It was a pretty cool day in the mid-40's and hard rain for the races. About 900 marathoners and about 4,000 half marathoners.

Logistics - Not the easiest but still can be done without a car. You take the TRAX (Salt Lake's light rail system) to the start which is about 20 minutes ride. The train I was on was extremely packed. The finish at Liberty Park means you need to take their shuttle bus to the Ball Park TRAX station which is then about another 5-10 minute ride back to downtown. The hotels are about a half mile away from the Convention Center.

The start is shared by both the Half and Full marathoners. Unfortunately, most of the runners chose to ignore the signs on where to line up. This resulted in spending the first mile and a half zig zagging past walkers and slow runners who decided to line up near the front.

Since SLC was the first major city marathon following the Boston Marathon bombings, they had a nice tribute. First there was a moment of silence followed by a rendition of 'Sweet Caroline'.

The first 3 or so miles of this race has some steep downhills as you are coming off the mountain. After that, the course can be described as rolling with good stretches of flat. One thing that struck me about this race was the tremendous camaraderie between the runners. On the out and backs, the runners on the out portions were exchanging high fives with the runners on the back portions. Throughout the whole race, there were so many shouts of encouragement from my fellow runners. I was so touched by the feeling of concern, enthusiasm, consideration and friendliness from the fellow runners that this turned out to be one of my most memorable marathons of the 26 ones that I have run.

A decent amount of enthusiastic spectators. Not a lot but I assume the numbers were down because of the rain. SLC Police did an excellent job of traffic control. Hydration stations were well run and frequent. However, the first few stations were crowded because of the half. I suggest carrying a small water bottle with you to get you past the first few stations. After about Mile 8 when the half and full marathoners diverge, this is not an issue.

At the finish, food offered was bagged pretzels, bananas, water, beer, gatorade, cookies and lots of yogurt. Several shuttle buses were waiting bringing you to the Ball Park TRAX station.

So if you are looking for a somewhat smaller marathon in a city whose backdrop is surrounded by beautiful mountains, Salt Lake City is a fine choice.

I was excited to run this marathon. Little mistakes kept happening, which I will explain further down that impacted my view of it. It was a cool and rainy run, and I was impressed with the voluteers and law enforcement helping out. Extra security was in place since Boston, but it did not have a negative impact on the experience at all and those providing the security were all awsome. The medal was nice also as were all of the people.

Now here are the little things that took away from the experience: 1) Very small expo for an event of this size, 2) No gear check bag provided, 3) Host hotel said they had a shuttle to take us to the start (in reality it just dropped of off at a light rail station and then we took that to the start, 4) Host hotel said they would have a shuttle at the finish area to bring us back to the hotel (in reality the shuttle took us from the finish area to a light rail station and had to take that back to the hotel area and walk the rest of the way), 5) Gear check bags were left out in the rain at the finish area, 6) No sign saying where gear check was at the start, 7) Poor signs saying where the shuttle at the finish was, 8) The pasta dinner was good, but it was at a park near the finish the night before the marathon, I think having it at the expo location would be better for a few reasons and 9) hard to find friends/family after the marathon as there was no designated 'family area' like a lot of marathons have.

I know and appreciate what it takes to put on a marathon, but for one what has been going for a while I would expect better. I am still glad I went, but would not run it again.

I ran this half marathon in 2011 and again this year (2013). I loved both years, despite the poor weather this year. The expo was great, the race is a fun atmosphere. Even in the pouring rain, there were great spectators!! Transportation to the start was easy. Water stations were adequate. I loved the shirt this year,though they were sized very small and I was not allowed to exchange at the expo. The swag bags were not very impressive, but there were plenty of freebies at the expo to make up for it. And I have to say.....there is way too much hype for the Ogden Marathon and I much prefer to do SLC over Ogden. Looking forward to 2014!!!

You pay $95 or more to run a marathon and all you get in the 'goodie' bag is ads for more races sponsored by same organization??? That's not a goody bag! Course is nice and easy; good support at tables. NO gu or powergel, though. CHEAPO!

I had the oppurtunity to run the Salt Lake City Marathon and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It definitley made a memory for me. The crowds and fans were great, the support throughout the course was also great. One thing to be prepared for is that Salt Lake City sits around 4,200-4,300 feet. Keep that in mind as well as the course has a rather large elevation change throughout, something to keep in mind when you are training for it.

Overall it was a great time.

I was pleasantly surprised how wonderful this race was. So well organized, and all the volunteers were friendly. Salt Lake City is beautiful, the snow-covered mountains are eye candy. For not having had much time to organize this race, the director(s) did a great job.

Salt Lake City is a great host city and this marathon had a lot going for it in it's favor. The main issue for 2012 was the transition from Devine race direction to the new owners of the race and the uneasiness that it gave us 'out of towners' that would fly in to the race, not knowing if the event was actually going to go off.

The race did go off and although communication of the details was limited, it actually went very smoothly. No race goodie bag and no information sheet telling you how to get a drop bag, where the drop would be, what train to take to the start, etc., which created some unnecessary worry.

The race overall was very scenic once you get off the main hwy thru town and although the temperatures were high, no water station I encountered ran out of fluids. Course is downhill and flat, but there was a significant incline from about mile 11.5 to past the half marathon point and one of about three blocks leading up to the temple at the end before turning left and providing a nice downhill to the Union Pacific train station (little over 1/4mile).

Hopefully the race direction ownership is settled and this race can provide a more secure feeling in the future for those of us that had to travel to the event and were told that even if it is cancelled, there will be no refund. In addition to providing more information, the race directors need to detail the course map better, as very few streets were labeled and previewing the course was difficult.

Kudos to the police department for blocking every cross street on the course. From my experience in many marathons, I have to say that this race had the best police protection of any event I have entered, and logistically, there were a lot of cross streets encountered. The small but enthusiastic crowds were also appreciated as well as the volunteers at all the aid stations.

We stayed at a Hampton Inn downtown and it was very convenient to the expo, to catch the TRAX to the start and about a 4block walk back from the finish as well as an indoor pool and hot tub that came in handy before and after the race. The location is also convenient to the airport. For a Saturday race with an early start, I would think this would be a good choice for those wanting to do a double in one weekend.

It was my first visit to Salt Lake City and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I was a bit worried about the change of organization so close to the race date, but it was probably one of the better organized marathons that I have run.
Pros:
Great city, easy course
Well staffed aid stations and plenty of police support at all road crossings
Beautiful medal
Small expo (which I personally prefer)
Cons:
So-so t-shirt
A race held on Saturday morning. This made it extremely difficult for out of towners to get to the Friday expo before 7pm.

Overall, great race. Thank you SLC!

To a great degree, the Salt Lake City marathon was a positive experience. The important things (those related to the race itself) were done right, but there were too many smaller (and admittedly less important) things that Devine got wrong, suggesting a lack of customer focus and doing things on the cheap.

First the good news:
1. The scenery at the beginning of the course was beautiful. Running with the Wasatch Mountains in the background was a real treat for this flatlander from the east.
2. TRAXX ran at increased frequency, making it easier to get to the start line. It was crowded, but nothing out of the ordinary for a Metro rider from Washington, DC.
3. Packet pick up was a breeze and the volunteers were helpful and friendly.
4. Plenty of sports drink and water handed out by friendly volunteers.
5. Gear pick up was great-the handlers saw me coming and had my bag ready when I arrived. They were also very friendly (seems to be a pattern).

Now the not so good news.
1. It took me 3 emails (which were never responded to) and 3 phone calls to get Devine to send my 'age group award' What was it? A generic finisher's medal-not a special age group award medal, but the common garden variety finisher's medal. In each of the 6 communications, I clearly stated that I was looking for my age group award. This was quite disappointing and has left a sour taste in my mouth about the race as a whole.
2. No pace groups. In an event of this size, pace groups are the norm. Why not this one?
3. The goody bags were about what you'd expect from a neighborhood 5k, not from a race of this size. The bags contained a few fliers hawking goods and services-nothing else. What's the point?
4. The goody bags were supposed to be used as the gear drop bags, according to the event web site, but the bags were flimsy plastic shopping bags. Mine was already ripping when I left the expo. To its credit, Devine did offer sturdy gear bags and permanent markers at the gear drop off point, but there was no way that we would know this in advance.
5. The finisher's medal was a nice design, but exceedingly generic. The medal did not specify the year or date of the race-but there was '2011' on the neck ribbon. Nothing really wrong with this, but it gave the sense of medals on the cheap-they could reuse the same medal next year and just substitute a new ribbon. It sent the wrong message.

Ran the 1/2 marathon this year, and I have to say that the race organizers stepped it up this year. The one area that needed attention, the clothing bag pick up, was organized and handled much better than in the prior two years - and that makes a huge difference. Course was well marked. Aid station at mile 8 for the 1/2 marathoners needs a little attention spacing-wise and help with both water and PowerAde distribution. Post-race support was very good. A great early-season event.

All in all, very good. Volunteer effort was excellent and spectators were great, as always.