• Canton,
    Ohio,
    United States
  • April
  • 3 miles/5K, 13.1 miles/Half Marathon, 26.2 miles/Marathon, Relay
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Matt Maynard

Uniontown, Ohio, United States
41 14
2016
"My first Marathon!!!"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Matt Maynard's thoughts:

Finally the day had come and I was about to run my first marathon. The build up, the training, and the early mornings were about to see the fruits of the labor. I had decided it was time to jump off the plank and sign up for my first marathon and what better at the Football Hall of Fame Marathon in Canton, Ohio.

The Expo:
The day before I headed down to the family with the Expo, which was held on the Freshman HS football field at Canton McKinely. It was a chilly day and a nasty rain storm hit just as we were rolling in. With this having been my first expo, I wasn't knowing what to expect. The event was held in a few tents with various vendors and trinkets to purchase for those running in the various races. Overall it was just a basic expo, now that I have had the opportunity to experience several others.

The Race:
The morning of, being the amateur I was, arrived at the off-sight parking at 4:45am for a 7am start time. Geez what was I thinking?!?! So we loaded up on the buses for the 10 min shuttle to the start of the race. As we disembarked off the buses I thought to myself, I am going to be cold for the next two hours. Just a quick note, they did offer parking right next to the start/finish line, however needed to be purchased and was limited in capacity.
The start of the race was congested as we started off on a narrow side street, but soon thinned out by the time you hit the half mile marker. The first half of the race headed into downtown Canton, where along the way to my surprise saw several supporters out cheering us on. The aid stations were plentiful and offered Gatorade or Water and the occasional port-a-toilet. The route then turned back towards the breakoff point for the half-marathoners to finish on the freshman football stadium. (Note: Due to the HoF Football Stadium construction, the finish line was moved.) The second half of the marathon winded through city neighborhoods and was an out an back route. One thing I didn't notice at the time, but thought about it afterwards were the amount of turns we made going up and down neighborhood streets. Definitely caused me to lose my sense of direction a few times, as I was familiar of the area. One thing I did enjoy were how the mile markers were for each football team and kept me aware and looking for my favorite team, "Detroit Lions"! The overall course was not one that had a great deal of elevation changes.

Swag:
The swag was amazing and I loved that my first marathon finisher medal was from this race. The race shirt was of outstanding quality and at the finish line we received a finisher blanket.

I would recommend this race to those as I know that the organizers have made great strides to making this race much better. They had some challenges in 2016 due to stadium construction and therefore had to modify the route and finish line. The 2017 installment will include a new location for the Expo, which will be larger, and a new route. The start/finish lines will now be in downtown Canton, versus next to the Hall of Fame.

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