This was the second time that I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon and once again this race pulled out all of the stops in terms of race management and course support. Volunteers and locals come out in droves to support this race and you really feel welcomed and appreciated. They were even out there in the wind and rain and that's saying something!

In addition to the full marathon, I also participated in the Marathon Relay, and I love how race organizers make it easy (and legit) to do both. The only requirement was that I was the first runner of our relay team and that way I was able to tag out with Runner 2, take off my relay shoe tag (for timing) and continue on my merry way. I wore both bibs for the first leg of the race and then just tossed the shirt that had the Marathon Relay bib. It worked out perfectly.

I did not attend the expo this year because my daughter (who was also on our relay team) was taking the SATs, but it was very easy for one of our team members to pick up all of our packets as well as my marathon race packet so that was awesome. Swag included a sweet race tee (BLACK AND GOLD...YES!), a medal, and some custom Goodr sunglasses that are black and gold with the Pittsburgh skyline on the frames.

I wrote more about the course in my last review of this race, but it's worth repeating that while it is a bit hilly, those hills are totally doable as long as you throw a few hills in your regular training routine.