As far as races go, the Delaware Marathon was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were a number of aspects of the race that I really appreciated, but there were also some things that could have been improved upon, at least in my opinion. In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that when I finished the marathon I went straight to the med tent and was later transported to the ER with heat stroke. It was definitely not the way I wanted to celebrate my accomplishment, but I’ve been trying to not let that negatively influence my opinions on the race itself.

The Good Stuff:
Loved the race shirt. Other swag included a pint glass and a Headsweats hat.

The Tubman Garrett Riverfront Park was a really pretty area for the start and finish. It was also only a mile away from the official hotel of the race (the Westin), and was easily walkable along the riverfront. If you’re coming from out of town, I would highly recommend staying at the Westin, as it will also save you the hassle of trying to find a parking spot on raceday.

There were plenty of water stations. Part of this was the fact that we would pass each water station 2-4 times, but still. It was a warm day, so I was happy for them.
Parts of the course wound through shady neighborhoods, which was a pleasant relief as the day got hotter. Brandywine Park was also a beautiful area and probably my favorite part of the course.

I heard the post-race food was good. There was supposed to be a champagne toast for the marathoners, chocolate milk, pulled pork sliders, and pizza, among other things. I was really bummed I missed out on all this.

One of the race organizers was incredibly kind and helpful, picking up our checked bags for us while my mom and I were at the ER, and also our age group trophies (I got third in my age group and my mom got second in hers) and delivering them to the ER for us.

The Bad Stuff:
The expo was tiny. Everything they had fit under a tent in the Tubman-Garrett park. There was some running apparel, but nothing specific to the Delaware Marathon, which was a bummer because I would have loved to have bought a jacket or some other memento of the race.

The Ugly Stuff:
Now here’s my biggest complaint - The course was insanely confusing. The description online made it sound like it was a 13.1 mile loop, so the marathoners would do it twice. Yes, that was sort of true – but there were so many little loops and turns through neighborhoods, that the marathoners ended up in the same area 4 times. I don’t mind hitting the same parts of a course twice generally, but this just felt confusing. The organizers were trying to find 13.1 miles in an area that was just a little too condensed, and all the back-and-forth got really annoying by mile 17.

Additionally, marathoners and half marathoners all started together, right at 7 am, despite there being barely enough room in the corrals. The course began with a run on a road back in the direction of Frawley Stadium and the hotel, for just under a mile before we turned hard left, and actually ran through a shopping plaza before hopping on the river walk. It felt very strange and the whole area was very tight for the number of runners there were with it being so early in the course.

To add to this, there were some spots on course that could have been marked more clearly or had more volunteers. It was fine on the first loop when there were tons of runners (the half marathoners and marathoners all started together), but there were only 450 people running the full, and so everyone was very spread out after the first 13 miles. My mom was also running the full and almost made a wrong turn at one point. It would not surprise me one bit if there were a few runners who did make a wrong turn out there, which is a horrible nightmare when you’re already running 26.2 miles.

There was also basically no spectator support. I don’t blame the race organizers for this one, but it is kind of a bummer when you feel like you’re out running 26 miles with no one else around you.

So here’s the big question: would I recommend this race? No. I wouldn’t recommend doing the marathon, but I think the half marathon might have been more enjoyable. If the race organizer found a way to extend the course a bit so that racers weren't running through the same areas and neighborhoods so many times, I think it would be a better race.