 10 sec ahead one mile, 40 the next, back to 15 the next, all over the place irrespective of hills.
Overall a great experience and I will be back

Great organization. Nice course. Good aid stations. Good spectators. Not much critical to say. It would have been nice to have run through St. Jude at the end of the marathon, could have used that inspiration in the late miles. There was a decent amount of running right next to busy traffic, so exhaust was a little bit of an issue, but what can ya do? It's 26 miles! Overall, recommended.

It's a really good marathon. It's run well, expo is average to above average, shirts and medals are usually good (or at least they've been good the last two years, my total experience with the event). Crowds are good in most places along the route. The course itself is relatively flat and the weather (again the last two years) has been very cooperative - a little chilly at the start but overall a nice day.
Finishing in Autozone Park (the St. Louis Cardinals AAA affiliate team) is a pretty cool way to finish the race.
Add in St. Jude as the cause and it's one I recommend.

Pros:
Water stops- every mile! The Gatorade was also not very potent, which was nice.
GU's handed out on the course 4 times
Fan support- many spectators played loud music and were dancing and cheering very enthusiastically.
Great finish line in the AutoZone stadium
Weather- Perfect! The temperature at the starting line was 46 degrees. The finish was around 65 degrees. The sun was shining and there was only a small breeze.
6. Post- race food- SO much food for the runners: Pizza, Soup, Chili, Beer, Gatorade,and more
7. Plenty of beer at the finish (unlike Go! St. Louis)
8. Nice technical finisher's shirts

Cons:
The focus was on the 1/2 marathon- the fans definitely thinned after the 1/2
The marathon actually repeated part of the course
Volunteers at the expo- I hate to complain about the volunteers, since they are volunteering...but we asked some questions at the Information Booth, and the volunteers really didn't have a clue. For example, we asked the Information Booth about the gear check. The volunteer said that the gear check was not secured, and that you had to make your own tags. However, once we got home, we realized that indeed that was a bag tag included, and the gear check was completely secured. We also asked about GU's on the course, and were told that there were none- but there were 4-5 GU stations!
Course marshalls were not policing all the intersections, and my spectator told me that she witnessed a car accident, as well as several near-accidents with runners and drivers! Eeeks...
The last mile of the race was not near the crowds, and it was on a freeway underpass. This was a bit of a downer, even though the actual finish line was great.
Please see the following link for a full review: www.therightfits.com

This is one of my favorite races. Not only is it for a good cause, but it is not too big and very well organized. Running through the St. Jude campus is amazing. There are a few moderate hills on the course, but nothing major. The only thing I saw that was lacking was there was no fruit along the course; only water/gatorade and gu gels at certain stations. Lots of spectators in key areas, but many areas were without crowd support. I would still recommend this marathon to anyone who has never run it.