Sugarloaf Marathon and 15K

This is a very well run event. Warming bus at start. I loved the community spirit of locals and competitors. I wear my running top proudly. And I got a BQ on this course. It's hilly but not technical. Clean air, nice scenery. Money goes to local community. I am an Australian but at the time living in NY. Great race and Maine is a wonderful place to visit.

This was my first marathon. I chose this one because I needed something in the Spring that was within driving distance of Boston. A few notes: - Great course for friends/family to watch at multiple places. This was esp. great at the end when I told myself to just make it 'x' more miles to see my family. - Although I was expecting killer hills, I actually thought it was OK. I did not train on hills that much (just 2 near me that I would run up during the worst part of a long-run). - I did not see Gu packets at the 2nd stop and did not have one on the sidelines. Bring one just in case! I had to rely on gummies from a stranger (I survived). - The course is actually beautiful. I thought I wouldn't care about this since at some point you just want it to be over, but it made for a nice distraction. - If you're staying overnight, definitely aim to stay at the Sugarloaf Resort. We booked in Feb and everything was sold out around the start. We ended up booking in Rangeley which is a 45 EXTRA minute drive to catch a 5:45 am shuttle from the Resort to the start (gross). By pure luck, a room happened to open when we checked the night before. Well worth it. - Plenty of water/Gatorade stops. - Barely any bathrooms along the route. Luckily, I didn't need to go, but I did bring TP in my pocket just in case. - Finally, we came in later than we wanted to the night before which made dinner options limited. Try to get in early with plenty of time for choosing/eating dinner. - I would recommend this course overall. Besides, there's soup at the end!

My only complaint is one that definitely impacted my race day experience. Shuttles to the start were supposed to pick up at a second location after leaving from Sugarloaf's main hotel/lodge. A shuttle was supposed to stop by at 5:45am and one never came (at least not until 6:10am, when we luckily had my friend's wife drive us to the start). Super frustrating... got to the start way later than anticipated, rushed to use the bathroom and then started. Missed some chances to hydrate and warm-up like I wanted to. Otherwise, a great course in a beautiful location (though I needed to prepare for the downhills more in training).