Mystic Places Marathon

John, thanks for making the commemorative shirts for running Breakers and Mystic. We enjoyed the races again this year and will probably run both again next year. While the post-race food was sparse for the people running the double, the $10 in tokens provided some great Chinese food at Yummy Yummy after the race. The volunteers did a great job again this year.

I am ambivalent about this race. The course ran through some waterfront areas - nice but not especially charming. I think there is room for improvement: 1) With a 10 a.m. official start, definitely plan and publish the opportunity for early start - frankly, I'd move the time up to 8 a.m., and still have an early start. 2) Course map was very busy/confusing (don't use double-ended arrows, or have two arrows pointing at one another) and course marking/directions were not very clear - at least a dozen people missed the first loop, didn't realize it until mile 4/5, and had to go back. 3) A few more porta-potties along the course would have been nice.... 4) The only food for the five-hour finishers was bread and water. I stuck around to see friends finish, and two boxes of sub sandwiches were found - talk about manna. I was starving and they were delicious! There wasn't any control on how many subs folks took, so perhaps that's why they ran out in the first place? I am glad to have completed this race, but would not run it again.

This was my second marathon, and I thought Mystic was a good race. It was a very scenic course, and although the spectators were sparse, the ones who were there were quite supportive. Traffic was never a concern, and I enjoyed seeing the lead runners as the course looped around. I finished around four hours, and even though I was in the top half of the finishers, there wasn't much left for refreshments - mini loaves of bread, a few yogurt containers, and the dregs of clam chowder (which wasn't appealing to me post-race). Organizers could do a better job on the food front, but otherwise I'd recommend the race to others.