This marathon was absolutely wonderful! I trained in freezing, icy/snowy conditions in the Northeast and was only slightly concerned about the heat, I'm not sure why everyone is complaining about it here it honestly didn't bother me at all. It was about 80 degrees. 5 am start time, kind of rough but it has to be that early given the weather in that region, and the water/aid station markers on the maps were COMPLETELY wrong. Threw me off big time. This was the first PR marathon, and you go through an abandoned part of town at one point, not to mention the early hour so there are virtually no spectators. The best part though was that there were zero hills. The end gets a little messy because you zig-zag quite a bit and at that point you're already tired and confused, but I saw nothing of 'full marathon runners getting confused at mile 21' it was very well marked and full of bike medics, officers and people directing you where to go. It was fine. Water and Gatorade stands fully stocked, volunteers were GREAT and enthusiastic. Beautiful scenery, great place to vacation before your race. I would absolutely do this again.

The Good:
Small but well organized expo. Well organized/encouraging start line. All runners/walkers very happy and singing. Great finish line!

The Bad:
Puerto Rico Marathon in May? really??? Did the organizers take into consideration the high humidity and heat? At mile one-dark, no light, Not sure if any runners or walkers slip and fell at mile one - since it was still dark no light

The Ugly: For the full marathon: No support: No AID station (no water), No first aid station and NO crowds from mile 9-mile 18. At mile 19 we got to an AID station, only one person helping and No Water, No Ice and they ran out of cups! And yes, hills!

Mile 21 - by the convention center; it was very confusing where to go; I asked the police and they said that the marathon is over, what really? It is 10am; the course was going to be taken down at 11am. I ran half a mile just to find out that it was the wrong course, so had to back track to get back on the course

The direct heat was unbearable; i felt that i was going to DNF but manage to stay on the course, thanks to my team that waited for me at mile 23 that gave me the encouragement to finish.

Will I do this marathon again? No

Will I visit Puerto Rico for vacation -definately Yes!!

Recommentations: Have more AID/Water stations between mile 9-22; Have the marathon during January of February; The police should know the course; have blocks of ice at mile 20-23 so that runners can sit on the ice and cool off - similiar to the Honolulu Marathon.

Thanks!

The Good:
Small but well organized expo. Well organized/encouraging start line. All runners/walkers very happy and singing. Great finish line!

The Bad:
Puerto Rico Marathon in May? really??? Did the organizers take into consideration the high humidity and heat? At mile one-dark, no light, Not sure if any runners or walkers slip and fell at mile one - since it was still dark no light

The Ugly: For the full marathon: No support: No AID station (no water), No first aid station and NO crowds from mile 9-mile 18. At mile 19 we got to an AID station, only one person helping and No Water, No Ice and they ran out of cups! And yes, hills!

Mile 21 - by the convention center; it was very confusing where to go; I asked the police and they said that the marathon is over, what really? It is 10am; the course was going to be taken down at 11am. I ran half a mile just to find out that it was the wrong course, so had to back track to get back on the course

The direct heat was unbearable; i felt that i was going to DNF but manage to stay on the course, thanks to my team that waited for me at mile 23 that gave me the encouragement to finish.

Will I do this marathon again? No

Will I visit Puerto Rico for vacation -definately Yes!!

Recommentations: Have more AID/Water stations between mile 9-22; Have the marathon during January of February; The police should know the course; have blocks of ice at mile 20-23 so that runners can sit on the ice and cool off - similiar to the Honolulu Marathon.

Thanks!

I've run 4 prior marathons, this was my fifth and worst by far; MANY complaints, mostly re disorganization. 1) critical info, ie raceday instructions, not updated on site until week of, 2) signage TERRIBLE, the half and full courses started together, 1 little sign at the breakoff point, numerous full runners accidentally ran the half, including my fiancee who's run 3 full-marathons and numerous halfs before with no issues 3) no timing clocks on course, mile-markers inconsistent 4) expo practically non-existent with scarce merchandise and only X-large shirt sizes left and race shirt size (pre-registered) not available 5) Parking unclear, no one directing cars the morning of race 6) course route unclear, and there were cars driving along the course which runners needed to avoid 7) small pool of runners and spectators 8) no publicity, my hotel along the course had no idea it was happening on day before 9) raceday extremely hot, course was hot and wound through suburban neighborhoods, sunny, asphalt, heat islands
Pros (big one) volunteers on course and at expo were awesome and VERY spirited
Bottomline: Confusing preparation and execution, many elite runners had to walk due to heat, many full-marathon runners ran the half by mistake, signage and traffic maintenance terrible, water/food stations and volunteers were great, small pool of participants; I wouldn't consider running this again unless another management takes over and improves these basic issues;

I did the half marathon. The organization of the race was great!! It was the weather that was disgustingly hot. We started at 5am which was great but by 5:40 it started to get light and then 6:30am it was beaming hot. There was an awesome amount of water and gatorade along the route. I was not impressed with the actual route we had to run though. The 'scenery' was nice for about 1 or 2 miles, that was it. I didn't feel comfortable running through the rest. Majority of the race was in direct sunlight. A few times I felt like I was going to pass out due to heat exhaustion. Nonetheless, I'm glad I went, but wouldn't do this race again.

Class A race and organization. Top notch. Water and Gatorade stations were well stocked. Easy to retrieve items. Course was very well marked. However, timing clocks would have been nice. The weather wore down EVERYONE. I produced my worst time ever and ironically was proud of it. Brutal conditions.
Viva Puerto Rico!

Hopefully first and last PR marathon. Premium entry Fee, low grade race. Almost non-existent medical support. Confusing course- several full marathoners got confused at mile 21. Also, Puerto Rico in May??? over 90 degrees with super high humidity.