The 2017 AT&T Raleigh City of Oaks Marathon happened to be my first crack at a marathon distance. I thought I was prepared and did my research on the course but after a few hours I noticed this was going to be a challenge.

Everything was going really well until the end of the greenway section just prior to the turnaround, the hills felt like mountains. Combine the lack of crowd support and runners on the course it began to get boring. Hitting the wall at mile 18 did not help but after making it up the final hills on my way back to the open roads things began to improve. I ultimately finished in 5 hours and 41 minutes just about 41 minutes past my goal but hey this was my first marathon on a fairly difficult course.

If you typically run flat courses and are looking for a challenge during the fall season then this race is for you! The beautiful view on the greenway is a plus but If you feed off of crowd support this might not be the race for you as the streets were fairly empty in the beginning and throughout the greenway.

Weather- Perfect weather for running in early November
Aid stations- Plenty packed with water or sports drink as well as GU gels around Mile 13 and 18.
Price- Excellent
T-shirt- Cool logo but not feeling the color
Expo- lacked vendors this year and those that were there did not seem like they had much interest in being there.
Overall- I still had a great experience and would highly recommend this race considering the cons.