Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon

( 61 reviews )
98% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Indianapolis,
    Indiana,
    United States
  • November
  • 3 miles/5K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon, 26.2 miles/Marathon
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Mark Davidhizar

Elkhart, Indiana, United States
55 81
2019
"A Marathon That Keeps Getting Bigger Every Year"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Mark Davidhizar's thoughts:

This is my favorite marathon to run every year. This race is flat and fast. Not to mention it has some of the best race organizers that I have ever seen. This is one of the top marathons to run for first timers according to Runners World and its on of the 15 largest marathons in the U.S.
Monumental Marathon is held in early November every year. Usually it is the first Saturday of November, but this year it was the second due to FFA taking over Indianapolis the first weekend. The expo was held at the convention center in Indianapolis. It is not the largest expo that I have been to, but it is still a good size expo with a lot of races present as well as other companies. Monumental also beings in a special guest from the running community for a shakeout run as well as to be present and speak at the expo. This year, it was Deena Kastor. I did manage to meet her and get her autograph on my bib.

My recommendation for anyone running in the Monumental Marathon and needing a place to stay, book your hotel stay at one of the hotels right by the start/finish. We stayed a couple blocks away and I wont make that mistake again. I didn't think it would matter but with the bad race that I had, I finished later than i planned on and had to leave the finish area right away to get to the hotel to check out right away.

The course did have a couple of minor changes to it this year but unless you have ran this race several times, you probably didn't notice any of them. This was done because of the new bus line that the city put in over the past year. This is a very flat and fast course, in fact, there were more Olympic trials qualifying times run on this course this year than in the New York City Marathon. The course is beautiful with the fall leaves through some of the neighborhoods. I also felt like there was more crowd support through the communities than there was in years past which surprised me since it was a cold morning.

The Swag was great this year. I think this years race shirt is the best that they have had. And of course, as they have for many years, they gave each runner a finishers hat when they finished up. The finishers medals are in its second year of a 4 year medal series as well. When completed, the medals will spell out I-N-D-Y. This year of course was the N.

Overall, you have got to run this race if you haven't. This was my 7th straight year of running it and I will be back for #8 next year.
To see my full race review, check out my YouTube Chanel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCkpHCC402U&pbjreload=10

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