Savannah was a fantastic first marathon experience! I traveled there by car from Florida with some friends to run in November 2017. The expo was easy to find and parking wasn't that difficult. Bib pickup went quickly and they had a good amount of vendors there. The official merchandise was a little lackluster, but other than that, they had a good variety of vendors and exhibitors. We were staying at the host hotel which is wonderful. They gave us a runners goody bag when we checked in with some fruit and water and advil in it and also had ice packets for us when we finished. It was less than a mile from the start line so the ability to sleep in a little later and walk right up to the start was nice. Savannah is a walking town and nothing was that far away from anything. We parked our car in one of the downtown garages and didn't move it until we were ready to leave on Sunday morning.

The course was really fun. I went into this race expecting there to be less entertainment on the marathon course as opposed to the half marathon due to other runners reviewing it prior to my arrival. However, there were plenty of bands and aid stations on the back half of the course as well as the front. The weather is always an issue in the south and it did get hot. There were a few parts on the marathon course once you got out of downtown Savannah and the historic district which weren't shaded so that was tough. However, there were plenty of people cheering in the neighborhoods of Savannah and the historic district and there were lots of people out cheering at Savannah State college (around miles 17-19) so that was a nice distraction.

The race is a fast and relatively flat course and I really enjoyed running it. The medal was pretty nice, although a little smaller than some of the half marathon medals I've gotten. I really liked how it incorporated the city- the background of ours shows landscape from Forsyth Park. The finisher jackets are definitely nice to have. I would definitely do it again- or another Rock n Roll race for that matter.