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☰
Georgia Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Georgia Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.1 
Organization 3.1 
Spectators 4.0
Number of comments: 459 [displaying comments 131 to 141]
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Michael ONeil from Huntersville, NC
(4/2/2009)
 "Poor Organization at Start and Finish" (about: 2009)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 5 I spent the first two miles of the race zig-zagging through all of the walkers and joggers, and I was in the second corral, close to the front! The course was very difficult (which is what I wanted), but there should have been more clarification at the beginning as to where one should be grouped based on projected pace/finishing time. I cannot recommend this race. I expected much more. | |
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Kelley Wells from Columbia,SC
(4/2/2009)
 "WONDERFUL AND CHALLENGING RACE" (about: 2009)
3 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was my first Georgia Marathon but my 4th overall. I thought the course was GREAT! Very fast and rolling with plenty of fan support. Organized hydration stations with plenty of volunteers. I did not do a lot of hill work but had a PR by 10 minutes and qualified for Boston!! Ran most of the way with the 3:40 pace group... they were great!! I would love to run this marathon again next year!! | |
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L. C. from Greenville, SC
(4/1/2009)
"Loved it!" (about: 2009)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was my first so I don't have a frame of reference, but I thought it was fantastic. I loved every minute of it! Sure it was a hilly course, but I had been aptly warned. It was great to have the start and finish both in Centennial Olympic Park, and there were many hotels within walking distance of the start/finish, which was great. The starting corrals seemed rather unorganized, which may bother some. The volunteers were friendly and supportive, and the water stations were well stocked. I did notice that every port-a-john had a line. My husband was able to see me four times on the course using MARTA, and he tracked me with the live chip texts (which was an awesome feature!). I did wonder where the massage tents were; and adding Gatorade at the finish would be good. Great tech t-shirt, good expo, nice medal, fabulous experience! | |
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S. E. from Decatur, GA
(4/1/2009)
"Scenic and hilly course" (about: 2009)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 The course takes you through some of the prettiest neighborhoods in Atlanta. The neighborhood streets were nice to run on. The course is hilly, but the hills are not extremely long. They're more rolling hills. The Druid Hills section of the course between miles 16 and 20 took a lot out of people, myself included. I would recommend this marathon to anyone looking for an interesting place to run. I would not recommend it if you want to qualify for Boston and you expect a borderline qualifying time. | |
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R. B. from Lakeland, Florida
(4/1/2009)
"Beautiful Scenery On A Very Hilly Course" (about: 2009)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 The Georgia Marathon course was very interesting, diverse, and beautiful. It is a fantastic way to see Atlanta and the surrounding neighborhoods. The hills were unending with some steep ones and some very long ones. The fans were fantastic. There were various bands, and even a church choir singing in Decatur. There was what seemed like a water and Gatorade stop at every turn. One college sorority was even passing out tissues. Bottom Line: If you are not prepared for hill after hill or are seeking a specific, fast finish time, skip this marathon. However, if you want to enjoy a challenging, fun, and beautiful big-city-to-quaint-town sightseeing course (with a very nice expo), run this marathon. | |
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K. B. from Grand Prairie, TX
(4/1/2009)
"One way to see Atlanta" (about: 2009)
50+ previous marathons
| 2 Georgia Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I didn't know that Atlanta had so many hills, and the marathon course seemed to take in all of them. I'm not complaining about the hills, however. There were two problems that bothered me: 1) No safety pins in the packet. I discovered that shortly before the race was to begin. At the front desk I was told they were completely out of safety pins because many other runners had requested the same thing. Finally, at the drop-bag area a volunteer was handing out safety pins, and I was able to pin my bib on just in time. But in all of the confusion, I forgot to take a pee. At each porta-potty along the route there was a line waiting to get in, so I finally found a tree (as did many others). After ten years of running marathons, I learned a new lesson: carry some safety pins. You never know when you will need them. 2) The other problem is with the corral system. I was standing in Corral 2 (where I belonged) and was standing next to a guy who belonged in Corral 7. I looked around me and saw almost no one who belonged in Corral 2. The point is this: If the corral system is not enforced, hardly anyone will obey. The slowest runners want to be in front. It never fails. Maybe they get a charge seeing so many pass them by. I enjoyed visiting Atlanta. I highly recommend seeing the Georgia Aquarium. Overall, I enjoyed the experience. It wasn't the best marathon I have run, but it certainly wasn't the worst. | |
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S. S. from Takoma Park, MD
(4/1/2009)
"Race-day organization: Thumbs down" (about: 2009)
6-10 previous marathons
| 2 Georgia Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I ran the inaugural Georgia half-marathon back in 2007 and I thought the organization of that race was MUCH better than this year. The expo was nice, but only using one small elevator to get people up and down was weird. Luckily we got there early and didn't have to wait in line. On race day, I don't now where water stations were located at the starting area (if there were any) and the gear check was the pits. There were few volunteers, little organization of the bags, and NO security. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be fired. After the race, I couldn't find a volunteer to take the plastic tab off of my bag, so I had to go to the medical tent to have them do it. Also, the post-race food station was very easy to miss in all of the commotion. If this is considered an improvement over 2007, I won't be running this race again - particularly because I've run other ING races that were fantastic. | |
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J. R. from Decatur, GA
(4/1/2009)
"Much better organized" (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Georgia Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This was my 23rd marathon and I ran this for the second time (I also ran in the first one which was a fiasco organizationally). There were tons of improvements. Picking up my number was very easy. I liked the starting/finishing location much better, as well as the water/Gatorade stations. I still find it difficult to believe that this is Atlanta and they served Gatorade.... C'mon, Coke, give us PowerAde. ;-) At each water station, there were porta-potties, which was very nice (again, a big improvement from the first year) and many more potties at the start of the race as well (not easy to find the "big bank" of them but when I did, there were very short lines). Getting to my corral was challenging because of all of the barricades put up, and the line to get into the corral was the bottleneck. As expected, the course was hilly (no PR) and fairly challenging, but beautiful along the way. (Also, I'm glad that they got rid of the majority of the Freedom Parkway "out and back"). Fans: I really have to hand it to them; it was very chilly/windy and they were all along the route. Thank you! I live in Atlanta and will probably run this one again in future years. I am very impressed with the changes made and really did enjoy the overall experience. | |
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D. R. from Cumming, GA
(4/1/2009)
 "An unorganized, hilly course" (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 I ran this race 3 years ago with Dean Karnazes when he was doing 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. It wasn't organized right by the Atlanta folks then, and nothing has changed in 3 years. It seems that the folks here spend so much time on their cheering sections and watering stations. They seem to forget the runners need volunteers around the starting area to guide runners to the start area, where the bag check is and where the bathrooms are. At the finish, there were no volunteers to guide you to the MARTA trains or show you where the food and water were located. Many runners were in the wrong corral because there was no one to stop folks from starting up front when clearly they should have been at the back. After starting the race, I ran into walkers in the first half-mile. I'm a 3:50 or so runner; that's not fast, but there were a lot of runners/walkers who should have not been up front. The course was hilly, with most of the hills in the last 5 miles. I can say that I've run the ING Atlanta Marathon, but it will be my one and only. | |
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Marina White from Irvine, CA
(3/31/2009)
 "Third time is the Southern Charm?" (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 When I spoke to folks who had previously run this race that calls itself a "Southern Tradition," they had other things to call it... but I found it to be quite lovely. I guess significant improvements have been made in the past two years - and also, the weather apparently cooperated from the previous events, which were too dry and hot or too wet.... The course had some hills that were a bit tough, but they led to a sweet reward with the nice areas we ran through! There were fun areas, little towns (Decatur was very welcoming!) colleges, and gorgeous residential areas. Spectators and water stations were in ample supply. I like the idea of having the stations compete, because a few really go all out and are awesome! Organization could probably be improved. While the expo was exceptional, the post-race party was bland. Also, I did not see results posted at the end, and not online until the next day! The bathrooms spread out at the start might have worked if there had been more grouped together, and probably more are needed on the course. In sum, a well stocked, well chosen course, I think. |
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