Rochester is a great race. The expo is small and there isn't a lot of swag, if that's what you're into. Packet pickup was quick and efficient. The race starts on a bridge in the middle of downtown, walking distance from a number of hotels, which was very convenient for us visitors.

The first few miles of the course are run east from the city on streets which have several small, gently rolling hills. You then turn back toward the city on the pancake-flat Erie Canal towpath, which is hard-packed dirt, not paved. The towpath is lovely, and very runnable, but large puddles can form if it rains in the days before the race (as in 2013). I imagine it could get muddy if it rained during the race, but I ran it in regular road racing shoes and had no trouble. The last couple of miles are back on city streets, which are flat. The leaves were turning when I ran the race in 2013, and the air was crisp and cool, which made for a beautiful run.

This is not the race to run if you need the motivation of large crowds. There were a families that came out to cheer as we passed through their neighborhoods, and there were big cheers at the relay transitions and the finish line, but other than that, it was fairly quiet.

I marked them down slightly on the aid stations, because at least twice that I recall people were shouting that they had Gatoraid, when it was really another (bad tasting) sports drink mix. Donuts and chocolate milk at the finish were heaven. Overall, this was a really well-run small marathon.

MM#8012