Going into this race I had heard only positive things, so I was expecting a lot and I wasn’t disappointed. Hard to compete with the other big Midwestern race, Chicago, in the fall Indy puts on a great show attracting a large crowd for the full and the half. There were tons of people this year trying to get an OT standard, which made the environment even more exciting.

The expo was super easy to get to plenty of garage and street parking. The expo itself was very small and you are in and out in 5 minutes, very well organized.

I can’t speak as to how well gear checked work because I was able to keep my stuff in the elite room, but from what I saw it looks well organized.

The race start happened very quick, I left the next door building with about 5 minutes to start was jumped into my corral very easily, I’m not even sure if they played the national anthem.

The full and the half start together and then break off around mile 8. The first 5 miles there’s tons to see downtown, my favorite part was mile 2.3 when you run around the Sailors and soldiers monument, its truly beautiful and breathtaking.

For the fill you work your way through city streets, side streets, neighborhoods, viewing all sorts of cool art installations and monuments. There are a few long straightaways that can be quite demanding if you have a strong head wind, luckily today the weather could not have been better. The aid stations were small but well staffed, the volunteers were extremely energetic and strategically placed along the course where there were no crowds.

The course is super flat and fast with one semi long gradual incline at mile 11 and then a few rolls from 15-18 nothing a first timer cant handle.

At about mile 22-23 you merge back up with the half and they have the lanes clearly separated to divide the two race, but ic an imagine it being a bit of a cluster as the main pack of the marathon makes it way through. I had to yell at a few half runners that drifted in the marathon lanes as I came barreling through.

Similar to Chicago as you make that turn at 23 you see the skyline of downtown and you know you are VERY close and you turn up the fire and FIGHT to the finish.

The crowd at the end was LOUD and energetic which made for a great finish, the finish itself was a little clusters and staff seemed overwhelmed with the people pouring through the finish from the half, that I had to ask for my marathon medal.

OVERALL and amazing course, cool little city and I am certainly looking forward to running this again in a few years.