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Marine Corps Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Marine Corps Marathon Information & Reviews

Course Rating Course 4.5 
 
Oranization Rating Organization 3.9 
 
Spectator Rating Spectators 4.6 
 
 
Number of comments: 937 [displaying comments 91 to 101]
More Comments: [ < 1 .. 8 9 10 11 12 .. 94 > ]

 

Steve Sonnie from Philadelphia, Pa. (11/6/2012)
"Unbeliveable experience." (about: 2012)

First Marathon
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


Unbeliveable experience. I will run this race over and over. There are so many things to see and hear during the race to keep you going. And once you receive your medal and have a Marine Lieutenant salute you there is no better feeling. Thank you Marine Corps.
 

D. B. from Buffalo, NY (11/5/2012)
"Huge Race Hard to get to and from" (about: 2012)

4-5 previous marathons | 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


Marine Corp marathon was huge event. Pain to get around Washington DC area. Hotwired a room in Hilton for $65 near Vienna Station. 2 trains over to Armory for packet pickup took 3 hours round trip. Had to get up at 4am to get on train for arrival at Pentagon by 6am. 2 hours to hang around until race start. Subway note - you only need to buy a one-way ticket per day and you buy your marathon day ticket the day before so you save time. 2 hours wait to get on Rosslyn train back to Vienna. Lotsa travel throws your system timing off so be ready to use the porta-potties along with 25000 others. Marines were great - helpful, encouraging, the pride of our youth. I ran this race in memory of my buddies dad - a WW2 Saipan Marine who was like a second father to me. I don't think I would rush back to do this marathon. Big pain for me to drive 8 hours to run. If I could afford to fly, spend the weekend with wife and fam, it would be ok.
 

R. G. from Chicago (11/4/2012)
"Excellent race" (about: 2012)

6-10 previous marathons | 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 5


This was one of the most enjoyable races I have run. Inspiring and beautiful course plus great support. Plenty of room on the course compared to other large races. I really enjoyed being able to see the race leaders run past us when we were at mile 5 as they were at 8, coming down the hill into Georgetown.
 

D. B. from Ontario (11/1/2012)
"A BUCKET LIST MARATHON" (about: 2012)

11-50 previous marathons | 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 4


This is a great marathon, the Marines know how to organize. The best place to both start stay is Residence Inn Marriott ARLINGTON, walk to both start and finish. The tech shirt is very nice and the finisher medal is fantastic. The route is cool running past many large monuments. A little hillier than I anticipated and the hill at the finish is one to remember, but then again marines give enough motivation to definitely carry through with no worries. The crowds are very enthusiastic.

Overall a great marathon. What could be better Marines at ever water station?
 

J. C. from New York City (11/1/2012)
"enjoyed the race, not the finish area" (about: 2012)

4-5 previous marathons | 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


First and foremost I am grateful to have had the opportunity to run this marathon and thankful to the marines for what they do.
After missing the starting ceremonies thanks to waiting in line for a toilet (they had enough space to triple to amount of port-o-potties they had and should have used it) I finally got on my way.

Along the way I kept thinking to myself that the course is so pretty and the crowd is so wonderful that this may replace Philly as my favorite marathon so far. That was until I got to the end. You go off the roadway onto a much narrower path and cross the finish line right into a huge bottleneck. Me, personally, I need to keep walking to catch my breath so that was tough. After waiting in a line for a medal and then blowing off the finish line photo op I got stuck trying to get out of the park. Finally made it to what I hoped was the line for the shuttle bus. There were no signs and some people on the line thought it was for the metro. The line actually ended in a circle spiraling into itself. Someone ought to have been there to create order and they should have at least 5 buses loading at once to alleviate the wait and crowds. I am not an expert at logistics I just see what may have made things better. By looking at the MCM's facebook page today I also see that I missed out on shirts being handed out at the finish line. Why were there no signs about this?
The course is beautiful (except for that long bridge you have to beat) and the crowds really are terrific. There are hiccups at every major event so as long as you can go with the flow I do recommend MCM. Overall I really enjoyed the experience.
Oh and getting home before Hurricane Sandy passed through made it even more thrilling :)
 

J. M. from Tennessee (10/31/2012)
"23rd marathon and it was great" (about: 2012)

11-50 previous marathons | 2 Marine Corps Marathons
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 4


I ran this one in 2004 and it keeps getting better. Runners Village, port-a-potty availability, bib pickup all improved and the event is now 3 times the size.

The only suggestion is to post signs on the course for the distance to port-a-potty spots the first 6 miles. I knew where they would be and waited and found empty port-a-potties. Many did not wait and went into the woods just short of the restroom locations.

Best spectator sign I saw on the course: 'Not even Chuck Norris would attempt to run a marathon in the face of a hurricane.'
 

R. P. from Ft. Lauderdale (10/31/2012)
"Great run!" (about: 2012)

1 previous marathon
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 5


The negatives first are the expo and finisher's village.

This is my second full marathon and I've done about 6 halves.
Expo was pretty small. Not much to it. I'd say it was average, I expected more. It was however efficient.
The finisher's area was large and not cohesive. The area before spectators are allowed around you was however incredible. Efficient and effective.

The course is GREAT! You start with a few hills to stretch out the legs, then some quite areas along the river back to a neighborhood then all the great DC sights. I really enjoyed the variety of large amounts of spectators then no spectators. The only boring part was Haines Park.

The Dunkin Donuts at mile 23 sounded a little ridiculous when I was training. During the race I had seconds. It was awesome!

Overall my favorite run of all races this year (I've done 6/ 2 were fulls).
 

J. P. from San Mateo, CA (10/31/2012)
"Wonderful Spectators" (about: 2012)

4-5 previous marathons | 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 5


This was my 4th marathon and it was right prior to Hurricane Sandy hitting the D.C. area. I was pleasantly suprised that a lot of spectators came out in bad weather to cheer us on. The USMS did a smashing job as expected. I will run this race again.
 

R. J. from Virginia (10/30/2012)
"Most Fun I've Had Running 26.2 Miles!" (about: 2012)

2 previous marathons | 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


I went into this race hoping for a better experience than my first marathon, and it delivered. Race day was well organized and shuttles appreciated(minus the security check, which locals will be used to). Despite the incoming hurricane, loads of people turned out to cheer on participants in costumes, with music, and hilarious signs. The Marines really made this race fantastic... they gave out plenty of motivation and high fives, and it carried me through the race. The miles flew by most of time, which is the most important thing for a slow runner like me.

Just a few low points - the expo takes forever to get into.. I'm used to security checks everywhere, but there must be a better way. Haines point is a little boring, but I appreciated whoever put out the signs to read the whole way to make it less boring. Getting out of the finish line area was a bit of a pain, although given the location I appreciate their efforts. Not much you can do about that without moving the finish to a different place, which wouldn't make sense (away from Iwo Jima).
 

Kelly Spires from Atlanta, GA (10/29/2012)
"It was an amazing experience" (about: 2012)

3 previous marathons | 1 Marine Corps Marathon
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 5


This was my third marathon and by far the best organized, the best scenery to run through, so very patriotic and the most fun and supportive spectators. It was a truly inspiring time. Thank you MCM!
 

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