Garmin Kansas City Marathon

My first marathon & overall a wonderful experience! Expo & packet pick up was good - local running store booths, pacer tent, free airbrush tattoos, lots of booths for upcoming races. Parking for expo was free in downtown KC at Union station. Race day parking was also free but be prepared for a bit of a walk to the start (nice warm up!) there were a lot of porta pots at the start but even so the lines were long. No corrals but pacers had people grouped around them. I started with 4:40 pace group - my pacer was VERY Enthusiastic & fun but a bit after halfway point he handed off to another pacer & slowed down (though he did tell us all he was planning to do that). I ended with the 4:50 pacer who offered great words of encouragement! The course was new this year & everyone said much improved - still lots of hills but more strategically located along the course compared to years past. I'm from KC & train regularly on real steep grades & didn't mind the hills at all. Spectators were AMAZING! saw lots of great signs & they were wonderful cheering us on. Aid stations were well stocked & it was clear when you wanted water then sports drink, volunteers very friendly. Later aid stations also had Gu & bananas & even had a pickle juice & chicken broth station at Mile 24. Finish line was amazing though I didn't stay for the food (I was wanting brunch - recommend First Watch if you like breakfast after marathon). My only issue with this race was first few aid stations had a line of porta pots but only 1 actually open (?!?!) and so lines were long - that REALLY slowed me down! I hope they fix that next year otherwise really awesome race!

You will earn your finishers medal.

Kansas City plays a great host to the marathon. The town was fun to explore. I took part in the I-35 Challenge, running on Saturday in KC and Sunday in Des Moines earning a 3rd medal and a chance to see 2 great cities. I stayed at the Home 2 Suites hotel which was a block to the Start/Finish and the Expo at Union Station. I highly recommend this hotel as it took great care of the runners and set out breakfast early for us. Race day was pouring out and most runners waited till the last minute to head to the starting chute to avoid the downpour. The race organizers seriously misjudged the length of the chute to accommodate the self seeded crowd and did not have openings in the fence to get into the corral. It was a hot mess. Runners pushing and shoving all along the outside of the fences being seriously rude and shoving and bumping into each other. Slow runners and walkers need to go to the back but they always want to line up in front for some reason. This could be improved upon. Anyhow, the rain didn't really dampen my spirits. I like running hills, & I don't mind rain so that was a plus. The spectators and volunteers who braved the weather were VERY energetic. There were water stations every mile, I recall. That was so awesome. I really liked the scenery. We went through a lot of neighborhoods and they held a contest for best water station. If you are a fast marathoner, be prepared to have to deal with slow half runners who will be all over the course in the last few miles. The last 3/4 mile is downhill and fast which was nice. I was pumped to see the finish line in the distance in front of the veterans memorial. Didn't stop at the BBQ finish line party. The park was waaaaaay too overcrowded to even think of waiting in such a long line for food. We left and headed to Des Moines to do it all again the next day. I would recommend this race and someday may do it again as we all had a nice time.