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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 341 to 351]
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J. H. from Atlanta
(3/27/2007)
"First-timer POV: Nice course & nice fans, poor org" (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 This 1/2 marathon was my first time running any race over 10k. I found the course to be very good. Scenic with rolling hills; but not as hilly as where I've been training since January. Overall it was not as hard as I had feared. I was particularly pleased with the enthusiasm and the number of people that got up early to cheer us by. All the comments about the lack of water and sport drink is true. And the lack of mile markers after mile 4 of the 1/2 course made things a bit confusing. I attribute all this to first year glitches and am confident it will be taken care of next year. Kudos for UPS providing storage for the runners. That was very useful. Overall it was a fun race that I look forward to running in the future. | |
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J. B. from USA
(3/27/2007)
"No PowerAde. Poor water stations." (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 Beautiful scenic course! Hilly! No PowerAde. Unorganized water stations. Lack of water at some, and not enough for such a hot day. Lots of port-o-pots. Hope next year is better! | |
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Chuck Weglarski from Cincinnati, Ohio
(3/27/2007)
"Wonderful race with some tweeking to do..." (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Loved the course and City !!!! A group of us came down from Cincinnati, and had a wonderful time. I am not going to point out the obvious problem with liquid, that I'm sure will be beat to death. This is a suggestion to keep the walking halfers away from the full marathoners. Due to injury, I was forced to change from the full to half, and the volunteers did a good job directing the half runners by separating them out by cones at the end. But, the walking halfers don't know running etiquette, and most have ipods and can't hear the directions. As a suggestion, since you have cones separating the half and full, stick a written sign in the cone on a stick, that has half with an arrow, and full with an arrow. That way, if the walkers are jamming to tunes, they can still read the directions. I know the marathoners will appreciate it... A LOT !!! Being a mostly full marathoner, I am well aware of how the half marathoner can be an obstruction, rape and pillage everything and leave the full marathon folks high and dry. I am not bashing the halfers at all, but this what happens. With a little more planning this can be corrected. I don't mind being with halfers, because they are next generation full marathon runners. I know you'll fix this, AND I will return, because I need Georgia. (as a closet 50 stater) and Atlanta is beautiful place to do it. Summary: Don't be afraid to do this marathon next year! I know it will be beautiful race !!!!! | |
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N. T. from Indiana
(3/27/2007)
"Shame on ING!" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 2 The course was great. I expected the challenge. What I did not expect was the non-existent aid stations. It was advertised that PowerAde and water would be every two miles. I would have packed if I had known there would be NONE. Thank God for the spectators that offered the little that they did. I'll never do another ING race again. Check the stats - the temps were actually closer to 90 degrees at midday. With zero PowerAde, that is almost criminal. Dangerous!! | |
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S. W. from Marietta, GA
(3/27/2007)
"rolling, hot, and" (about: 2007)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 I ran the 1/2 marathon, but saw enough that I think I can comment. The race was scenic through all the neighborhoods; however, there were several issues: a) Start area downtown was packed with no subgroups or segmenting of runners, so there was alot of people to dodge, weave thru in the first couple of miles that were slower than myself. b) Lack of ANY Powerade along course c) Going back and forth along Carter center road which is 1 car length wide was cramped. d) crossing into Piedmont park that had road construction along route e) turning left onto Peachtree street @ 14th into oncoming traffic. Peachtree should have been closed completetly and all access blocked off. f) The mileage markers were painted on the ground, not on signs and were backwards so u didn't know how far you had progressed. g) The finish area was not a continous flow along a single road- u had to go left for chip clip, right for food, around the corner for meeting people. There were no signs where the UPS, food, meeting locations were supposed to be. I'm sure they'll be better organized next year. The weather was perfect @ start so a GA marathon in March is still a good idea. | |
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M. S. from Atlanta, Georgia
(3/27/2007)
"All of the pros outweighed by lack of POWERADE!!!" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 The race expo, packet pick-up, fans and volunteers were all EXCELLENT. But, as a competivive runner, who spent many months training for this marathon, I was infuriated to be left in the lurch on a hot, hilly, pollen-filled course with NO ELECTROLYTE REPLACEMENT, PERIOD!!! There was no excuse. I don't know if the invited athletes had special fluids or not. So maybe it did not affect them. But as an amateur competitive runner (I have competed in 2 olympic marathon trials), it really hindered my performance. I would love to see this marathon succeed in Georgia. And let me reiterate, there were some major positives, as noted. But, because of this huge PowerAde glitch, the race itself was spoiled. I realize that it was an inaugural event. But, in order to restore the running public's confidence, I feel that a public explanation would be helpful. What happened? How will it be different next time? | |
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m. t. from Dallas, TX
(3/27/2007)
"Great course but poorly organized by ING" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 Here's the thing, everyone expects ING to run a great race. Come on, look at New York. And we expect that Atlanta knows how to control flow in a large race (like the Peachtree 10k). That's why we signed up. It made the outcome race day all the more disappointing. This was not an ideal race to try and PR. So let's start with what's good about this race. It had a nice, large expo and a good Mizuno technical tee. The course was spectacular with rolling hills. Truly beautiful. UPS did a great job with the bag check. I finished early enough to avoid the heat. There were a few minor things leading up to the race-long lines at the expo for packet pick up, inhospitable waitstaff at restaurants, MARTA stalled out, we got stuck on the train and then got to climb a long steep stalled out escalator right before running a hilly race. Then there's the big stuff. Full and half marathoners crammed together at the start and starting at the same time, no way to line up with your pace group, walkers mixed in with runners. Only a few tables of water at mile 2, no cups for water at mile 4 for the half marathoners, no Powerade AT ALL on the course which meant thousands of runners short on electrolytes and calories. Isn't Coca Cola based in Atlanta???? There were signs all over the course that Powerade stops were forthcoming only to discover no Powerade and and often no cups for water or a completely missing water stop (no water stop for full between miles 4 & 8 even though there was a sign for a stop at about mile 6.5). This was devastating on a day with record high heat. Faster marathon runners were penalized by having to run outside the course to avoid the slower half marathoners. There were no mile markers for the half marathoners after the full marathoners merged back with them. For inexperienced halfers that meant confusion as to where exactly they were on the course. It also would have been nice to have a finisher's tee rather than a generic race tee, particularly for first time marathoners and half marathoners. I think this will be a great race to run in a few years if ING can work out a solution to the congested start, provide adequate fluids at water stops, and run water stops more efficiently by providing a few minutes of training for volunteers and having volunteers set up early enough to accomodate the volume of runners. ING, just do what you say you are going to do. At the very least provide Powerade and water stops where advertised. | |
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P. P. from Tulsa, OK
(3/27/2007)
"Great Course, Great Spectators, No Powerade" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 This was a very beautiful marathon course although hilly and challenging! Even though the temp was very warm, the course was nicely shaded most of the way. The organizers should have been ready for the heat and made sure the water stations and powerade stations were fully manned and stocked! There was NO POWERADE for us back of the packers at all (lots of signs). There was no water station at mile 6. We had to run from 4 to 8 with no water and many of us missed water at mile 2 because it was on the left hand side and it was very small with no one yelling out 'water'! Thankfully there was a spectator handing out popsicles before mile 8! The volunteers that were there (and stuck around for the entire time were wonderful!!!) The police support was great! We did have a problem with the man in charge of the course having cones pulled up on one of the main roads before 5 hours was even up! If the course is open for 7 hours, it should be open for the 7 hour people to get through! I finished well before 7 hours and they were pulling up the cones in front of me! The spectators were wonderful too! They were out there with fruit and water and hoses for us slower runners and without them cheering us on and helping us out it would have been much tougher! I would recommend this race to everyone despite the problems because all inaugural marathons have glitches! I know it will be much better next year! | |
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N. B. from Northeast Ohio
(3/27/2007)
"Great course but huge organization mistakes" (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 4 This was my 13th marathon so I've seen the really bad (Cleveland) and the really good (Richmond, Steamtown, Kiawah). As others have said, the HUGE failure was the lack of Powerade. I got one half cup at the 8 mile and 16 mile. Then, someone obviously headed to the local warehouse club because somewhere around 22 they were cracking open 20oz Gatorades and filling cups. That was great to get that. (also interesting since Gatorade is the primary competitor to Powerade) The combination of super-high pollen count and no electrolytes (as I trained with per the marathon website) created a very bad race for me personally. I'll never forget seeing signs for the 'water stop/Powerade stop ahead' at mile 4 and it never 'appearing' until the same signs were seen at mile 6!! Also, for those taking the Clif shots at 2 spots on the course, I hope they had fluid with them, because a water stop was not beside it...gotta wash those down with something! Again, great course, expo, and finishers medal. As for the finish, I was offered one 16oz water, a very warm (it was 82F) can of Coke product, an apple, and pretzels. No massages, sport drinks, etc. that are normal at other marathons. I ended up leaving and catching an early flight home because there was nothing else to do! If you're a first time marathoner and you did this race, please know this race was not 'typical' of most. There are very well done marathons out there. I am doing one in 6 weeks - The Flying Pig in Ohio. | |
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P. M. from Hilton Head SC
(3/27/2007)
"Good Course - Awful Organization" (about: 2007)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Georgia Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 4 Ran out of "goodie bags" at check in - nice start! Without the proper bag, had a problem at gear check. UPS finally agreed to take the bag if we wrote our bib number on the bag with a marker. Start was awful. No corrals so it was mass confusion. This caused a bunch up the entire course, as people tried to get around walkers and slower runners. No PowerAde stations and water was hit or miss - literally (some water stations were missing). No Gu either, only Clif Bars. It was hot so this was a real problem. No meeting areas after the race so everyone was bunched up at the finish trying to find friends and family. The expo was great. Finish festivities were disappointing. The course was very challenging with a lot of hills. Fans were great. |
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