It was my 1st marathon so I'm not in the best position to judge... but others seemed to agree with me. There needed to be more aid stations, and at times when on the back roads, you get pretty lonely because there's no other runners in sight. Additionally, sometimes you could come to an intersection and not know for sure if you needed to turn or not. Most of the time they painted arrows on the road, but they missed it here and there.

I ran the half, but the course for the full is even better. Part of course (8 miles) is on flat, paved rail to trail, with the rest on rolling (yes, hills), scenic country roads. All of the frills of a big marathon without the cost or hassle. Bargain rates for early registration, or you can even register race day. Boston qualifier; close parking; great goody bags; nice, tech, long-sleeve shirts; well manned water stops; GU on course; nice, dated medals; quick results; great age-group awards (Run-Dri, vented hat with race logo), plenty of food and drink at the finish (PowerAde, bananas, big muffins, cookies, Panera bread, etc.). Digital images taken on the course were offered at bargain rates. Race Director Tim Payne makes this event totally runner-friendly! Can't wait to run the Wild Life next year!

The course was challenging, with rolling hills on dirt roads for the middle miles. It would have been nice to have more aid stations out on the course. It was lonely at times during the marathon, with hardly any spectators on the marathon course, except for traffic control and at aid stations. More post-race food would be a good idea too; I think the half-marathon runners ate everything! I thought the race director did a good job with it this year. I can see this race getting bigger and bigger every year. Hard course to run your best time though.