organization:
Pros: Plenty of parking at the start, well stocked fluid stations, several food & gel spots on the course, easy packet pickup, beer, fruit & Gatorade at the finish, tech shirt, Snickers bars & other Mars food samples, expo is efficient size with anything you may have left at home
Cons: the finish area could be closer to the car (I think some recent flooding may have altered the original finish area, but I don't know), only one portable heater at the finish area (the 39 degree temps were too chilly for me to stick around in the cold), I didn't notice any portalets at the start

Course:
essentially a flat course run entirely on asphalt roads with a few small rises, but nothing bad in my opinion, well marked with plenty of police or volunteers at intersections, clocks at miles 10, 13.1 & 20 (I think 25 also, but I'm not certain), the last few miles run through some nice tree-lined streets

Spectatos:
the crowd support was very friendly, lively and energetic when you ran by them. It's also nice to run with a friend that gets the crowd involved as he runs.

Volunteers:
each stop was well manned with Gatorade and water and there was gel and/or bananas and oranges at several points along the course, the temps didn't get over 40 so I am very thankful for the efforts and time these people gave for us

This race was my second year running the Albany Marathon. The weather was ideal this year (compared to last year). The course is not pancake flat, but it's definitely a fast course, with enough roll to avoid a flat fatigue. For a small town race, the community supports this event with enthusiastic aid stations. The course is easily accessed by any supporters/family someone may have. The pacer I followed for this race was fantastic, finishing within seconds (under) the pace group time. I would definitely recommend this race for someone looking for a fast time, without the glut and excess of large marathons.

Gently rolling hills, just enough to shake up your legs.

LOVE the turtle bling... Too many finisher medals today look like every other finisher medal or just in creative and big (gag me). Nice to have something unique!!

Spectators enthusiastic from front of pack to the back if packed

Organized like a well oiled machine.

Pace leaders did a great job

Great race

I wish the race were not advertised as flat because that is really my only minor quibble with what is an otherwise outstanding event, a hidden gem that will probably only get better with age.

As to the course, I would describe it as gently rolling with some mild hills but very definitely not flat. There are also a LOT of twists and turns on the back half, make sure you hit the tangents or you are going to run a lot farther than 26.2 miles. Your GPS is going to give you very misleading splits (mine said 26.5 miles and it's usually quite accurate) so it would be nice to have the official clock at more than 10, 13.1 & 20 miles.

Spectator support was minimal but it was cold in 2013 and I wouldn't have stood outside in 30ish degree windy weather either. My hat is off to the volunteers who did an outstanding job. The race was very well organized, from the expo/check in to race start to the finish line and I never worried about getting off course, was well marked with tape on the roads for the myriad of turns. Very nice technical shirt and the medal was fine.

I really wish the weather had been better as there was beer in the finisher area but I was shivering too much to stick around, probably dehydrated which hopefully explains my last 4-6 miles :-)

I ran the HALF MARATHON.

The weather was 34 and cloudy at race start time.

This was my first Half Marathon. I finished in about 2:10. I finished really strong after starting with some serious adversity. I had crippling shin splints the first 3 miles. I'm not sure if it was because the weather was cold (34) or what the reason. Regardless it caused for some 13 minute splits. My last split was low 8's so all the training and preparation paid off once the shin pain passed.

It was a great course. Flat and beautiful through some of Albany's oldest neighborhoods. The crowd turn-out was weak but I think the brutally cold weather was a big reason.

It was a fun race and my adversity at the beginning only made my strong finish more special.

I will definitely do it again!

An awesome race in spite of the weather.Relatively flat with nice crowd support. Tried to get in a popular Italian restaraunt the night before but the crowd was a mob and the wait was going to be over twice as long as reservation stated. We went to the Albany Mall by chance and tried the Sunset Grill.The food was fabulous, fast, and reasonably priced. Overall an excellent race.

Excellent organization - and the rain kept some volunteers away but wow the ones out there meant it!


6 million thumbs up for no 'flags' of the race. The race must go on! Yeah! This race is at the top of my list in the future- you can trust they will give you your money's worth!

Pace team FUN and excellent.

Great race, done it several years now, will do it again.

I was looking for a flat run within a day's drive of Charlotte, NC. Would have been great except 70 degrees, rain yes, but I found the humidity much more of a problem. Not to mention getting my shoes soaked with the extra weight. I rang my shirt out every 30 min and it was mostly sweat. A day later, it was sunny, 44 deg with 70% humidity. Oh well. Lots of good aid stations. I finished the race with more snacks in my pockets than I started with!

My comments are biased by a 6min PR. The weather did not cooperate: 70deg+rain. The course was flat and scenic with a few rolling hills (unexpected) and more turns than ideal (traffic, shmaffic. I took the tangent anyway!)

This was the first race I ran with a pace group. Worked great until mile 17 when our pacer had to drop off. He did an excellent job up to then. With the conditions, I think only two finished at the goal pace (I missed it by 100 sec).

The volunteers and spectators of Albany were real troopers. I'm going to do this one again!

This was marathon #27 for me. I'd love to say I enjoyed it but it's tough when you run through a monsoon for virtually the entire time. That's not indicative of the organizer's efforts. Just plain bad luck!

The good:

I'm a fan of small expos these days and this one took about 5 minutes to get through. I definitely liked it!

The race started on time! Definitely a bonus as there have been too many times we've started 10-15 minutes later than advertised. I'm not an elite by any stretch but starting on time should be easy!

The last half of the course was great! I know I would have enjoyed it more had the weather been even average but despite the monsoon, I liked the backdrop of the last part!

Aid stations were well stocked and frequent places to grab bananas and oranges. Much appreciated!

Volunteers were fantastic. I know I wouldn't have been out there had I not been running and for their support it was awesome! thank you! Thank you!! thanks you!!

Participants- the race is capped at 2,000 and with the half branching off after 1 block, it's VERY easy to get into your rhythm.

prerace parking- EASY!! You can literally park in the lot by the start 5-10 minutes before the gun goes off if you want! It was perfect!

The bad:

Too many vehicles allowed on the course. I was a little unnerved a few times by 'official' vehicles who were behind me. I didn't know what they were going to do so I had to alter my patha few times just to be sure. A little communication would have helped.

Aid stations- the course offered one every 2 miles until 19 then one every mile. I think there was 1-2 stations missed at the end. Not a big deal but don't advertise it if it's not the case.

Weather-definitely NOT the organizer's fault but man was it bad! Tornado warning while the race was going on didn't help much, either! Then the continual rain. yikes! Not bashing the organizers at all on this one!

All in all, it's a good race but not a great one! If you're a 50 stater, it's a good race and one which could be a PR course on the right weather day. I'd probably never use it as an 'A' or 'focus' race but for a long training run, it was great!