In my search for a race over my birthday weekend BibRave led me to the Austin marathon. Fair warning, if you live and train in a flat area (like Chicago), find a treadmill and do the hill work. You will thank yourself when you get to the race. The GREAT news, most of the hills are in the first half AND they are long steady climbs rather than the short burst. However, there are two or three short, steep ones about the middle of the race and then two shortly before (or after) mile 26. Be ready, be confident and you’ll be fine!

The swag for this race was definitely a step up from standard. I wasn’t thrilled with the black tech-tee (I mean outside a treadmill, when are you combining a tee and black!). But they won me over with the one shoulder backpack they gave out. The medal was also a quality medal.

The expo was full of vendors and they had a small selection of race specific gear. I got to the expo around 2:00 on day 2 of the expo and they were sold out of the smaller women’s sizes in some of the popular styles. So if you are interested in getting “good” gear, get there early.

The expo and start/finish were all easily accessible from downtown hotels. If you stay downtown I recommend doing your last call potty break in the hotel. I’m not sure if I just went to the wrong spot or if it was really this bad, but I saw a sign for “restrooms”, which I followed. I got back there (about 30 minutes before race start) and the line wasn’t too bad. I saw 4 potties, but as I got toward the front of the line realized only one was unlocked. By the time I left the line (10 minutes to start), the line was super long and there was no TP. Hopefully I just misdirected myself to the wrong line!

I enjoyed the course. It went through a number of residential areas where locals were out cheering. There were some areas where there weren’t many spectators, but I didn’t feel like those areas lasted a long time. And there were always spectators when you needed them (think hills at mile 26). My only complaint, early in the race when still combined with the half marathon runners, the water/Gatorade stations were limited to one side of the course. It was very hard to get in and get your hydration efficiently.

I wasn’t impressed with the finish line goodies. For starters, somehow I missed the heat sheet station, I feel like that should be a prominent one. Also, the finish water/Gatorade was still just a cup. I hardly ever take the Gatorade bottle, but the water bottle is key. They did have fruit cups, chips, fresh fruit, cookies, etc. There was nothing that blew me away.

My phone died so I went straight back to the hotel so I have no insight on the post-race party.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend the race to other runners both as a getaway race and for locals. I don’t think it is one that I would repeat as an out-of-town runner.