I decided to run this race on a whim! I came home for the weekend to visit my family and ventured down to Allegheny Adventure X-Fest at PNG Park to listen to some music when I noticed the registration table for the Johnstown Marathon. I had nothing to do the next day so I figured, why not? The weekend was filled with an abundance of activities from kayaking to geocaching to cycling and of course running! I participated in the half marathon. This was the 40th anniversary for the marathon. It is definitely a small town marathon. To begin with, the expo was on the smaller size but was well equipped with live music, a bar, REI, Fat Jimmies Outfitters, LHORBA cycling club, Forbes State Park, there was a table for your typical marathon expo gear and accessories as well as a few fire pits to add to the ambiance (and to keep warm on a rather dreary day).

As for the marathon SWAG, there was a regular cotton T-Shirt with an unexciting design on it, a reusable Johnstown marathon bag, a free spaghetti dinner the night before and a Clif bar. There was also a fair amount of free samples and free at the expo.

This is a gun time race so if you are going for a PR make sure you are at the front of the pack. The race itself looped through the Westmont and Johnstown areas with a relatively easy course with one significant downhill patch and two small climbs during the race. The course is primarily on streets throughout the township areas followed by the last 2/3rd of the race on a well traveled road. To put well traveled into perspective, from miles 8-11 approximately 10 cars passed me and from miles 11-13.1 I encountered no more than 50-75 cars. For the last two miles, one lane of traffic was blocked off with cones for runners (this is the same course used for the marathon, half marathon, 10k, and 5k). While this course is run on open roads, safety was ensured throughout by volunteers at every intersection to stop and direct traffic for runners as needed. The course was clearly marked with orange arrows for the full marathon and yellow arrows for the half marathon. There were Gatorade and water stations approximately every 2 miles or so with no gels along the course. That being said, there were gels at the registration on race day you could take with you if you wished!

There post race food was significant with Subway Subs, chocolate milk, cheese sticks, peanuts, fruit, water and Gatorade, and all of the vendors from the expo the previous day. Upon the completion of each race, each runner received a medal. The medal left a lot to be desired and actually mine fell apart in the car. So if you are someone who runs for an interesting medal, this is not necessarily the race for you. There was an awards ceremony for the top 3 overall in each of the races as well as each age group. Because this race is so small, your odds of placing are much higher than they are in the larger races. In fact, I actually placed first overall female with a time of 1:34:30!

Happy Running!