This is my first run in Louisville, as I am working on my 50 states, so the director's last-minute change to the old course did not bother me one way or the other. I thought the course was great, with a variety of in-town running, and a paved trailed run along the river and through woods. The weather was absolutely perfect and that made my experience even better. The aid stations were well manned and everyone involved with the race was very friendly and helpful. I personally like smaller races over the huge ones, so I would definitely recommend this one to any first-timer looking for a flat course (as long as they do not need a lot of fan or other runner support) or any experienced runner.

The course was given 4 stars. That is a stretch because it started out with what I thought may be too many sharp hairpin turns, but it regained itself and ended up being more of an out-and-back course. In addition, I chose to stay at the hotel that was closet to the start and finish, But they changed the start and finish and I still had to take a shuttle to the start and finish.

The organization was good by the organizer, Jim Ball, and his crew, but the course was changed by a conflict with what I believe was the City of Louisville (city governments - yeah, enough said). The spectators were small in number, but what do you expect you are in the south running a smaller race on a Sunday,

Overall I would recommend this race to the person who likes a medium-sized race without the large hustle and bustle of Chicago, Detroit, or Nashville Country Music Marathon.

I gave one star for spectators because they were minimal. The volunteers and traffic control at the intersections were 5-star worthy. I did the half after doing the Indy Half at Lawrence on Saturday. Yes, I know very stupid. I was looking forward to a new course because I so dislike the current course. Down the long stretch on River Road, it's so extremely boring and the concrete surface is hard on the legs. It is very walker-friendly. I didn't attend the packet pick-up, so I can`t comment on the organization. I`m sure the logistics of the new course was just impossible to pull off. Kudos, anyway, for even considering it. The weather was just ideal. Food at the end was very basic, but satisfying.

I'll start with the positive. The course was mostly flat and scenic.

For the negatives: Too few water stops. Heed did not taste good. The race organizers planned a new course for this year; however, due to poor planning, they were unable to obtain support from local government. A notice was placed on the website on 10/13 informing everyone of the change. An email would have been nice. The change moved the start a few miles from the official race hotel. I feel sorry for the out-of-town runners who booked their room in advance. Also, no medical tent at the finish.

This is the first time I have stayed in town for the local marathon. It has potential; however, until they improve the organization, I'll stick with the out-of-town races. Hopefully the organization will improve, as it was nice to stay in town and drive to the start.

This is the scenario that tends to be overlooked: a first-timer, who's a slow runner, has to deal with the race starting at 8 a.m. (ish), leaving only have 2 hours of decent temperature; at noon they're still running, and after mile 18, there is almost no shade, and no breeze (I don't know what others have felt). Heed and stomach refuse to cooperate, leading to dehydration and sickness; you try to switch to all water and risk an imbalance. There's no Gu, and too few water stops (including some that disappeared towards the end). By that time, water is really hot anyway (some ice wouldn't hurt, duh), and spectators are gone by the time you return (at some point you're running into people that have no idea that a marathon is still going on)....

Yes, it happened to me, and I'll stop whining. It might not be as bad as it sounds since I still finished - about 30 minutes slower than what I expected, but I did finish. I am glad I did! :)

Nevertheless, for slow first-timers out there, there are some good organizational things to consider so you avoid the spiral down. Start earlier for lower temperature later in the race, add more water stops with Gu, have cool water and something finishing in "ade" (just say no to Heed - it's awful!).... And more spectators would have helped me avoid some of the mistakes a rookie tends to make.

I would gladly exchange running up some hills with the factors mentioned above. Good luck! No doubt it's all worth it!

Rough start because people were not lined up by time. You shouldn't have to try to get around walkers, especially on such a narrow course. I almost tripped on a baby-jogger - those shouldn't be allowed. Once you get past the half-marathon's turnaround point, it's a very lonely run. The last 6 miles I hardly saw anybody, and volunteers were not great about directing. A couple of times I had to stop and interrupt their conversations to ask which direction to run.

I am originally from Louisville and have heard this is the 'flat and fast one' compared to the Derby Marathon. It was a fantastic experience! I 'skewed up' the scores for the fans, since my brother and his entire family came out to support me and one of my running buddies, 'Coast Guard' Joe, also from Louisville. I agree with others that the water bottles worked out great; the Heed drink was blah (please replace with a citrus flavored sports drink like Gatorade); the technical sweatshirt and the KY state/shoe design medal were both unique; and you don't need to do much more marketing for this one. Although the RD says registrations increased maybe 400 over 2006, I really like the 1,000 to 2,500 size marathons. Large runner fields and mega audiences can zap your energy sometimes. This was my 37th marathon to date (38th was the MCM this past Sunday)...and I will definitely be back for another Louisville marathon! GO ROCKS! (THS 76)

It was a good course, very flat, and mostly through parks and on bike paths. Mostly asphalt, with some concrete. It's a quiet marathon; there are very few spectators. The weather was on the warm side for me (coming from CO) but not too humid, not unbearable, not Chicago ;-)

I got to show off my jumping skills at the dock at mile 8. They had these boat tie downs for the Belle of Louisville tourist boat, and I was weaving around them, just for fun. The last one was sort of blocked off by the corner of these concrete steps, so I jumped the lowest step in a completely over-the-top Austin Powers intro way. I'm totally going to run my next marathon in a blue crushed velvet suit, frilly lace cravat, 'male' symbol gold medallion, and Italian leather loafers (Bongiorno, boys!) Well that got the, uh, crowd going...

And look I found a picture of the exact boat tie down!

http://louisville.edu/music/localresources/images/jazz/IASJ%202006/Jam%20Sessions%20for%20Web%20resized/Cruise%20For%20Web/Dock.jpg

That's awesome. None of those people were there at the marathon though.

Just picture A_ jumping over the tie down and step:

http://www.filmposters.it/imgposter/grandi/austinpowers1.jpg

But I digress; of course it's easy to feel good at mile 8. It's not so easy to feel good at mile 19. I got tired, and my 7:50 pace degenerated into an 8:20. I brought 2 gu gels with me, I probably should have brought 4. I figured the race would have gu or something similar at the aid stations, but they only had water and heed sports drink. As others have said, the little water bottles were awesome; you didn't have to slow down to hydrate, and you could dump water over your head if you had extra and were approaching another aid station.

The way the finish is arranged you run up a slight incline and pull a U-turn, and run back down to the actual finish line. So you pass by the finish at about mile marker 26. My PR is 3:30, so I was trying to break that. I heard the announcer call out 3:29 on the other side when I crossed the 26 mile mark, and then I knew I was toast Even in my math-impaired state I knew I couldn't cover 0.2 in one minute and break 3:30. I rounded the corner and thought, well, my PR is actually 3:30-somehting (couldn't remember exactly; 3:30:32 it turns out); I could still hit that! I gave the finish a sprint of some sort ('finish strong', right?), and the clock was pushing 3:31. Not good! The race was chip timed so there would be some bonus from my start delay, but likely not 20 seconds worth (there was about 6 seconds delay as it turns out). In the end I missed a PR by 20 seconds - doh.

I got my medal, got some water, and lay down in the grass. Nice finish area, by the way, very spacious. While lying down I poured a bottle of water on my face, which went right up my nose. Always unpleasant. Then I took off my shoes and socks to admire the blood blister on the front of my big toe. Then I got up and decided that things weren't so bad. I walked back to the Ramada across the street. The Ramada was very convenient to the start/finish; it is extremely nice to be able to walk to the starting line. The hotel was not fancy, nor was it expensive. So you get what you pay for. If amenities are more important than location to you, I would recommend looking for another hotel. They had a swimming pool but it was closed. The free breakfast buffet was ok, nothing special (would like eggs!), and the pre-race dinner was decent but a bit over-priced ($13).

I'd never been to Louisville before, and I was favorably impressed. It is a nice city with some fun things to see and do. We found some great places to eat, including a couple of restaurants that had a lot of vegetarian options. The weather was excellent until the day after the marathon, when a massive rainstorm blanketed the area. Good thing it held off until after the race!

Thank you everyone for all your support. Louisville is an excellent place to have this marathon. The weather was excellent for the race.

First time running this race and was a little leery given the low frills. But it was a very well organized race on a nice (very little city street running) flat, scenic course. The 8 oz. bottles of water were great. I was worried about support given the size of the race but the volunteers were great. No huge crowds but those that were there were very supportive. And I liked no huge crowds. I get enough of that at other races. It was nice to run a quiet marathon.