I really wanted to love this race. It sounded awesome from the description, and the feedback that I had heard was all positive. However, it ended up being my most frustrating race experience ever.

I read that there would be traffic, but there was nothing that could have prepared me for what it actually was. It took me 2 hours to drive the final 2 miles to the parking lot. It was absurd. I saw many people getting out of cars and just walking the final mile to the starting line. Not good. I had planned on getting to the race 2 hours early to deal with the traffic, pick up my packet, stretch out, use the restroom and all that good stuff. But when I finally got parked, there was only a mere 5 minutes left before the race started. There HAS to be a better way to handle parking. Use a different parking lot and shuttle people to the start line, or something.

Which brings me to the second big problem I faced. I live in Allentown, PA, which is about 2 hours from the race. Because of this I decided to pass on attending the expo, and I paid an extra $25 for race day packet and bib pickup. When I finally arrived, I learned that my packet had, in fact, NOT been picked up, which means I had no bib, no shirt, no packet, and no gear check bag, and the race was about to start. I was able to get a replacement bib, but with no check bag, and absolutely no time left to spare before the start, I couldn't run my wallet and phone back to my vehicle in time, so I was forced to run with them in my running belt pack. It was not pleasant.

That being said, the actual course was not bad. The course was flat and easy to run. Weather was good, and there were some very scenic areas, which is what I typically like in my races. The water stations were incredibly well handled, and plentiful.

There were certain sections of the race that were very narrow, and gave runners was no room to pass anyone in front of you. I would have preferred if these areas could have been avoided, as I was legitimitely worried of tripping and then getting trampled. Even with these sections, though, I enjoyed the course.

Overall, here is what I took away:

Pros:

Nice, flat course, with a fair amount of crowd support.

A few scenic areas, and a cool finish line area.

Great Water Stations.

The support for the Boston Marathoners was great. At one point I ran behind a person with a sign that said 'I made it 25.7 miles at Boston. I WILL finish today!' Very Cool.

Cons:

Terrible, terrible race organization (seriously... I've emailed you guys 5 times about getting my shirt. Please send me one).

Awful Traffic getting to the starting line. There has got to be a better way to do it.

Expensive. I believe I paid $125 for the race. Then I wasted another $25 for the race day packet pickup which didn't happen.

Medal was alright. I can't comment on the race shirt, because again... I never got one.


Bottom line is this. This is an alright race, and I had a fun time running it, but I would never do it again.

Bring everything you need. Small expo. Plan to get to the start EARLY. Rte 36 is jammed and you can miss the start if you are caught in traffic. The half marathoners have an earlier start which means my house guests are done long before me. I am a marathoner.

NJ Marathon was my very first marathon in 2007, and it was a wonderful experience. I have run the race 6 times now since 2007 (excluding 2012), and the race is getting worse every year. Damage from Sandy had nothing to do with the decline. Just glancing at statistics, the enrollment in the Half and Full is also declining.

The course is nice, but for the Marathon, there were almost no spectators and it was a GREAT NJ May day, perfect temps! The logo, shirt, and medal are so commercialized now and have lost the appeal of the old Horse Shoe medal with every town's name participating. The finish line for the full was embarrassing - Gatorade and left over pretzels from the Half Marathoners, and a bag with a beat up banana and a couple salt water taffies. I am a proud NJ native, was always proud of this race, and have been a Pace Group Leader for NJ Marathon 2 times now; however, I think, sadly, 2013 was my last NJ Marathon.

Ran this as my first marathon a few years ago. I had a great experience and I am on my way to running a marathon in every state. I would definitely recommend this marathon for anyone looking to do a marathon in NJ.

A flat course along the long branch jersey shore. Well organized event. I ran the race twice, yesterday and last yr and was satisfied with the way the race was held. The spectators were awesome and were there everywhere throughout the course.Plenty of volunteers and fluid stations every two miles.I would definitely recommend running this race.

After running 140+ marathons. I have see the good and the bad. This was bad.

The good: 1. very good aid stations, actually excellent.



The Bad:
1. The worst is running a small side walk with no where to pass. The side walk is three feet wide and with broken pavement. There are way too may runners for being confined to a three foot side
walk. The course needs to be totally on wide streets. In fair disclosure, I fell on these side walks and was nearly trampled to death. One kind runner helped me.

2. The expo is held at a house race track. I walked thru off track betting. The expo was non-existant, why have at a race track?.

3. Most volunteers could not answer any questions, such as where are the buses that return runners from the finish to the start of the race.

4. Yes I received alot of e-mails but it was the same information again and again. Not all that useful.

5.You pay five dollars for parking at this huge lot with thousands of cars. What a joke. It seemed just another way to make money off runners.

5. The goody bad was ok. Two little bars, a banana and a pretzel.

Overall, I think the course is the thing that has to improve. I would not recommend running this course unless they use streets and not narrow broken up side walks and narrow paths.

The course organizers made sure that we were informed of the traffic at the beginning. I was coming from a little less than an hour away and it took exactly 2 hours to get there. We arrived around 6:45 and we were able to park without a problem in the Monmouth parking lot (less than 1/4 mile walk to the start). The women's bathrooms and porta potties were out of toilet paper due to the amount of 1/2 marathoners that started before the full. So make sure you have tissues with you!

There was great communication during the start. Race officials were inside letting everyone know that they should start heading to the corrals. The race started exactly on time and the corrals started within 15-30 seconds of each other. Lots of crowd support and they played 'Born to Run' at the start of each group.

The course was different from the years past because of the damage from Sandy. I realize that this is something that was unavoidable but it meant, for a short amount of time, that we were running on uneven sidewalks and sand. I did not feel safe and a runner fell due to these conditions. That is the reason I gave it 3 stars. I was running with someone who had done the course before and he told me how different it was this year. The other 90% of the course was great. We saw some beautiful 'houses' (really they were the size of 2 mansions merged as 1) and some great views of the shore.

During the race: aid stations were very well organized- water cups were different from the Gatorade cups and the volunteers communicated very well. There were also a lot of bananas and choices for gu. I carry a hand-held water bottle and stopped twice to fill it up, both times the volunteers were very accommodating and helped me fill up quickly. Overall, the crowd support/volunteers were wonderful. Crowd support was a little sparse during the last 5 miles (which seems to be typical because at that point everyone wants to be at the finish). There were a couple of bands who sounded great and a few people playing music. I think that the course could have used more music especially at the end.

There was way too much walking after the finish. It was hard to get to your family/friends due to the extra security. I did not really want food at the end but I still have no idea where the food tent was located. There could have been more signs at the end but I was also a little out of it so I may have missed them.

My fiancee followed me during the race. She was able to leave Monmouth park almost immediately and did not have to pay the $5 when leaving. She was able to see me around mile 8 and 14. She was worried about parking at the end and getting to the finish so she left a good amount of time to get there. She has a lot of experience following me around at races and says that this one was pretty easy to get around. She used the turn-by-turn information that was at the expo. She was able to park about 1/2 mile- 3/4 mile away from the finish for free without much a problem.

Hats off to the folks for setting up post-Boston safety; however, CAN WE PLEASE figure out a way to get some officers to run the traffic lights so they're a bit longer than 4 car lengths at a time... Jeez! Leaving a hotel 10 miles away 1.5 hrs before the start of the race and making it w/ 10 minutes to spare is unacceptable. (oh, and I overheard the RD's tv interview about 'people need to leave earlier' when I dropped off my gear bag... Ugh!)

Parking was extremely poor and not well organized. The worst part was the SEA of walkers that I came upon around mile 8ish. So many people walking 3 and 4 abreast that it totally made the next 4 miles miserable. Why they start the full marathon later than the half is beyond me. I'd never run it again unless they changed the times around!!!!

Race was very well organized, course was good (though tantalizingly close to the ocean but hiding it for most of the run). Medals were nice, T's were good (course map on T back was interesting!). The biggest differentiator for this race was the way organizers engaged the runners from months before - a very interactive Facebook presence, organized group training runs, free clinics etc. Made a lot of new running friends thanks to this.

Could improve - expo logistics... Had to drive 100+ miles on two consecutive days just to pick up bib. Expo was smallish. Race start of 8 am for marathon did not matter, had to get there before 6 am to avoid road closures, meant leaving home at an unearthly 4:45 am and still got stuck in traffic.