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Myrtle Beach Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Myrtle Beach Marathon Information & Reviews

Course Rating Course 4.2 
 
Oranization Rating Organization 4.3 
 
Spectator Rating Spectators 3.6 
 
 
Number of comments: 318 [displaying comments 221 to 231]
More Comments: [ < 1 .. 21 22 23 24 25 .. 32 > ]

 

M. N. from North Carolina (12/26/2005)
"great run" (about: 2004)

1 previous marathon | 1 Myrtle Beach Marathon
COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 3  FANS: 4


Road was very broken up in places, but the terrain was nice and flat with a great view.

 

Sue Daniels from Myrtle Beach, SC (10/12/2005)
"Very disappointing" (about: 2005)

1 previous marathon | 1 Myrtle Beach Marathon
COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 1  FANS: 3


This was my first marathon. It took me 6 hours 32 minutes and I finished! By the time I crossed the finish line, there were no medals left, the vendors had closed shop...not even a bottle of water. Took the wind right out of my sails. It would have been nice to see a smiling face as I accomplished this unbelievable challenge. Why allow 7 hours to finish when everyone goes home after 5 hours?

 

M. L. from Cleveland, OH (4/27/2005)
"On the right day - A Fast Course" (about: 2005)

6-10 previous marathons | 2 Myrtle Beach Marathons
COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 3  FANS: 2


Second time at Myrtle Beach. Much better than the wind in '04. BQ'd with a 3:18. Very pleased. Plenty of quality runners to pack with. The '04 ocean wind not a problem this year. Great weather. Wonderful for a family get away. Reasonably priced, lot's to do. Ocean is too cold for swimming though. Despite the negative comments about the race director (whom I met last year), they are all professional and are managing the best they can. I trust any problems will be worked out. The more of you that preregister the better things will go. Your family has access to you in several spots along the course.
This is my 2nd time coming in from Ohio because it is easy to make reservations and lot's to do.
If you like pancakes, you will love this course.
Post race party sounds like a great time. I was too pooped to party.
ps. Boston '05 was great!
Thanks Myrtle Beach

 

M. L. from Cleveland, OH (4/27/2005)
"On The Right Day - A Fast Course" (about: 2005)

6-10 previous marathons | 2 Myrtle Beach Marathons
COURSE: 4  ORGANIZATION: 3  FANS: 2


Second time at Myrtle Beach. Much better than the wind in '04. BQ'd with a 3:18. Very pleased. Plenty of quality runners to pack with. The '04 ocean wind not a problem this year. Great weather. Wonderful for a family get away. Reasonably priced, lots to do. Ocean is too cold for swimming though. Despite the negative comments about the race director (whom I met last year), they are all professional and are managing the best they can. I trust any problems will be worked out. The more of you that pre-register, the better things will go. Your family has access to you in several spots along the course.
This is my 2nd time coming in from Ohio because it is easy to make reservations and there's lots to do.
If you like pancakes, you will love this course. Post-race party sounds like a great time. I was too pooped to party.

Ps. Boston '05 was great!

Thanks Myrtle Beach.

 

S. R. from Arlington, Va (4/6/2005)
"Addendum to comments below" (about: 2005)

6-10 previous marathons | 1 Myrtle Beach Marathon
COURSE: 3  ORGANIZATION: 2  FANS: 4


To be fair, I wanted to post and say that I finally received my medal in the mail. Four days before that I received an e-mail from the race director explaining the medals were delayed in shipping. It would have been better if they had responded more promptly. I understanding things happen but it was still a great disappointment after crossing the line. Hopefully, they have learned from this mistake and no one will have to ever receive another I.O.U. after cross the line.

 

S. R. from Arlington, VA (3/20/2005)
"Not a great race... organization poor at best" (about: 2005)

6-10 previous marathons | 1 Myrtle Beach Marathon
COURSE: 2  ORGANIZATION: 1  FANS: 2


I saw the ocean for maybe a mile or so but I can say that I?ve seen every Wings and miniature golf course that exists in Myrtle Beach. While the course was not the best, it would have been a good race if this had been the only issue.

I had to rename the race ?the check-at-the-next-water-stop race? because they ran out of sports drink after mile 10 or so and didn?t have any available until the last water stop of the race. This was pretty disappointing and could have thrown a runner off their game plan. I understand that sometimes things happen but this unfortunately is not where the poor organization ended. After running 26.2 miles and coming across the finish line, we are told that they didn?t have any more medals but plan to check to see if any are still in storage. After waiting 15 minutes for them to come back (totally exhausted), we are told they have run out but they will be happy to mail us the medals. Again, I understand that things happen but after over a month and 2 unanswered e-mails (although an e-mail I sent prior to the race regarding payment was answered within 24 hours), I still do not have a medal or response.

This race was not the most scenic but the race organizations do the best with what they are given. The lack of sports drink and the failure to purchase enough medals to present to all runners is inexcusable. I do not recommend this race until they are able to get a new race director or whoever is responsible for these failures.

I do have to say that my poor experience had nothing to do with those that volunteered for the race. I think the volunteers for this race were the best I?ve ever seen. They were cheerful, positive, friendly, outgoing, helpful... pretty much everything you can ask for in a volunteer. Unfortunately, their leaders, those in charge of organization, were nowhere near as competent at their tasks. I wholeheartedly do not encourage anyone to run this race based on my experience. The mere chance that these things could happen again requires me to do this. There are plenty of other races out there that have the organization that deserve your patronage. Don?t reward incompetence by running this race.

P.S. I traveled over 7 hours which makes the experience even worse.

 

M. E. from Nantucket, MA (3/5/2005)
"What a blast!" (about: 2005)

First Marathon
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 4  FANS: 5


Myrtle beach was a terrific first marathon and I was very pleased w/ my race time. The loop course was plenty interesting and the volunteers were great. The spectators were sparse in places but enthusiastic and much appreciated on this gorgeous but cool day. Yes, the packet pick-up and race start could be streamlined (organizers--you have heard this before), and the Powerade should have been lemon-lime, but the pasta dinner was a good value and the House of Blues was great fun. Thanks to the amazing masseuse who prevented the anticipated day-after marathon paralysis. We loved staying in an oceanfront hotel, soaking in a jacuzzi, running on the beach and playing mini-golf--all part of the MYB experience! And yes, a pancake house for breakfast on Sunday. Great event!

 

Jasper Mersereau from Richmond, Virginia (2/26/2005)
"This was a horrible marathon" (about: 2005)

6-10 previous marathons | 1 Myrtle Beach Marathon
COURSE: 1  ORGANIZATION: 1  FANS: 3


I am so glad that all the previous posts had such an enjoyable experience. I had high hopes that I would have a similar experience. I went to MB to have a great run and enjoy myself.

Unfortunately I had nothing of the sort. By the time I was done with this marathon I was extremely disappointed. I run marathons to get the medal... but by the time I got to the finish line, they had run out of them. So after suffering miserably for 26.2 miles, the one reason I showed up in Myrtle Beach they went ahead and told me sorry, too bad, we don?t have any more. I can?t tell you how disappointed and depressed I was. They had denied me the honor of receiving my medal after completion of the marathon.

Even if they do eventually provide me with a medal, and I don?t have high hopes they will, it will not be the same as receiving it on race day. And I wasn?t exactly in the back of the pack; close, but not the back. Several hundred marathoners also got the ?honor? of not getting a medal after their run. I felt the worst for the first-time marathoners who came across the line and got nothing. This race did a tremendous disservice for those of us who paid good money for the privilege of running this race and then they did not deliver on what they promised.

And it wasn?t just the medal. After proudly proclaiming on the website and in brochures that they would provide lemon-lime Powerade every two miles along the course, they had every flavor out there except lemon lime. They did solve that by mile 10. After mile 10 they had no Powerade whatsoever. And I would like to point out that the number of runners this year was no different that in previous years.

From my view this was the worst marathon organization I had ever seen. Although I will say the volunteers were fantastic, I felt sorry for the ones who had to man the finish line because they had to deal with telling a lot of people they weren?t getting a medal.

I have sent an email to the race director, and tried to call the number on the website. After a week I would have expected at least an email saying something, but they have not responded. And the phone voice mail is full and has been all week long, so obviously they are not responding to voice messages either. You would think they would go out of there way to make sure everyone who deserved a medal got one, or at least an explanation for why they didn?t. But not this marathon.

My opinion, considering how boring the course was (many miles of parking lots, gift shops, putt-putts and hotels) and the level of organization (or lack thereof): I would not recommend this marathon to anyone. If you are doing 50 states, then I am sure there is a better run and more scenic marathon somewhere in South Carolina. If you want to run a great beach, tourist area marathon I would recommend the Virginia Beach Shamrock Marathon - they took you by a lot of beach front and some interesting locations... and the organization was miles above this race. But then again, any hometown small marathon would be better run than this was.

 

E. E. from Atlanat, Georgia (2/25/2005)
"Everything was great but the expo needs a tune up" (about: 2005)

3 previous marathons | 1 Myrtle Beach Marathon
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 3  FANS: 4


The course, city, spectators, volunteers and race organization were excellent. More work needs to be put into the expo. The idea of going from station to station to pick up registration items was alien, and bad organization. Other than that, the organizer did an A+ job. I look forward to running more of that race.

 

E. A. from Western Virginia (2/25/2005)
"A flat, fast course" (about: 2005)

11-50 previous marathons | 2 Myrtle Beach Marathons
COURSE: 5  ORGANIZATION: 5  FANS: 2


Myrtle Beach is a great place to set a PR.

I've managed to run 2 great races ('02 & '05) there, and each has been faster than any other marathon in my last 8 years. Of course it's flat, but it is also very well managed. In fact, I've been running for 28 years and it's probably the best run race I've ever attended.

 

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