The Cleveland Marathon was a solid race that I'd gladly return for in the future. I'm the type of crazy runner that enjoys challenge series - and Cleveland offers that as well. This year though, I stuck to just the marathon. I arrived early and spent a good deal of time at the expo. It was conveniently located right at the downtown convention center. The packet pickup was smooth, with standard shirts, There was a good assortment of products to sample and buy, and a handful of other races to check out. All of the volunteers and race staff I interacted with were friendly and helpful (disclaimer: I was one of the volunteers too)

My goal was to use this for a BQ. The course had some hills that were challenging for this South Florida runner, but in the grand scheme of things they really weren't that bad. They also had a solid team of pacers at all levels - as fast as 3:00 for the marathon. With my BQ goal, that was a significant perk. There were parts of the course that were scenic and enjoyable, and a few parts that were a bit more blah. When you are running through downtown, I guess some degree of potholes and construction is to be expected. There were also a few somewhat slippery steel grid bridges. When wet watch your step! Thankfully that was only an issue on a few parts of the course.

Aid stations were frequent and fully stocked. Water, sports drink, gels and even stroopwafels. They were comfortably staffed with energetic volunteers. Overall crowd support was good in the early miles, but waned significantly in the middle before picking back up a bit at the end. That said, this is a large enough race that you are never alone - plenty of other runners conquering the miles at your side. The weather was a bit damp early on, but we ended up getting quite lucky as the morning passed. Overall, the miles just seemed to flow pretty effortlessly.

Once you finish, a solid medal, plenty of food, cold beer and live music greet you at the finish line. Overall this was a solid race that I will never forget - especially since it got me my first BQ! Definitely a great race to run if you are in the area or it otherwise fits into your schedule. I'd have no hesitation to run it again!

More on my experience here is on my blog:
http://konfedence.com/2018/05/so-alive-%e2%80%a2-cleveland-marathon-cleveland-oh/