All American Marathon

This is a well-organized event. I was not sure if I could pick up my bib the day before. I wrote email asking if I could pick up my bib the race day. I got a positive response right way. The Marathon route starts from Fayetteville town center. It ends inside the Fort Bragg. It is a course with rolling hill up and down slops. It is not an easy course because some long up hills. I had never been Fort Bragg before. I enjoyed visiting the base by running through it. There were plenty of aid stations with drink and food well loaded. I was very touching to run through the mile of fallen hero's photos plus and a long line of American flags holding by volunteers. The service soldiers cheered for the runners along the way as all side streets were guarded by service persons. The parachute show around 11:00am at the finish line was great. After branch out with 1/2 marathon route at mile 10, the marathon route has a 13 mile back and forth turning around route. It would be much better if the route loops deeper to the base instead of back and forth. There must be some mistake for the last 0.2 miles. After mile mark 26, we had to run ~0.4 mile before reach the finish line. Something was wrong in that section of measurement.

Been wanting to run this one for years and finally pulled the trigger for 2019. This was my 19th marathon and I have to say this one was the best organized to date. Given the smaller size they had more water points then I could count; I think 1 every 1.5M up to 10M then 1 every mile until the end. The course has a few mentally tough hills around 20M and 25M but is generally flat. This year we had a large temperature swing from start to finish: 35 - ~70, wasn't ready for that. Not too many spectators especially once you get on Ft. Bragg so if that's a big thing for you take note. Only down of the whole thing was a train that came through downtown around 6a race morning and stopped blocking all but one access to the start from the west. Would think City of Fayetteville would have coordinated so that wouldn't happen. At least didn't encounter any trains on the course, cross at least a dozen tracks along the way. Very good course overall though, glad I finally did this one.

I have lived here for the past three years and didn't run this race until this year. Race route basically starts downtown and ends on Bragg. I had issues with the overall distance calculations. My GPS was on target for the first 15 miles. I started noticing there was a difference in mile points to my GPS. By the time, I crossed the finish, my GPS read 26.42. I don't understand how this could be a certified route, being this off. Numerous runners apparently had the same complaint according to my supporters at the finish line. There was numerous timing issues as well and 24hrs, it appeared they corrected it finally. The UCAN electrolytes were confusing to some but you just had to pay attention to the cups which I figured out within two aid stations. I am used to having some stations with fuel but the last station I saw that had blocks/gels was 15. No stations had any other type of fuel that I saw. The post race fuel choices could be better...but living 20 minutes away, it's not a huge deal. Spectators were awesome! The blue mile was emotional. Some areas had no spectators except for the aid stations because we were on post... The medal was heavy and huge. Plus you could take it to Dicks Sporting Goods in town for two days to have it engraved for free! Overall, I would do this again if they corrected the distance.