The Tobacco Road Marathon is a well run event. There are some good and bad parts of the race and post race party for me. The race is almost entirely run along the American Tobacco Trail, a soft packed trail (not rocky) with a short distance run along paved road. The course deems itself as "flat and fast." My definition of flat is different than theirs. There are not hills along the trail section, but you are running one slow grade downhill at the start and one slow uphill grade from the turn around. I'd almost rather have some up and down hills vs one slow climb for miles. I knew it going into it, but underestimated how that will take a toll on you after awhile. The course is pretty but a bit boring. Don't sign up this one if you need crowd support to keep you motivated. There isn't much and you can be alone for several parts throughout the marathon. The course is shaped like a capital T. The only true downhill sections are at the beginning to the turn around, the a short section at the other turn around before heading back to the start. There is a downhill finish once you climb back out of the trail itself. The medals and tees are awesome!! One of the biggest medals I've earned. There were no professional pictures taken out along the course, only the finish line. So be ready to smile! My biggest complaint was the post race party. By the time our group finished, we were left with cold pizza and not much of anything else. Even the beer had been run dry. It's a post race party geared towards the half marathoners and not much was saved for those of us running the full.

Runner Tip: Buy the parking pass for $10. It puts you right at the start! Worth it and you don't have to ride the bus over to the start.

I've included the elevation profile from my Garmin.