I was registered to run another race in NE Ohio that weekend, but it was in a national park and the government shutdown meant that all park permits were pulled. The Northern Ohio Marathon heard about the problem and re-opened its registration to stranded runners. I could not have been more grateful. They rescued so many of us from having our race weekend ruined.

The race was well organized. Parking was super convenient and packet pickup (day of race) was smooth. The course was just OK. It was relatively flat with a couple of hills, but nothing major. The first several miles were on roads which were not scenic and not closed to traffic. We ran through several miles through a nice park area along the Lake Erie coast, before hitting the very non-scenic roads again back into Fairport Harbor. NOTE: It appears that they've made big changes to the course since I ran this race, putting the start and finish in the Headlands park and running much of the last ten miles along the lake shore -- makes me want to run it again to see the new layout!

2013 was the inaugural marathon and it didn't appear that many of the locals were aware that a race was scheduled. The spectator support was very spotty. We saw no one for long stretches and in the spots where there were spectators, there weren't many. However, there were a couple of awesome people who set up unofficial aid stations along the route, and the people who did come out were very enthusiastic. With the new course the race will pass through more populated areas, so I'd expect a little more crowd support.

Overall, a fun race and really great organizers.