This was my first international marathon, and I heard good reviews regarding the size of the event and topography of the course. The marketable features included thousands of participants, nearly a million spectators, a seemingly multicultural event, a fast course, and cool views of the “most modern city” in the Netherlands. The race, unfortunately, fell short in many ways - Here is a breakdown:

Pre-race: A few days leading up to the race it appeared race day was going to be a warm one. The event sent some communication cautioning runners of the expected temperatures and tips to prepare. There were reassurances the event was prepared and would have extra water* on the course.

Expo: The expo was located at the World Trade Center building, which was located near the start line.

Race: The race itself got off to a rough start - I arrived to the starting area approximately 50 minutes before my start time. As I made my way to my corral, I quickly discovered it was taking approximately 20 minutes to get through the entrance of each corral. The opening for each corral was approximately 2 people wide and there was only one person checking bibs. The sidewalk was jam packed with runners trying to get into the wave and the line was going nowhere. With over 10,000 runners spread between 4 waves it seemed nonsensical to have such a constraint on entering the corrals. The announcements for the race were solely in Dutch, with no English or other language translations available. Once the race was over, all of the runners were corralled into an extremely narrow sidewalk area rather than an open field or event space. Due to the volume of the runners and their spectators, this caused angst and confusion for all parties.

Course: The course is an infinity shape and takes you through downtown twice and over the awesome Erasmus bridge twice. The crowds were fantastic and lined most of the course. About 4 miles into the race the course becomes extremely narrow, as it is just a wide bike path. I ended up bumping into several runners and passing people would have been counterproductive as we were so bunched together. The course is flat and fast which was great, I just wish there had been more waves to spread out the runners more.

*Water: As previously mentioned, it was a hot day. The course had water stations every 5K, which did not appear sufficient especially given the conditions. Each station had both water and an electrolyte drink called “AA.” The electrolyte drink was prepared inconsistently, as some of the cups were filled with mostly water. At the beginning of the race the water stations were great. They were super long so it was easy to get water without losing pace. As the race progressed, this began to change. The stations started to run out of prepared cups so the water stations became very short and the last two stations were actually out of prepared cups. Myself and other runners were having to grab empty cups and dunk them in large buckets of water to fill them up.

Swag: For those interested in this… the shirt and medal received for the event were lackluster and uninspired, which was quite surprising for such an exuberant place like the Netherlands.