Kalamazoo Marathon - Race Reviews

The course has been reworked to be flatter. Gone are the hills at the end. For Kalamazoo mostly rolling hills. Tour of many neighborhoods and had lots of crowd support for the size. Fun experience. Considering all the changes to the organization, a great race.

Great organization and great volunteers, but the course isn't very interesting. Lots of running on major roads/streets without any spectators and not very scenic. If it's sunny on race day, expect to get baked in the sun because there's no shade on the course. The course would be much better if there were more sections on greenways and/or near more interesting nature. If this has been voted the best marathon in Michigan, as they claim it is, I wonder what the other races are like.

Paced for this race, what a lot of fun! aid stations well stocked and in the right places, even had a bacon aid station! If you are going for a specific time there are a few hills later in the race to where you might want to bank a couple minutes before you run them.

Pros: Interesting course, cool weather, good support on the course, bands, good size, free photos, bacon stop (funny but I didn't indulge). Cons: Not much food at the end, lots of turns with a few not well marked, some serious hills.

I needed a spring marathon in southwest Michigan, so I was stuck with Kalamazoo. That was a very lucky break for me, as this is a fun, extremely well organized race. Of the dozen marathons I've run, Kalamazoo is near or at the top for its runner-friendly organization and great community support. From fantastic parking to countless port-a-potties (at the start and throughout the race) to frequent water stops, the organizers do all they can to make sure you enjoy your race day. The people of Kalamazoo are very supportive of runners and proud of their race. While crowds aren't huge and there are many stretches with no spectators, you never go more than a half mile without seeing energetic fans happy to cheer you on. The Kalamazoo marathon is famous for its on-course food perks and it doesn't disappoint - gummy bears (two different neighborhoods), bacon (along with a very loud neighborhood cheering section), oranges in three spots, and popsicles at the top of the course's toughest hill. Multiple private homes also handed out water bottles, juice, or candy from their front lawns along the course. The course itself is relatively scenic, with diverse neighborhoods, a few pretty park areas, and a run through downtown. The course is hilly, but most of the inclines are gradual. At about mile 15, you benefit from a wonderful half mile long descent, but you obviously make up for that descent elsewhere in the race. The city or Kalamazoo takes pride in hosting this race and it leaves a very, very positive impression of the city and it's people. I would highly recommend this race.

I picked this race because the date fit perfect with my schedule and travel, and I had read some good reviews. It was a great experience. The marathon field was small and there were a couple of points where I wasn't certain I was still on the course, but the water stops were plentiful and well stocked, the volunteers were amazing, and the pre and post race congregation was fun. Parts of the course snake through a purely residential neighborhood, and it was great to see so many families parked out on the lawn to watch and cheer. The unofficial aid stations had plenty of gummy bears, Girl Scout Cookies, bacon, freeze pops, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. It's not the kind of race you would seek for continuous crowd support, but I thought it was a really fun community race.

Great course through neighborhoods and a lot of spectators along most of the route. Aid stations were many and spaced appropriately however no ice and the water and gu-beverages were warm. I only saw 5 or 6 mile markers, not sure what the problem was with the missing markers? Overall a good race, nice expo, great post-race facilities. Weather this year was great until the 3rd hour when the temp spiked, however there was a lot of shade on the course.

I decided at the last minute to register for the mitten challenge which included this marathon as the 2nd of two in two days. I needed Wisconsin for my 50 states marathon quest but also decided to do Kalamazoo. I didn't have many expectations going into this race and was surprised to find it was one of the best managed marathons I have run. The crowd support was AMAZING and the aid stations were incredible. Most races you are lucky if you get a GU packet. This race had bacon, girl scout cookies, wafers, gummy bears, etc. plus all your traditional offerings. It was a hard course but well done!!! The community really welcomes runners and supports them. I would recommend this to everyone I know.

My sixth marathon and first Kalamazoo Marathon. The weather was perfect, albeit VERY windy. I was thoroughly impressed by the whole tent city setup, as well a the staging area at Nazareth. It had a small town feel, but big race vibe - very neat! The course was hillier than I had planned on, but not much I can do about that. Course aid stations were outstanding and volunteers were exceptional. Portajons were everywhere and much appreciated. Yes, like any race there are some 'lonely' parts of the course, but that is reality for 26.2 miles. I appreciated the fact that the course showed off wonderful parts about Kalamazoo - all over the area - urban, rural, industrial, parks, university, and everything in between. Additionally, the cheering section between mile 13 and 14 was fantastic. Who doesn't like to run through a tunnel of fans dressed as fruit of the loom characters, nuns, priests, and the Pope? Love it. Great race and see you next year!!!

I agree with every thing the previous 2013 Mitteneer (Kenosha & Kalamazoo marathon on same weekend) said, the organization was fantastic and those doubling had different bibs so got a lot of comments/support for doing and free meal. They may have taken to heart the concern about the WMU campus as this year (2014)there were very exuberant students and supporters there cheering us on. I would also note more porta-potties than any other marathon I have done! The course is moderately hilly but think that helped stretch out the muscles from previous days marathon. There was everything one needed on course (ie sponges, medical aid, and infinite number of smiling volunteers)! Excellent job!

I ran this as part of the Earn Your Mittens challenge with the Wisconsin Marathon the day before. Kalamazoo put on a great race and really did a lot of nice little things to make us Mitteners feel special. There was race day packet pickup. Nice tech shirt, great medal and a nice extra medal for finishing the challenge. The spectators were fantastic and so were the volunteers. Plenty of well stocked aid stations, and very frequent. This year, it was warm and there was plenty of water and Gu brew even for a back of the pack runner like me. They announced my name as I crossed the mat. We also got a nice meal with different options-taco or chili or hot dog, cookie or yogurt or fruit, etc. It was a nice atmosphere to sit and hang out at the finish and enjoy the great weather and your achievment. The course was challenging, with some rollers. I like the areas in the park, the lake and the neighborhoods. The loops around the WMU campus were very dull, but no race is perfect. I also liked that the half marathon split off from the full marathon early on and by the time I reached the point where they met up again, the half marathoners were long gone. Popsicle hill and Bacontown....lots of great spectators! Also, parking near the start was a breeze.

Lots of support from organizers, volunteers and the community. Enthusiasm runs high all around the course. The race is small enough and the roads wide enough that running is always comfortable. If you like music, you can also hear a lot of great pianists at the Gilmore Festival.

You can tell that the organizers worked very hard to make this a good experience for everyone. Fans along the route seemed genuinely pleased that you would come to their town to run a marathon. Overall I thought it was a great experience. The course gives you quite a mix. After running, I felt like I had a good sense of Kalamazoo. Some charming parts (downtown area, university campus, parks, including some running on a paved path), but also some sections that were not-so-charming (a busy street with auto-dealers and strip malls). Also residential neighborhoods. I enjoyed the course much more than I expected. Im a bit surprised to see all the comments about the hills  I guess this all depends on what you are used to. If you are used to pancake-flat courses, then, yes, you will find some hills here. But this is by no means a hilly course  it is mostly flat with a few rather mild hills thrown in for variation. I enjoy running hills, and would have loved more on the course. (No criticism here  different runners have different preferences.)

This was a VERY well organized event! Positives - I thought the course was pretty & the spectators were tremendous - especially through some of the neighborhoods. Also, the police on the course were the friendliest of any marathon I've ran. They were actually cheering for us in addition to monitoring traffic! The course was way hillier than I expected, but that's not a bad thing. It definitely made it more challenging if you weren't hill-prepared. But, it also mixed it up some. Negatives - The only negative I have is that I didn't feel there were enough water stations on the marathon course. I would have liked to see 3 or 4 more out there. There were times (& it was a hot second half of the race) that it seemed like forever between water stops. The stops also used Dixie cups for water & they were only half-full. This required the runner to take 4 or 5 little cups to get enough. If the stops were a little more frequent, I think this would have been fine. Over all, a very nice event.

For a first-time marathon, all areas were at or above expectations. I liked the course. With the many different angles of running, my legs recovered well.

Will definitely repeat. A few areas of the course are not the nicest, but overall a nice race.

Great organization, nice course, cool medal.

Have pace clocks out on the course to make it easier to keep track of your time.

The course was a little tough for me, with so much hill, esp., at the end, but the community support more than made up for that. There was a little confusion at the half/full split. I almost knocked down a young man trying to get through the throng to go straight for the full. Sorry young man, whoever you are. I sadly had to bypass the Girl Scout cookies since I was taking advantage of Bronson's downhill gravity to make up for the time I lost hugging so many spectators. Of course I knew the spectators I hugged, or at least I thought I did. It was WONDERFUL ! The bands were good. The water stops fantastic! AND whoever that guy was on that last hill yelling his lungs out at all of us to get up that hill, THANK YOU !

Great course and unbelievable crowd support. The atmosphere in the Winchell neighborhood was the best. First-class event that I won't miss next year! Great job, everyone!!!

I loved this race. Very impressive organization considering this was the inaugural running. So much live music along the course - loved it! Well stocked and manned water and aid stations. Great community support along the route. Great post-race areas with shaded rest areas and a beer tent! Beautiful medals. Nice that it was the same weekend as Art Hop in downtown Kalamazoo. All my runner friends also expressed how much fun the day was. The course itself is certainly hilly, but that's Kalamazoo. Can't wait for next year!

This was my first ever marathon and I had so much fun running it that I'll be doing it again next year.

Challenging course but good. Loved the community support. Weather got hot; we needed more closely spaced water stations in the last 10 miles or so. Didn't much like miles 16 to 20 because that stretch was not an attractive part of Kazoo and there was no shade, unlike in some of the neighborhoods. A last-minute change to the course appeared to add an additional 0.25 to 0.3 miles. Expo needed to be held in a larger room.

Most of the killer hills were in the last 4 miles.

The course was not clearly marked and I almost went the wrong way twice. The start was crowded because both the half marathon and marathon started at the same time and it was confusing when the two courses split. It was confusing to tell the difference between the gu brew and water. The awards were not organized and I had to wait three hours after completing my marathon, also there was no award for the top three overall male and female which is a big accomplishment and should have special awards. There was barely any crowd support by Parchment, where the hardest part of the race was.

I would like to see the split times from tracking.

excellent organization, amazing support, great course. only suggestion for next year would be to have water and gu brew stations consistent (maybe w/ signs). sometimes water was first and sometimes brew. I inadvertently dumped a couple gu brews on my head. :)

Not many port-a-potties or toilets before the race, or on the course during the race. Since the marathon was first, followed by the other races, it would have been nice if there was an announcement over the PA asking for people to allow those running the marathon first dibbs on the bathrooms. The course was OK. You got to see part of downtown Kalamazoo as well as Western Michigan University. The splits for the marathon and half-marathon were poorly marked. There was very little notice, and no colored arrows or other markings to let you know of the split. At the end of the race, there were spectators in the shoot area where runners were after finishing the race. The medal for the marathon finishers was nice. There was a huge grass infield after the race with a few vendors, and served as a place to meet family. A lot of races are now finishing at a football stadium. I would like to see a finish at the Western Michigan University football stadium next year if all possible. We ran on the road next to the stadium, so it's certainly possible. Overall, not a bad race. However, for a race of similar size and nearby, the Grand Rapids Marathon is a better race in every aspect.

To be honest, as a local, I was a little apprehensive about the expansion of the annual 1/2 marathon to a full in 2011. Some positives: The organizers reached out to various running groups and communities to stage the event and I was impressed by how much local attention and involvement they generated before, during and after the event. The planning committee was and is very attentive to runner comments/ideas so I expect any shortfalls this year will be ironed out next year. Organization along the course was pretty good, lots of Gu stations (more than I've seen in most of my races), a few neighborhoods really were out in force and (since some of the course isn't closed) good traffic control. As a local though, I think the course was 'fair'. Having the race start and finish at the sponsor Borgess complex rather limits some creative opportunities around town (i.e I would have liked to see the finish at the festival site downtown). Anyway, my biggest concern; however, was the starting zone congestion. It was not very organized and you had friends/family milling about with the runners while pace groups were clumped together until the last minutes and runners/spectators were pushing their way in and out to get to their respective places. Like I said though, I'm certain that will be sorted out next year.

The course, aid stations and crowd support were very well planned. The weather was perfect. The kid-friendly finish area, with inflatables for the kids and shade tents for anyone were tremendous. Course had more hills than I expected, but its rolling nature kept it interesting. Loved the funny, chalk-written messages on the asphalt on the way up one particularly big hill. Pace teams were spot on. This was my second marathon and I PR'd.

I did the half. 1. Parking and packet pick-up were easy and painless. 2. The starting corral was very narrow and congested. Once the race began, it was fine. It was difficult to line up towards the front unless you were willing to stand around for a long time. 3. The course had a lot more spectators than I expected. Parts of it were scenic and parts were industrial. Two pretty good uphills. 4. After the 11 mile-mark, one runner near me didn't see the turn-around. No one was there to alert us. I then nearly missed the trail were supposed to turn at. There were no arrows/cones/volunteers directing. 5. There was a long wait for results/awards. 6. The announcer was tireless and inspiring. It was a good effort for an inaugural race, but there is room for improvement.

This was a very nice, first-time marathon, with some hills thrown in to make it more challenging. There are 2 big hills in the last 10 miles that reduced most of us to walkers. Definitely not a Boston qualifier! I was surpised when the "beer garden" at the finish line charged $4 a beer with no free beers for the runners. I'm not in the habit of carrying money in a marathon. The Sat. night pasta feed was very good and cheap. If I lived within 250 miles, I would run it again.

The pros: Registration and expo for package pick up was seamless. Pace groups were abundant. Good quality New Balance tech shirt and attractive medal. GREAT crowd turnout along the course. Truly a community event. Traffic control was perfect. The cons: Website could use some work. No info on what participants were getting. Start was crowded. Need to separate full from half. Mile markers per Garmin were off after mile 9/10. Water stations too far apart and crowded. Post race included/free food was limited to bananas and orange pieces. Bonus: the hills - up and down should not be underestimated.