I love Austin, and and I love running, so I thought I'd love the Austin Marathon. But I didn't love it. Trying to make sure my review isn't thwarted by my experience with the heat of this past year (75 degrees with 95% humidity) and my failure to hit the goal I was working towards, but really, I had high expectations for the race being in such an awesome city, and it just didn't fully deliver. I had more fun on my visit than I did during the race itself.

A few negatives:
--The race is tough. The hills are no joke. I was prepared for the hills and had watched Rogue Racing's race plan workshop on Facebook and felt like I had a strong game plan, but still it was tough. So, if you're looking to PR, I would say this is not the race for you.
--For the all the boasting about the music on course, they really didn't deliver. I've done other marathons that had far more on course live bands. I think there is a lot of room to improve on this.
--I think the course could use some reworking. Austin is such an amazing city and I don't think the course highlights all it could about the city.
--The spectators were pretty sparse. Again, I expected a lot more through the different neighborhoods of Austin, but there really weren't a lot of people out cheering. The ones that were there, were great, they were just few and far between.
--Nuun on course-thumbs down from me on this choice
--I think the after-race party would be far better at a park rather than in the streets of downtown.

A few positives:
--Their social media is on point. There was great interaction with the participants via twitter, Facebook, and instagram.
--The swag was top-notch. Great medal and tech t-shirt.
--After you're done with the marathon, you can hit all the amazing restaurants and bars Austin has to offer that you were passing on the days leading up to the marathon :P