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Jul 3, 2024

Charlottesville Marathon Runner Comments

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Course 4.2

Organization 3.6

Spectators 3.0

Number of comments: 240 [displaying comments 91 to 101]

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R. E. from Roanoke, VA (4/28/2007) "Beautiful hills" (about: 2007) 4-5 previous marathons \| 3 Charlottesville Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This is my favorite event because of the absolute beauty of the route. The hills are fine if you pace yourself but those interested in setting a PR should avoid this one. The watering points are adequate and well spaced. The weather was spectacular this year but it can be hot. Because of that, I liked the new 6:30 start time. There are few spectators along the way, but the ones that were there are encouraging. The last few miles need better traffic control - I'm not exactly up to dodging cars 24 miles in. I liked the new start/finish for the race but the post-race scene was too crowded (I think there was a parade or something else going on). Charlottesville is a great town (and I'm not just saying that because I'm a UVA alum) and there is plenty to do before and after the marathon. I will certainly be back in the future.
K. M. from Wheeling, WV (4/27/2007) "Excellent experience!" (about: 2007) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Charlottesville Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This was my first marathon and it was wonderful experience. The race was well organized and supported with some dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers. The course was a great mix of city and country roads with some fantastic views of the area. The area is obviously hilly and the course reflected that with continuous rolling hills. I loved the atmosphere in the city of Charlottesville and would definitely return for a visit. The only negative part of my race experience was that there wasn't enough portajohns along the course. One more placed strategically in the middle of the course around mile 13 would have been helpful.
T. I. from Sterling, Virginia (4/26/2007) "My first half in Charlottesville" (about: 2007) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Charlottesville Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 It was my first Charlottesville ½ Marathon. What I liked about the race: 1. Convenient location for package pick at downtown area (runners store), morning package pick up was available. But you need to park at the city parking garage (rate $2 an hour for the race and package pick up). 2. Very scenic course (in one place, 2 deer have been crossing a road) 3. Cute T-shirt 4. After-race free massage 5. Early start time, so I could plan some other events for the day and it wasn't too hot to run What I didn't like: 1. Cars on the race course. As organizers told me later, they didn't close part of the running route for cars. I don't think it was right and I personally have been scared by a big track which has been followed me. 2. Not all intersection had traffic marshals 3. Volunteered on bikes. 4. Design of the medal. Medal was small and had the same size/design for half and full marathoners. I think marathoners need to have a different design /size /color of the medal. 5. Long line for the food at the finish 6. Not enough volunteers at some water stops; I stopped and waited a while till they opened water canisters and fill caps with water. 7. Some marathoners have been finishing at time of the other event - street parade. I saw a lot of them were confused about the road to run; I helped some of them showing the correct road. 8. Cars have been parked along the streets leaving a very small part of the street for the runners. I spoke with race organizers about my concerns; I hope they will improve this race next year. Anyway, I had a very good time there.
C. G. from Virginia (4/25/2007) "Challenging but enjoyable course" (about: 2007) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Charlottesville Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 1 I really enjoying running the 2007 Charlottesville Marathon. Yes, the course was scenic. During parts of the run you can see the mountains in the background. You run past some beautiful historic areas and nice homes. It was nice but perhaps the scenery was a bit over-hyped. I thought that the race was well organized. Packet pickup was at the Charlottesville Running Company, right at the start/finish line. It was easy and efficient. No expo, but that was fine and expected. I did like the quality of the shirt - a nice performance tee that I would actually wear. I do have a quibble with the logo (on the shirt and the medal). The way it is designed it says Charlottesville Marathon on top, and then on the bottom, in an equally prominent font it says, "Half Marathon." When they handed me my shirt I thought it was wrong because "half marathon" jumped out at me. When I got home and showed my husband my medal, his first response was, "Oh no, they gave you a half marathon medal." Minor issue. I agree with the comments regarding the early water stations. The volunteers were wonderful, but were totally unprepared for number of runners. We had to stand and wait for them to fill cups. Water was flowing very slowly from those big water jugs with spigots. Live and learn, I guess. The turn-around around mile 16 was really odd and could be very easy to miss. It was a cone placed on the side of the road. They spray-painted an arrow and the words "turn around," but had I not seen people who had previously been in front of me running towards me, I think I could have easily missed that turn and kept running straight. I was especially impressed with the bike teams. Those folks were outstanding. They rode up and down the course checking on everyone and yes, handing out Gu occasionally. There were a few times that the runners (only 350 marathoners) was so spread out that I couldn't see anyone ahead or behind me. It was a safe feeling to have the bikers around. They were so friendly and supportive. Another point that showed effort and thought on the part of the organizers was the post-race food tent. When you entered the tent they hand you a bag so that you could hold all of your stuff. That was such a nice touch. They had Vitamin Water, apples, bananas, bagels, individual bags of potato chips, and Domino's pizza. The pizza was cold, but I thought it was a step above most post-race food I've seen. I would definitely run this race again.
S. L. from Boston, MA (4/23/2007) "Good course; organization needs improvement" (about: 2007) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Charlottesville Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 As this was my first marathon, I had very high expectations... apparently too high for this particular marathon. The Course: Challenging, which certainly made me feel quite accomplished to have finished it! At around mile 16(?) or so, we ran up to a deadend then turned right around and re-traced our steps... was that really necessary? The Organizaton: Took away from the general experience.... Crowd support was poor, course markings were at times confusing or lacking, traffic on the dirt/country roads was not controlled, water stations and port-a-johns were clumped in the beginning and end while sparse in the middle, and the post-party was anti-climactic considering the hype of the race being a top destination marathon. Granted, I flew in from Boston after witnessing an incredible transformation of the city for the Boston Marathon less than a week before, so perhaps my standards were set a little too high. But my Charlottesville resident friend who ran the 10-miler there a month or so ago said that she was surprised the marathon was not as well-run as the 10-miler. (I believe the two events were organized by competing running clubs/organizers?) I would not recommend this as a first marathon or if crowd support and organization is important to you (though I have confidence that the organizers will work to improve those things for the future!), but as other reviewers have mentioned, it is worth running if you enjoy the thrill of finishing a very challenging course.
A. L. from Alexandria, VA (4/23/2007) "Beauty at a price" (about: 2007) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Charlottesville Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Gorgeous views right and left. Whether farming, a horse race track, or just the woods, the scenic views are most inviting. However, the actual racing comes at the price of cherishing those views. I recommend this marathon to all of you who have already anchored an unrepeatable PR, have qualified for Boston, or are considering moving into triathlons, iron-man marathons, etc. It is a high-tier marathon with a top-of-the-tops degree of difficulty. I could not ever set my pace. It always got interrupted by so many hills. On a final note, when I put down my marathon career I will likely look at this marathon as my marquee race, a beautiful Herculean effort! One note of criticism is the fact that there were no pads anywhere to collect your time at 10 miles, half marathon markers, etc., thus tempting cheating to cut off on the distance.
M. C. from Virginia (4/23/2007) "Beautiful Day and Well Organized Race" (about: 2007) 6-10 previous marathons \| 2 Charlottesville Marathons COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This was my second time to run the Charlottesville Marathon and I had a great time. The course is simply breathtaking and the organizers seem to really care about the runners' needs. We were happy to receive a wicking shirt this year; it will be nice to show off to all my running friends.
M. A. from Shaker Heights, OH (4/23/2007) "Solid Showing" (about: 2007) 2 previous marathons \| 1 Charlottesville Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was my first visit to Charlottesville and what a great town!!! I can't imagine a better place to spend a race weekend. The whole experience, from the race, to the fans, to the weather was perfect. This isn't a course where personal bests or winning is important; just go out and enjoy the run! The terrain is challenging but that is just part of the experience. Water stops for the full marathoners were great, especially late, so many thanks to the volunteers. It isn't a spectator-friendly course but the ones out there cheered hard - thanks to you as well. My only minor recommendation for improvement would be traffic control (close the road for 6:30 hours, 1 day a year). I ran the race with 3 friends (OH, NYC, DC) and none of us has a bad thing to say. This isn't a first-timer race but I would recommend it to anyone who just enjoys running. Eventually more people will figure out how good this race is and it will be a destination of choice.
J. E. from Virginia (4/23/2007) "Tough, beautiful, well organized." (about: 2007) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Charlottesville Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 I normally run marathons, but after hearing a number of racers comment on the extreme difficulty of this course, I opted for the half-marathon. The course is breathtaking in its beauty. While the first couple miles provide little but difficult city hills, once free of downtown, the course enters the beautiful and even more difficult Virginia countryside. When I turned around at the half-marathon's half-way mark I regretted not running the marathon. Much of the remaining half winds its way through the University of Virginia with a final mile that is mostly downhill (my fastest mile of the race). Good organization and terrific volunteers on the course. Plenty of water points. There are very few spectators on the course. I will be back for the marathon next year!!
A. P. from North Carolina (4/23/2007) "Not up to the hype..." (about: 2007) 6-10 previous marathons \| 1 Charlottesville Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 1 This marathon does NOT live up to the hype. I preface this review by saying that two weeks before the marathon, I hurt my knee and had to walk most of it and finished at 5 hours and 30 minutes. The weather was absolutely perfect and the marathon started on time. The packet pickup the day before was uneventful (no expo although there was a citywide Friday night music thing going on that coincided with the time I picked it up (i.e., it was packed and difficult to find parking)). The half marathon was an out-and-back and since we started at 6:30 on Saturday there was very little traffic and they had police EARLY ON keeping traffic out of the intersections. The half marathoners essentially run along a neighborhood that has a private golf course with gates keeping out people who cannot afford to play there. Where the half-marathoners turn around, the marathoners continue onward and do a loop on country roads past horse farms (i.e., wealthy homes with big open fields for riding horses). These were not supervised by race volunteers or fans except for the aid stations. Coming back in starting at mile 18 or so, I started getting onto roads that were traffic-free but now had traffic that was going 40 to 50 mph. Of course, volunteers and police told cars when they got on these stretches of road to be careful. Then we ran past the University of Virginia and through their Greek houses into a parade (unrelated to the marathon) at the finish line. ISSUES: 1) I felt that I was out for a run I could have done anytime. A marathon is supposed to be special in some way and feel different from how it would had I gone out on a run by myself. Running on country roads is fine but I can do that anytime (these roads are not closed off at all). Running into steady traffic coming at me on a road with no shoulder for more than 3 miles is absurd, especially when I have to pay to run! 2) I had my GPS tracker with me and mile 18 was actually 1.4 miles long - and then they compensated for it on the next mile somewhat. That is frustrating for people keeping track of their splits. In addition, there is no chip mat at the halfway point so runners could see their split. 3) Fan support is very, very limited. It is partly structural because my wife had no way to get out to see me on the country roads since they close off the roads early but then open them up later (how were we supposed to know when they would open them up?). Not one person out on the country roads came out of their house to cheer, etc. Even at the start of the race there were not many fans to cheer people on so it is not only a structural thing. Also, running through the Greek houses on campus at the end of the race, I did not experience even one student cheering or saying anything. Why even run us through there if they could care less? 4) At the end of the race, I got my small medal that looked identical to the half-marathon medal and a "congratulations." There was a sign that told me food was to the right. I liked how they had pizza for the runners and the people giving massages were still doing it! That was really nice. 5) The map of the marathon on the sheet of paper we got the night before was blurry and not of high quality. That was frustrating along with sometimes being unsure which road to take out in the country because of it being unmarked. There was nothing on the sheet telling people wanting to cheer where the best places were to watch or cheer. 6) I really cannot understand why this is considered a top destination marathon. The local free paper (distributed everywhere) had a front page article detailing how much local illegal drugs cost (I'm not kidding). 7) The scenery was nice but you can find pretty scenery everywhere. I'd rather see the city (the bad and the good) rather than find myself so lonely that I start talking to cows and horses since there is absolutely no human contact. 8) I thought the volunteers who did help out were excellent and I really appreciate their kindness!

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