This was my first marathon and I definitely chose the right one! The organization was fantastic, the course was great, and the spectators were very encouraging. I couldn't have chosen a better marathon experience!

There were some tough hills late in race, but compared to Boston, it was no biggie. Beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery! Perfect time of the year for a marathon!! The trail part of the race was fun... flat and fun. I will be back soon to do this marathon again!!

Steamtown is a great race that is very well organized. The course is not as easy as you might think a downhill race would be, but it changes a lot and keeps you interested. The fans are so great! It's not a huge crowd, but there seemed to be fans along the entire course, so you are rarely running "into nowhere." I especially loved the high school band with the wild trombone player. I ran horribly in this race (I have no one to blame but myself), but I would come back anytime.

This was a great event. I've run several different marathons from the huge (NYC) to the small (Hamptons), and this was the most enjoyable. The weather was great, and the spectators are wonderful. Organization was great, and the email communication couldn't be more informative or entertaining. I'll be back next year, and I'm bringing my friends! North East PA is a great region, and the people couldn't be nicer.

This was my third and favorite marathon. I trained really hard and was able to BQ, probably because I listened to the advice from the race organizers and took it easy in the first half on the downhills. Up until the day before the marathon, I planned to "bank" time on the downhills in the first half. Then I went to the marathon expo and listened to some of the past winners and others talk about the importance of not going faster than your desired even splits in the first half. They explained it has banking effort instead of banking time, and that made sense to me. And it worked. I ran a faster second half than first half despite the tough hills at the end. And they are tough, but you're so close to the finish that you can handle it.

The crowd support was also great. Every small town turns out to cheer. High school bands are out, little kids hand out orange slices and bananas - it's awesome.

I really liked the trail section of the course. If you're used to running on trails at all, you won't even notice it, except for one section - probably a quarter of a mile in total - that was particularly spongey because it was on wood chips.

This was and always has been a great race. Well organized, great support, and a challenging course. You can easily blow up if you go out too fast on the downhills. I BQed here this year!

Steamtown is the same year after year.

Everyone associated with the race (organizers, volunteers and spectators) does an outstanding job of making everything enjoyable for the runners. They are some of the nicest people that I have ever met. I definitely got my money's worth, and I look forward to returning for the eighth time in 2010.

This race was awesome. It is a very fast course in the first half. The second half is not bad at all. The last 10K are where the hills come in. It was so good. It was only my second marathon, but it was awesome. Great organization. I PR'd by 57 minutes.

It was everything I thought it would be and more - the start from the heated gym, the flat course, the very supportive fans and the minor hills at the end. I train on hills, so the hills at the end did not bother me. The final hill is wonderful because you can see the finish line from there and it is all downhill. The only negative comment I have has to do with the shower facilities. Only three showers for the men? What were they thinking?

I got my PR here by six minutes and would like to come back and try for my BQ.

Great job, Steamtown!!

This race was so well organized. It had the perfect mix of trails and roads on the course. The community support is amazing! They make you feel like a super star! Thank you volunteers and students from nearby schools!! The course itself needs to be run at a consistent pace and it will give you the reward of a fast time. People that ran out too fast on the downhills were the ones that were hurting at the end. The race expo even had a session on how to run the course - it was very helpful. I would recommend this race to any marathon runner. It was highly organized - the pre-race emails had me laughing. :) I will come back again!!! Nice job, organizers!