Omaha Marathon - Race Reviews

Maybe because my expectations were low given past complaints on this site, but I was pleased with the race. The course was not very exciting but it was fair with some undulating hills and a mixture of urban and country. It was a hot day, but the organizers were prepared with adequate aid stations, after being "black flagged" at another Omaha marathon two years earlier, I'm pleased that the racers were allowed to choose for themselves whether they continued. The medal and shirt were very nice with no ads on the shirt. Stop at Infusion Brewing for carb loading.

Since taking over this event in 2013, HITS Endurance (the organization from NY who purchased it from the previous race director) has literally managed to 'run' it into the ground. Almost 6000 people participated in it when the Omaha Running Club was involved and they ensured it was well organized, doing all of the work for the paid race director/previous owner. I ran the half and 10K several times before moving to KC. Participation has declined since as the new owners have declined assistance and ignored advice from the local running community experts. In 2020, 'almost 800' were registered (according to one of the news stories) and just over 600 finished the events. Comments on social media regarding the marathon being long (anywhere from 26.8 to 27.2 miles) have been brushed off by event staff, saying 'the course was USATF certified'. That does not mean the course was marked correctly by the organizers! Results not available during the race (in 2018, the last time I ran it, the results were not published for 3 days after the event), inadequately marked course, limited aid stations, poor quality shirts, and medals and neck ribbons without the event date have been a common complaint since 2014. HITS has had opportunities to correct all of these but has failed! Avoid this event at all costs. I gave them another shot in 2020 because I believe in 2nd chances. Call me silly. Never again. I would recommend the Heartland Marathon which was established by the Omaha Running Club after HITS told them that they did not need their assistance and expertise!!

I don't usually write many reviews, but I feel that I really need to write a review for this one. I am a 50 state runner and chose this race because it fit my schedule, and because it is the 2nd largest Nebraska race in terms of marathon runners. PLEASE read the reviews from 2018...I wish I had! NOTHING HAS CHANGED!!! I know that race directors deal with a lot of logistics so I generally try to be understanding about issues. However, I have run hundreds of races of all different kinds and distances, and this was BY FAR THE WORST RACE ORGANIZATION I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! From the beginning... The race description from 2011 above the comments is WRONG. There is NO MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT EITHER ON COURSE OR AFTER THE RACE! THE COURSE DOES NOT GO THROUGH OLD MARKET AND DOES NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THE DOORLY ZOO, CONAGRA CAMPUS, OR ROSENBLATT STADIUM!! The "Fitness Expo"...basically non existent...a few tents in a parking lot. The shirt...generic garbage...throw it in your bin of rags or better yet the recycle bin. Parking...The race starts/and finishes at TD Ameritrade Park, a baseball stadium where they hold the College Baseball World Series. The stadium is surrounded by surface parking lots. While there was plenty of free on street parking, a fact that is not mentioned in the athlete guide (Omaha gives you a free day on Sunday...thanks Omaha!), runners were charged $8 if they chose to park in the lots that were not being used for any events and were otherwise empty. The course...awful and boring and does absolutely zero to showcase anything that the city of Omaha has to offer...but that is strictly an opinion. Many of the mile markers were off...I was hitting a mile marker 1/3 of a mile after my watch had me hitting that particular mile. This was confirmed by a pacer I spoke to after the race. The total race distance however was correctly measured. Spectator support...virtually non existent...however the handful of people out there did cheer you on. Post race...this is where this race company totally dropped the ball. The post race food was deplorable...bananas, oranges, bite size candies, some kind of sandwiches that I didn't even bother to check what they were, bagels that were covered with flies, and jars of peanut butter...THATS IT! Oh..there were a couple of food trucks where you could BUY food. I have had MUCH MUCH BETTER post race food at many 5K's. Health and safety: the race is advertised as having an average start time temp of 50. This year it was almost 70 at the start and climbed well into the 80s by the finish. The post race area is held in a concrete parking lot. There were no extra tents put up for shade, there were a bunch of chairs for runners sitting in the middle of the parking lot under the blazing sun, they did not hand out any ice bags to runners as they finished (although I did see them in the med tent), they had no hoses or misting station set up so runners could cool off...in other words, although they knew it was going to be extremely warm, they did NOTHING extra to prepare and to help the runners. Results...same problem as people reviewed in 2018. The marathon/half marathon started at 7 a.m. followed by a later 10K, 5K, and friends and family Mile Run. By allowing people to sign up for a race up to 1/2 an hour before the start and allowing people to change races that morning, it completely messed with the timing system (I was personally told this by the timer)...or maybe it was the same "glitch" as 2018. As a result, at 12:00, five hours after the start the marathon, I could not get the overall or age group results. Totally unprofessionally run in this age of computers and timing chips. Age group awards...made in China plastic with a piece of paper in it. I'm guessing it's the same as 2018 The medal...again, I'm guessing it's the same deal as 2018...piece of generic garbage with no date on it, just Omaha Marathon. I guess it's good business...they can pass out the leftover ones next year and put more money in their pockets! There is NO difference (not even the ribbon) between the marathon/half marathon/10K/5K/Friends and Family Mile...everyone earns the same. To me, that is cheap and unacceptable but again, that one is just an opinion. The race is put on by a company called HITS Endurance...maybe they should change their name to MISSES Endurance. All in all, for a race that starts with an "early bird" fee of $85 and goes up to a race day fee of $140, I would say if you're looking to run a marathon in Nebraska...LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE! To me, this race amounted to legalized stealing. They don't give a sh*t about the runners. This race should have its permit revoked as long as HitsEndurance is running it...ITS THAT BAD!!

Omaha is a really neat city and the marathon course seemed to avoid most of it. I know course design is hard but this almost seemed to try to minimize showing off the city. Despite being the home of the College World Series we didn't get to run in the stadium, just the parking lot and streets outside it. No downtown, or old town, or zoo, and only a few blocks through the Creighton campus, then just an out and back course that tracked long based on GPS and seemed to go through some less than desirable neighborhoods. Several miles of concrete path along the river through an industrial area that had no shade and some really bad 'industrial' smells. It was very hot, but no sponges or towels and zero medical support at the end. Crowd was non existent except for the volunteers. Sports drink -Heed(?)- was really bad or not mixed right, or both, as you could barely distinguish it from water, so not sure how much if any it helped considering the heat. While volunteers were doing their best, some aid stations were either over staffed or understaffed, meaning some were essentially self service, while others had 5 or 6 folks standing in the street waiting for 1 or 2 runners. The packet pick up and post race were limited to say the least. Packet pick up was bib and shirt (which is nothing to brag about) pickup (oh and a coozie) and that was it. I think there were three vendor tents and one of those was packing up (I know sometime folks have a problem with running the gauntlet of vendors to get their packets, but this was the complete opposite). Post race was a water and chocolate milk and then pretzels, fruit and cut bagels with a couple of family size jars of Jif with a knife stuck in it. I understand putting a race on requires an amazing amount of effort and I hate leaving a bad review, but I've also seen it done really well lots of times and for the effort and cost required to run a marathon, I expected more. I did this to check NE off my 50 states list, so won't be back, and would suggest others look elsewhere to satisfy your NE fix.

I ran the half marathon course in 2018, not the full, but still wanted to share my thoughts. Pros: * The medal was great, large, and nicely designed. However, I received the exact same medal as the full marathoners. There wasn't even a different ribbon to indicate that I didn't complete the full. *Flat course (337 ft elevation gain) *Good amount of porta-pottys (race start and along the course). *Side roads were actually taped off between street signs (think "crime scene" tape) which I'd never seen before but I thought was a good idea and seemed to work well. I of course can only speak to the half marathon portion of the course. Cons: *This course has a very high percentage of concrete! *HEED was the sports drink. Just my personal opinion that I didn't like it very much. It was confusing having a clear sports drink rather than a colored one and it was easy to get the wrong type of drink. *Packet Pick-up was a non-event. There was one tent for picking up your shirt and bib. No race bag or any other items were given. The volunteers working the T-shirt tent were VERY rude. I have never been to a race packet pick up where I felt like I was annoying the workers. When we asked about road closures on race morning to plan how we would drive to the race start the response was "you'll be fine". They seemed annoyed that we were asking about it, didn't know the answer, and didn't offer to get an answer for us. There were only 3 tents of vendors in the parking lot. I was shocked to see such a bare bones, unwelcoming, and seemingly un-informed packet pick up. *The long sleeved race shirt was very cheap and plain with one screen print on the chest. *There was a pasta dinner that was apparently planned some time after we registered. (We are 50 staters so we plan far out and register early). A pasta dinner was not an option when we were registering. We got an email close to race day (FYI, the ONE email communication from the race) letting us know that attending this pasta dinner was free IF you RSVP'd by a certain date. This email was sent AFTER the RSVP date! So although we signed up very early, we would have had to pay for the pasta dinner so we did not attend. *Awards. The awards ceremony was delayed over an hour because of a "glitch" in the timing, they said, due to hot temperatures. Runners were sitting on the ground on hot pavement with no shade waiting for the awards. Finally the announcer started flying through age group awards with no times. This should have been a red flag. *Race Results. There were no printed race results to view after the race because of the "glitch". We waited for online results for over 72 hours. There were many people posting on the Omaha Marathon's facebook page during this time asking about results without any response from HITS Endurance. As they weren't responding to facebook, I emailed them on Tuesday asking about results and was told they would be up by the end of Tuesday (race was Sunday), but they weren't posted by then. The local news even released an article on Wednesday about runners still waiting for results and the local news couldn't get a response from HITS Endurance. Finally, Wednesday afternoon, results were posted. They were wrong. Many people's times were off by an hour. My father's time was an hour off and we realized he received the wrong award after the race. When my dad reached HITS Endurance Wednesday, they told him some people's chips defaulted to Eastern Time Zone (HITS Endurance who manages the Omaha Marathon is out of New York). As of a week later, HITS Endurance as still not answered my father regarding if they will be sending him the correct age group aware. *HITS Endurance. So first of all, if something goes wrong, honesty would be good. Don't make up an excuse of heat when that isn't the issue. Don't give time frames of when results will go up if you aren't going to follow through. And just because people are upset that results aren't posted, DON'T POST WRONG RESULTS! Communicate with the runners to tell them what is happening. I think HITS Endurance did an absolutely terrible job with this race. Why is a company based out of New York organizing this Nebraska marathon? They are clearly not invested in the marathon, did everything as cheap as possible, and were horrible communicators. I have never been so disappointed in a race and I've ran many! Omaha is a lovely city that deserves to be showcased. This race needs someone local who is actually invested in the race and the city and who cares about managing a running race well. I would strongly advise choosing a different Nebraska marathon if HITS Endurance continues to be the organizers of this race.

I made the decision to run Omaha as my Nebraska state in my quest for 50. Got injured several times throughout the summer and had to downgrade to the half. The expo was very small and in the parking lot of the TD Ameritrade Park. We were handed a bib and a long sleeve tech t-shirt and that was it. I stayed at the Hilton across from the park which was a very nice hotel and obviously, very convenient. The race itself had no organized corrals but everyone seemed to line up accordingly. The course was very limited on scenery and spectators but was a good mix of flat terrain and rolling hills. The half was mostly shaded as well. The finish was pretty cool as you made a lap around the warning track inside TD prior to crossing the line. Post race food was limited and there was no entertainment. Medal was average but the half received the same medal as the full marathoners? A good event overall. Hitting the Old Market downtown for drinks and food post race was a lot of fun...Very neat city! I'll probably come back next year to take down the full and cross Nebraska off the list.

Do not run this race if run by HITS. I ran the FULL this year. They are clueless on running a race. Over 48 hours later and still do not have race results. They only used start and finish overhead chip readers. No live tracking, no splits, nothing. The course is long, they had us go out exactly 13.1 and back to the start but we still had the ball field to run, so about .2 over. Signage was awful. I got confused as others I talked to. I never saw gels, were they hidden? Volunteers tried but aren't informed what to do. It's messy with water in trashbag lined trashcans. After was make your own PB & J, it was nasty and picked over. Just pitiful and weird. They had 10k runs start who ran head on into us coming into the Ball field. No signs, no one telling me where to go, It was so confusing. The announcer was monotone and there was no excitement in the ball field. No finish sign, no start sign. No vendors after the full. Chocolate milk at least thank you Hiland! They hand out HEED, which nobody seems to like or gets confused it's weird water. No bottled electroltye drinks after. Age group is cheap plastic frame with a printout stuck in it. They don't even put sponsors on the shirt. Medal has no exact date. Bibs have no date or name. Just awful. HITS is terrible. Do not run Omaha while they are in charge. Omaha is the only run they do now, everything else they tried failed for Road racing. I ran the half in 2014 with them and it had issues but this was worse. I ran back when Omaha Running Club ran it in 2008 and it way better.

I ran this to complete my Nebraska Marathon for my 50 States. Non existant expo, little course support. Very Hot 90 degree day and still let people run in dangerous conditions. Now waiting for results just wondering if they will post them as I need them to check off a state.

They have been running this for 43 years & still missed the mark. Good: 1.Super easy getting to the start. Lots of hotels close and lots of easy parking. 2. Plenty on Porta-potties at the start and on the course if you need those 3. Lots of water stations all with oranges and bananas 4. Sponges - awesome to have a sponge dipped in ice water on a hot day like we had The Bad 1. Poorly marked course in several locations. Saw people taking wrong turns. There is really no excuse for this to happen. 2. Poor traffic controls in the residential neighborhood. Just had caution tape up and people drove right through it. 3. Awful crowd control at the end. Coming down the last stretch there were pedestrians walking right down the middle of the course, across the course. Coming around the last corner there were no signs, no one directing runners where to go. Several of us ran all the way down to the start line before realizing the finish wasn't there. The problem was there were no barricades to keep the crowds off the course. It was a real mess. I was pretty pissed off. I have run a ton of races big and small and this was by far the worst in terms of signage, and crowd control.

Super easy in term of logistics - plenty of hotels within walking distance. seemed to be easy parking, the run went off on time. Great water stations, fruit and cold sponges (awesome) fantastic volunteers. My frustration was the lack of course markings or direction at several key points. The finish was a mess, nothing telling you where to turn literally needed to stop and ask which way to go. Nothing and no one directing runners to enter the stadium. There were spectators blocking the stadium entrance so I totally missed it, when I got to the end of the road I had to turn back and fight through the spectators to get in to the stadium. Also no markings in the park at mile 15 - 16ish so several of us ran off course before someone pointed us back the right way. Ended up running over 27 miles. The course didn't do a great job of showcasing Omaha - there are so many more nice areas to see along the river, downtown, parks, etc. Thinking the event organizer (HITS) should stick with what they know 'horse shows' and leave running events to others who know running.

I hate to write this but I don't think other marathoners should repeat my mistake. I've done over 30 marathons and numerous other races. Spectators were great but very few out there. Course is awful. Flat but through the worst parts of Omaha. Post race is a joke, look for prior reviews for details, nothing has changed.

Pros: 1. The course is pretty flat. If you're looking for something flat but scenery isn't important, this is your course. 2. Friendly people at the water stops. Once we merged back onto the half course, there were more water stops 3. Running into the 5k runners at the end was nice. I was mad when I saw them at first, but it was really nice to have company at the end. In essence, they pulled me through the last two miles. 4. They gave out Hammer gel which was great. I actually needed one more and it was nice to have it on the course available to me. 5. The volunteers were so nice at the water stops and pretty much anywhere I went. Cons: 1. The course goes through the absolute worst part of Omaha. If you want to see rundown homes, this is the place to see it. 2. Where were the water stops on the marathon course?? This is when runners really need water and they were more spaced out on the marathon only side of the course. 3. No prize money. This marathon would probably attract 20% more people if they offered something in way of prizes.

The race is well organized. There are ample water stops which had water, sports drink and gels. Many stops had fruit. Police did a great job keeping vehicles off the course. This is a course where you could PR. Because only about 300 runners do the full marathon, the course is not crowded especially after the 700 half marathoners turn around. Many downtown hotels are within easy walking distance to the race start/finish. I stayed at the Hilton. That's a great choice. It has a restaurant on sight pulse there are several area restaurants to choose from. The hotel also provides an airport shuttle. So you don't have to rent a car. The race has a race day packet pickup. So if an out of town runner desired they could reduce the hotel nights and save some money.

PROS: The organization of this race, and coordination with the city of Omaha was great. The finish on the TD Ameritrade field was awesome. It was also a bonus that the downtown hotels were walking distance to the start/finish. I enjoyed the straight-forward, out and back aspect of the course. CONS: I wish I had not stayed at the host hotel, Hilton. While it was convenient to the start/finish, I was disappointed in the treatment I received. Part of the benefit is an extremely good rate ($139 per night). However, as a result of this rate, I do not feel that I got the treatment I would have received if my husband had been along with his Honor Program membership. I arrived an hour before 3pm check-in and asked for an early check-in. Instead of immediately saying there were no rooms available, the clerk asked for my name, looked it up... then said there were no rooms available. When I checked in after 3pm with a different clerk, got similar treatment when I asked for a later checkout. Because I was running the marathon, I would not be back from the race by noon checkout. One more hour would have made a big difference. Runners that I met that also stayed at the Hilton, received similar treatment. However, other runners staying in nearby hotels that were not even listed as a host hotel, were given late check outs. The room I was assigned was hopefully not indicative of all their rooms. It was not very clean, and had an odor that gave me a headache within 30 minutes of entering. I should have asked more questions, before booking the Hilton. While I did enjoy the course, I wish I had trained more on cement sidewalks as much of the course is on cement roadway, and bike path. It's important to know what the surface of your marathon is, and prepared accordingly! Lastly, it was a hot day and much of the course is in the open, so bring plenty of suncreen, a visor, and maybe even a camelbak to supplement the aid stations.

Very disorganized. The packet pickup was outside, and had no signs directing people to where it was, we literally walked around the TD Ameritrade Park to find it in the parking lot. The 'Expo' was almost all torn down by early after lunch. The Pasta meal was good, with lots of food already made. Never found a volunteer who knew where gear drop off was located. The Race was forced to start an hour late due to a shooting on the course. No one was upset about starting late, as we understood OPD was busy working the shooting. The water stations were about every 2 miles. Water was cold which was a bonus. No Gatorade, they did have Heat, which tasted off. I understand volunteers are donating their time, but it appeared they had not been given instructions. Many water stations had little to no glasses filled prior to runners apporaching them, then the voluneers would get up, and then fill glasses. NO COURSE MARKING ON THE STREET. Most intersections had caution tape to block it off. during one portion of the race went through a park with no guidance. several of us took a wrong turn. Almost no spectators along the course, which was crazy. I found more spectators on my last race which ran through corn fields. Post race was sad. Walked out to find I had to go find a bottle of water, the food choice was make your own PB&J... just a few of chocolate milk. The vendors were tearing down as people were still running the marathon. The next week another marathon was to be held in Omaha, and the locals talked about how beautiful the course it will be ran on.

Although the race was well organized, the course was on some depressing areas of Omaha. Some areas looked run down, some industrial section, even areas with metal garbage. The best part was running by the Missouri River. It definitely did not highlight the best parts of the city. The finish line did not provide enough food. The chocolate milk was a special treat and the medal was big. Finishing inside the baseball park was different. Still waiting to hear if the the race will be certified after the last minute change to the course. No emails or apologies from the race director on the hour delay at the start. Although it was a valid delay it would have been nice to get some type of apology. The expo was almost nonexistent. It was great to have so many hotels near the start/finish area. It is a fast course with very few inclines plus a gentle downhill at the last mile leading to the park.

The course was mostly flat and had nice scenery. You start downtown and you run through neighborhoods, along the Missouri river, paved trails, along Carter Lake and finish running around the warning track of TD Ameritrade Park. You appear on the video board which was an awesome experience. Water stops for the most part were great with multiple drink options, snacks, GU, etc. However, at mile 16 water station they ran out of water and there was several runners still to reach that stop. Volunteers were nice. Omaha PD did a great job with the entire event. Spectators were slim to none the further you got into the race. The ones that were on the course were very energetic. There was not a lot of live music along the course. The Party at the finish was nothing to brag about. More options for food and drinks would have been really nice. If you are a 50 state runner and need to cross Nebraska off your list, I would go. Otherwise, I would suggest looking around.

I very much enjoyed the marathon in Omaha. The Hilton hotel was so convenient to everything. I loved the pasta dinner, which was free! Great to talk with other runners, and the organizers were wonderful. I thought most of the course was beautiful, running by the river for much of it. It helped that we had perfect weather. The organization was excellent throughout, in fact I won my age group but couldn't stay for the award since my flight time had been moved up and I was pressed for time. They mailed me a very nice plaque afterwards, which was really kind. The expo was disappointing, with not much to see or buy, but I really enjoyed the time I spent in Omaha and would recommend this race.

For a relatively small race, it was very well organized and executed. Course is definitely on the flat side but there are some hills, few gradual and few steep but short. There were plenty of water stops which were well stocked and they were at a good interval through out the course with great volunteers. The race started in downtown area, then to residential areas then to somewhat remote area by the river then back. Spectators were sparse, especially in the latter part of the course. Few that were out there were great. Many thanks to the one-man-band guy with a guitar and an amplifier who was singing reggae near the entrance to the path by the river. The finish area was excellent. There were plenty of food and drinks and chairs to relax in. This was my first trip to the Omaha area and overall it was a great experience, both the city and the race, and I definitely recommended it. The zoo is excellent as others have said so do check it out if you're visiting.

This race sums up all of Omaha, and even Nebraska for that matter. The few people that live there are in one spot, and I really emphasize a few. Aside from the single-table water stops, this race is quiet. There were more cops blocking traffic than there were volunteers. If you were running behind 2 other people and they both wanted water, you were going without. Bring a hand-held if you are counting on it. The course was pretty scenic, with some neighborhoods, city-scape, paved trail, and waterfront park. If you need to cross Nebraska off the list, go. Otherwise, I'd shop around a bit more. Also, be prepared for more hills the 2nd half. Omaha is not as flat as some might lead you to believe (though I think the race director did look for the flattest streets in town).

I'm just not a huge fan of out and back courses, but I knew that's what it was so I was prepared for it. The course was fair, some hills, but they were manageable. There wasn't a lot of entertainment, but the ones that were out were excellent! The gentleman on the causeway was Super! The aid stations were well stocked and I liked the option of oranges and pretzels for the marathoners. Even the grapes were a nice touch. Not a fan of the replacement drink. I would have preferred the more common gatorade or powerade. Shirt and medal are excellent. Near perfect weather. I enjoyed staying and touring for an extra day. The zoo was the best I've ever seen. One big negative for me was that I did not see any clock at the end of the race. It was disappointing not having any idea where I finished since I try not to wear a watch unless I have a time goal, which I did not for this event.

First, I was pleasantly surprised by Omaha and its selection of excellent restaurants and activities. The Joslyn Art Museum was incredible and Nicola's was the perfect pre-marathon dinner venue. (Extra points for gracious service.) The marathon course was an interesting mix of downtown, residential and parklands. The views of the Missouri were gorgeous. I sense that we got lucky with the weather this year. There was some wind, but it was a minor inconvenience. The volunteers were fantastic. Finishing at Ameritrade on the jumbotron was a particular highlight. I would definitely recommend this race.

This was my 10th time running the Omaha marathon. I have enjoyed this race every time. Admittedly, I may be biased as Omaha is my hometown. I really liked the out and back course. It was definitely the flattest version of the Omaha marathon, with minimal hills (although I personally did not mind the hills on the older course versions). On the return, it gave me a sense of where I was and helped me pace my finish. Loved the finish inside the ballpark. Volunteers were kind and helpful at the expo and race. There were plenty of aid stations and post race food. I really liked the red (as in 'Go Big Red') technical shirt and the medal...in addition, I was 2nd in my age group and that plaque was nice. I will be back next year and in years following!

The best part of the race was that the start was extremely easy to get to and the finish was also located near all of the available parking lots which made getting out of town a snap. Also, there were plenty of Biffs, which is always a good thing. The race had a 7:00 AM start and I am a big fan of that. There had been plenty of Omaha Marathons before the 2014 event so you would figure that they had all of the bugs worked out. Not so much. Little things like having the bag drop trailer all alone in a separate parking lot, away from everything and everyone else was a little bit of a nuisance. The people in the aid tent prior to the start of race did not know if they or anyone else had ibuprophen available for the runners. Eventually they did find some. The replacement drink that the volunteers were calling Gatorade was anything but Gatorade. It was clear like water and diluted to the point that it had no more nutritional benefit than water. At mile 10 or 11, the only man working the water stop told us that all of his volunteers had left him as he held up his arms as if to say 'I give up'. Luckily, there was still liquid to be consumed. When we came back past that water stop again as this race is an out and back, there were zero volunteers at the water stop which probably makes sense since there was zero liquid as well. I was toward the front quarter of runners during the race which means that there were plenty of runners behind me that were going to come through that stop and get nothing as well. Bummer. Since the replacement drink was so poor, I resorted to taking in as many orange slices as I could get my hands on as I ran by each stop. With about seven miles to go, they ran out of orange slices as well. The course and pavement were fine. There were the usual potholes and minor obstacles like parked cars but everyone seemed to avoid any accidents. The finish was a bit of a surprise. I may have missed it but we finished with a lap around the baseball field inside the stadium. That would have been great had I known that we still had that still to do. When I made the final turn left to run under the arch, I was directed to make another turn to the right and head into the stadium. Instead of having 30 feet to go, I still had a few hundred yards. I knew that they somehow had to make up a little bit of distance in that last mile but remembering the picture of the map, I couldn't figure out how they were going to do it. Turns out, I was not alone as everyone that had not run the race before that I talked to did not know about the lap around the stadium either. Such is life.

The course was run on concrete surfaces and where there was blacktop, the potholes caused me to spend most of my time looking down. The trail shown in dashed lines on the race map was actually a concrete sidewalk on top of levee along the river, with no shade for those miles. The aid stations were well stocked and the highlight of the marathon. No place to sit for the pasta dinner, as the 50 state 1/2 marathoners held their award banquet in the dining area. Downtown Omaha was open and welcoming on a Sunday night after the marathon.

We ran the half marathon as a tune up during our marathon training. We were a bit worried about the race from all the bad reviews but I think they fixed a lot of the issues from previous years. Not the best race ever but I would recommend to friends. Pros: Finish in TD Ameritrade Park (home of College World Series), fairly flat course that was blocked off very well by Omaha PD, good medal, long sleeve dry-fit shirt. Never running alone but never super crowded outside of the start. Cons: Little to no spectators (though the ones that were out were loud and always cheering), course runs through a rather boring part of town and sometimes very run down part of town. All the gear says 'Omaha Marathon', doesn't differentiate between 5k, 10k, half and full. Knock off Gatorade; I'm not sure what it was but I was in for a surprise when I had some at a water stop, was not a fan. Random thoughts: The pasta party was pretty good for free food, about what you expect out of mass produced pasta. The Expo is exactly what I want out of an expo: Small. I don't want to have to walk through a bunch of vendors trying to sell their junk just to get my packet.

Pros- good course and protection, nice medal, neat finish inside baseball arena! Cons - Marathoners finishing with 5Kers, Heet recovery drink, expo packet pickup, no runner photos!

Pro: Nice medal. Volunteers were great & aid stations well stocked. Mile markers nice and obvious. Cons: Expo was tiny. Bland, long-sleeve shirt: Black, text on white shirt. No color. No design. Just city, date, on the front, and lots of other HITS races on the back. Marines weren't there to hand out medals.

Course was a little bland, not much in the way of scenery and did not show off Omaha. The organization was sufficient but the finish line amenities were lacking in everything except for snacks. The shirt and medal were boring and pretty generic. On the bright side, the spectators were fantastic until they disappeared at the half-marathon turn around.

This was my 22nd marathon and would definitely rate as one of the bottom two. HITS obviously did not do their homework on how to organize a running race and understand what runners value (other than aid stations on course). Pros and cons are listed below: PROS * Well stocked aid stations with water, gatorade, gu, and bananas * Unique recycled glass medal * Run through baseball stadium at the end was kind of cool * Supportive volunteers at aid stations CONS * Start line was chaos. Even the Pace Leaders had no clue where to position themselves. * Cheap and ugly shirt shamelessly self promoting HITS. No reference to the marathon on the shirt. This will be used as my throwaway shirt for my next race. * Where were the Marines?? False advertising! * Course was relatively flat but very ugly. Give me a few hills with better scenery. * Abrupt stop at finish line with only bottles of water. No easy access to any post race food and no directions on whether food was even available. Should have had a chute for runners to walk through after finish line to allow runners to bring heart rate down and grab some food. * No reference on bib to Omaha or the marathon. I save my bibs and this is the only one that is completely generic. Other than your race number, HITS is the only printing on the bib. Once again, shameless self promotion. * Small expo in outdoor parking lot. Good thing the weather was decent. * Turnaround not well marked for 10K and half marathoners. I ran the full marathon so this was not an issue for me. * Port-O-Potty capacity too low. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this race until many improvements are made (like dumping HITS). Given the cost of registration, this marathon is not a good value. Omaha is a nice city with friendly people, too bad we didn't get a chance to see the nicer parts of Omaha during the race. Thank you to all of the volunteers!

The original route for this race was changed after folks signed up and became an out and back, which was absolutely horrible. There was no scenery, we did not go through old market or downtown...we went through a neighborhood, a shady park and ran on a levy. It was awful! I will never run this race again and I am a local who had a team of 16 people this year. The only good things were the water stops (every mile) and the end run through the stadium. Compared to last year the expo was an obvious disappointment as was the route. I have never been to a race where they handed me my bib and a t-shirt separately and held the expo in a parking lot. Again, I cannot stress how awful this race was!

This race was not nearly as terrible as others are saying. Yes the shirts sucked but I have gotten many other race shirts that were worse and uglier. Yes, the bibs were generic but come on people it's a bib for crying out loud. There was no additional swag but to be honest who needs another coupon for an local business that you will never go to, dumb ads, and let's be honest who really needs another discount on a road ID. I really enjoyed having the small expo. It was great not having to walk through a mob of people and booths selling things I don't need just to get my packet. As for the runners complaining about not having any race information, the race was taking an environmental stance and emailed the race info packets to you. Finally, honestly who needs a mylar blanket on an 80 degree day!! All they do is cause more waste and they are not recyclable. A few organizational things are all this race needs to be great: there needs to be more than one port a potty every mile, change the start area so runners don't load from the front, do what you advertise (no full dress marines :( at the finish, said unisex shirts and then they were not resulting in the wrong size). Offer a bag drop to runners. Invest a little more in providing a higher quality shirt. Overall the race was very organized. Volunteers were very helpful. The bands were great and many of them were still playing for us back of the packers. Aid stations were more than every mile fully supplied with water, Gatorade, fruit, and GU (GU every mile, awesome)! Pasta dinner was included free with race fee. The course was flat and fast with lots of shade. Miles and turns were marked clearly (if you missed your turn around than you just weren't paying attention). Awesome one of a kind finishers medal!! I really enjoyed this race and if you are a realistic person than you will enjoy this race too.

Unfortunately the Omaha Marathon fit nicely into my 50 state schedules, but what a huge disappointment. This was my 31st marathon and definitely the worst! Pros: 1) The water station volunteers were super! Out there to the very end supporting you with fruit, yummy snacks, Gatorade and water. How awesome! 2) The Jazz band was still playing their hearts out in the last miles. What a pick up! Course entertainment was excellent! 3) Stay at LaQuinta in Carter Lake. Breakfast starts at 4:00, parking is free and rates were cheaper. Quick 1.9 miles drive to start. 4) Omaha is a very nice city to visit with friendly people. Cons: 1) Drop HITS organizer. 2) Poor quality white shirts. Didn't even mention what race you did only Omaha, Nebraska September 21 - 22. Then on the back we are a billboard for all the 'HITS' races. At least you know what races not to do! 3)Handed a non-colored differential bib 4 pins with no swag bag to carry this in. 4)No organization at the start as to where to enter. People were entering in the front of the line and HITS organizers kept yelling to move back or we would start late. 5)The course was confusing. Marathoners are still coming and the half marathoners had turned around, so we were running into each other in Miller Park. I almost got knocked down! You went thru some pretty rough neighborhoods and a very smelly industrial park. Almost made you sick. Plus almost all in the sun. 6)Course was opened with an hour & 45 minutes to go!!! We turned a corner and almost got hit by a SUV in our lane! We had to stop for neighborhood traffic and lights! All adding to your time. 7)Confusing finish. Not anyone directing you into the stadium - lots of people missed this and had to go back! 8)'Fully Dressed Marines will give you medals at the end' - seems like false advertising because there were not any Marines in sight the whole race. 9)No Mylar blankets or food at the end of the race. 10)Medal was glass, but hard to see design since mine is dark brown. Unless this race improves drastically, I would skip it. Sorry Omaha think you need to go back to old race organizer. 'HITS' certainly didn't hit it!

I live in Omaha and I am embarrassed by this race. There are so many pretty areas that the race could be ran in and the course is awful. With HITS taking over the race went downhill. I was at expo when it first opened and was in line for 45 minutes. It was a cluster, all to get my bib and shirt which was by far the worst shirt ever. I will not wear it because it is to small and I refuse to advertise for HITS. The start line was confusing. 10K runners should start a little later to avoid the bottle neck in the first few miles dodging walkers. Port-a-potties are needed right by the start as well. The one plus was the aid stations. Well stocked and volunteers were great. Not enough port-a-potties on course, lines at each one so I was glad I didn't need to stop. The finish line was confusing for finishers to find food. I saw five folks medals fall off the lanyard and break. If you are looking for a Nebraska race come for the Wabash Trace marathon a few weeks earlier. I will NEVER run this hometown race again and sadly tell others not to run Omaha either.

Pros: Flat course, through parks and by by a lake and river. Spectators though few, were supportive. Start and finish were in same place and close to hotels. Aid stations well-stocked. Cons: Too many last minute changes and confusion of information. For example, a family member was participating in the mile race on Saturday. The website and pre-race emails gave conflicting times. When we asked at the expo we were told the mile started at 7:00. We showed up at 7:00 to wait an hour. Also, it must have been a hassle for the new organizers to change the website: It said the medals would be handed out by a full dressed marine. Anyone looking forward to that at their finish was disappointed. There was a very recent course change which made for an out and back and maybe it was my fault for not looking closely enough at the map BUT the diversion into the stadium was unexpected and unwelcome when I turned the corner thinking I was in the homestretch only to find out I still had a few more tenths to go. I took one look at the unwearable tee shirt and designated it for the rag bag. Undifferentiated bibs with no mention of Omaha or Marathon. Very bad idea because.... The 10K, Half and Full all started together which made for a very crowded start. I didn't see the 10K turnaround at all and neither did some 10K runners. I saw a few who didn't realize they'd overshot until they were well past it. The half had its share of lost runners as well. If the bibs had been differentiated they could have gotten a clue from other runners. Unexcusable on the directors' part. Post race food and its postioning was THE worst of any marathon I've done. Instead of being at or near the finish it was back across the course and incoming runners OR up a million stairs of the stadium, across then down a million stairs. IF you could figure it out or, more likely, asked somebody as there were no signs directing you. Then, if you made it there the only food was bagels, bananas, and a few cups of water. I found out later there were sandwiches but they were in a box on the other side of the table which you had to dig out for yourself. Again, unexcusable. A veteran runner at the start was skeptical of the HITS organizers as they weren't a local club and speculated they were just there for the money. After completing this marathon I discovered just what he was talking about. I liked Omaha very much but won't return for the marathon until the directors get their act together.

Generally good course and event. However, race operations had problems. First, the bibs for Half and Full were not color differentiated. Not necessarily a problem, however, there was very poor signage identifying the Half turn around and when many of us got to that point,several of us in the Full did not see any signage and the male Course Marshal made no effort whatsoever to call or point out directions for the Full and Half runners. The result was that some number (at least one other that I know personally) made the Half turn and ran way too far into the return before discovering the mistake to go back and pick up the rest of the Full course. That's where the lack of bib differentiation came into play as we would have noticed that error very quickly. Needless to say, had the course been well marked with Full and Half directions at the split and the Course Marshal had been doing his job bib colors would have not been that critical. One further point, all runners entered the Starting Corral from the Finish line end making for a hugely congested entry situation,nearly delaying the start. This could easily have been avoided by causing runners to enter from the back of the Starting Corral area. Having completed nearly 200 marathons, I am well aware that 'stuff' can happen so this is written as constructive criticism since these issues can easily be avoided in the future.

This was my 37th marathon and the only one I can say I can't recommend to anyone. The aid stations were the only plus side being very well staffed and supplied. The course was run mostly through either impoverished areas of the city or through a decayed industrial area next to the river. Only the start/finish line was in a nice area. No swag bag and only a generic white tec shirt with small black lettering with race name for your entry fee.