You improved the stuff that needed improving. Great course, great aid stations. See you next year. Thanks again!

Well done! You took the comments from last year and improved the things that needed some help. Check in was quick. Loved the free preserves and fresh muffins. Aid stations were well stocked with very friendly people. Course was rolling, with a couple of little climbs. Come on, people; this is east Tennessee... you're surrounded by mountains! Plenty of police officers out on the course helping with traffic flow. Finisher's medal and age group award prizes were unique! I only gave one star for spectators because there weren't many, but if you need cheering crowds, go run a big-city race. I loved being able to park my car and walk 15 feet to the starting line!

I have run marathons in Chicago, Boston, Nashville, Memphis and will run New Orleans in February. This one cannot compare to these. However, just a few comments: one, it was not a flat course. Memphis is a flat course. You could have described it differently. The water stations were well manned and conveniently spaced. The law officers were polite and helpful. The check-in for preregistered runners was not very well manned. It was sort of chaos. Next time you need to have a better check-in plan. All and all, it was a good race. Thanks for trying.

The website advertises this marathon and half marathon as "One of the flattest in the southeast." This course is the OPPOSITE of flat. This was a VERY hilly course that had not only extremely steep hills at miles 3 and 17, but also a 4-mile incline from miles 8-12, and another one from 21-25. It was brutal if you were expecting flat or moderately flat.

Positives:
Volunteers were extremely nice. It had a very quaint small-town atmosphere. Aid stations were very well stocked. Nice, long-sleeve t-shirt.

Negatives:
Very hilly course on open streets. Race organization was a bit chaotic.

This was a great little marathon. It was a relatively flat (for an eastern Tennessee) course. There weren't many spectators along the course the second time around, but all of the folks at aid stations were friendly.

A marathon for a great cause; I hope they made their goal. The course was fantastic. Two loops of a 13.1-mile route, with a few challenging hills in the first half of each loop, and gentle hills in the second half of each loop. The weather was damp, then rainy, then sunny, then rainy.... Not much you can do about the weather. There was quite a headwind on the first half of each loop, and not much of a tailwind coming back, until about the last mile or so. The water stops were too far apart; I would have liked to see them every two miles. The water stops were well stocked, with food at every stop. Not very many mileage signs; I had to look for the spray-painted numbers on the asphalt. Finish line was not well manned and not visibly marked with a sign, and traffic cones blocked the last turn to the finish, so it was hard to tell where to run. The thin crowds and few runners made this a great race between yourself and the clock.