I was so pleasantly surprised by this race! I'm not sure why, because I know plenty of people who have run it multiple times.

Packet pickup was a breeze. This was the first bigger expo I've been to in awhile, and there was a great mix of vendors there.

I think the thing that most surprised me about this race was the amount of crowd support that came out. Much of the race goes through neighborhoods, and there were so many families and friends out cheering us on. And when you're running a marathon, that's so important! The aid stations seemed to be spaced out pretty well, though I always carry my own nutrition, so I wasn't super concerned with them. I did stop around mile 20 to supplement with their nutrition (Nuun) because I had run out of mine. All the aid station volunteers were super friendly.

I ended up getting a 16 minute PR here. I had heard people talk about how flat the course was, and they weren't kidding! However, I will say that the road itself was in bad shape - lots of potholes and uneven surfaces. You really had to keep your eyes focused on the road to make sure you didn't hurt yourself.

I didn't stick around for long at the finish line, so I can't really speak to what they offered there.

My only real complaints are things that the race directors can't fix. In addition to the potholes, I was extremely disappointed in my finisher photo that I stopped and stood in line for after I finished. I reached out to the photographer several times and when they finally responded, didn't bother to offer a discount on my photo package and said they didn't have the RAW file to send me so I could see about getting it fixed.

That aside, I really enjoyed this race! You can check out my race report here: https://iwasrunningdotblog.wordpress.com/2021/11/08/race-review-indianapolis-monumental-marathon/