Air Force Marathon

This is tough for me, because I love this race, but a lot has changed. The new route this year was fun, if a bit full of turns. The biggest change is fewer aid stations. If you look back at previous year comments, people talk about having water and sports drink every mile. No more. Often about two miles, particularly in the second half of the course. This is fine if you plan for it, I recommend carrying water, but don't count on the same level of support as this race used to be known for. Seems like the overall organization is still solid, just plan ahead.

Decent hills at miles 1-3 and 23. These hills could have a significant impact to your performance. The rest of the course is relatively flat. The Gourmet pasta dinner was well worth it. The free shuttle buses from the start line to Fly Zone spectator area and back at the finish are convenient. The fly over of the world war II P-51 Mustang and F-22 Raptor was quite nice. Volunteers were very cheerful and helpful. Plenty of water stations: water, gatorade, gel, bananas, etc. Small race, but quite well organized.

This was a great experience. The Air Force aspect, running on the base, museum, Air Force personnel, fly-over and expo were fantastic. The course was very nice with a wide range of scenery, from old town to military to woods to fields and ponds. The weather was perfect in 2017. The medal is one of the best I've ever seen. So nice. My negatives are: 1) Complications with getting in/out of event. The shuttle buses pick up at the university Nutter Center which is within walking distance to several hotels. I read that parking and traffic would be a nightmare so I walked. There was actually plenty of parking and moderate traffic so I wish I had drove. 2) Bus Schedule. The buses into the event start at 4am and end at 6am. However, the run doesn't start until 7:30am so this created a lot of downtime waiting around the start area in the cold and dark. This also impacted the usual breakfast-to-run timing that most people train with. 3) Messy start. The Full marathon, Half marathon, and *10K* all start at the same time with NO corral separation. The first 3 or 4 miles were a big huge mess of walkers vs elite runners vs casual groupings. To make it worse, the first few miles are up hill. 4) Messy finish. The Full and Half marathons merge again around mile 20 and are on a single, shared roadway until the end. This created a problem at the end when people are out of energy and you need to start dodging each other. Overall, this was a fantastic experience but I would not count on it as a hardcore marathon with any time goals in mind. Think of it as more of a casual marathon and enjoy the experience .