If you are looking for a smaller marathon with a pretty fast course, look no further. Abilene is home to the Eisenhower presidential library so a great history lesson as well. There is a free shuttle from the major hotels so getting to the race is easy. The post race party features all you can eat pancakes which was great reward after the race!

There aren't huge crowds of spectators, but many of the people in town come out to help and cheer on the runners. Everyone was super nice and friendly. Basically you run slightly uphill until you get to the park which is nice and flat. After a couple mile loop you head back uphill to the turnaround point then run the whole thing in reverse. For the marathon, you have to run that twice. Fortunately this means that the last quarter of the race is either downhill or flat. The only major con was due to this course layout. When you are running the loop through the park on your way back down the hill, you run the opposite direction than what you ran on the way up. Although this sounds simple, when you are wearing out at the end of the race, the last thing you want to do is try to figure out where you are supposed to go. Since I was near the front, I actually got stopped by a volunteer who thought I was going the wrong way.

With flat and fast course and small town charm, this is a great race for anyone looking for a BQ or to check Kansas off the marathon list

Chose this as my first marathon and was not disappointed. The course is hilly and the weather was freezing, but the amazing crowd support made up for it. The course runs through many different neighborhoods with tons of people out watching and cheering. Really nice expo and post race party as well.