New Jersey Marathon

This race is generally a simple, flat race to run. Spectators are in patches but that is fine by me. There are 2 or 3 areas where the route is narrowed in to tight twists to shift from one path to another - very hard on legs after 20M. Biggest issue is getting to start. I paid my $35 for the Manhattan bus. The buses never arrived at pick-up place, let alone depart, until half hour after designated departure time. This exaggerated near-venue traffic jam, for which the buses were afforded no priority. At venue, the buses could have dropped us at the 'front gate' but no allowance was made for the very late arrival for 300 runners who then needed to pick up bibs before race! The buses parked at very rear of parking area before letting us out. Can't do this race again like this.

I ran this marathon in '08 when it was a two loop course. The organization, expo, and finish line accommodations then were very good. My schedule allowed a return this year so I was anticipating great things. Didn't happen. The course has far too many turns and cutting the tangents still resulted in a 26.42 to 26.49 mile course by every runner I talked to. The expo had one vendor and signs were non existent for locating it. Signage on race day was just as poor. The start area was located by following the crowd of runners, following a crowd of runners... There were a good number of spectators and volunteers on the course. At the finish I picked up my drop bag to learn that I had to leave it behind to re-enter the finish area. A long walk to the tent that was bannered 'results' turned out to not have results. They were available only online. Food and drink at the finish were adequate but hardly noteworthy. Then the lack of signage resulted in runners wandering westwardly until we observed the shuttle buses that took us back to the start area and our vehicles. Maybe in ten more years they'll get it right?

This was my second year running this race. Last year was my first marathon and I BQd by 3 minutes (Yet I ended up missing by 25 seconds.) This year I BQd by six minutes. The course is flat (300 feet of net elevation), but has a lot of turns, so running the tangents are tough (my Strava showed 26.5 miles total). Weather was great this year. Rain stopped at raceme and temps were perfect. Wind can be an issue at the shore, but was manageable, although when you ran West you had a good headwind (you really only run due west a few times, probably for less than half a mile). Crowd support is thin. The pacers are great: friendly, and mine got us to mile 26 about a minute ahead and said if you've got it, use it. I must add, the expo was nonexistent (2 booths), the shirt is a weakly designed poly cotton blend, and the medal is pretty weak (I'm kind of over medals, so not a huge deal). Course support is great- water, gatorade, occasional goo. I got my BQ, so I probably won't run it again, but its definitely worth a try, especially for a first timer.