This was a perfect marathon. Every aspect of it exceeded my expectations: super organized, great swag, easy to get to everything including parking, a beautiful course, not super big (almost 1,000 marathon runners), perfect weather, and friendly and encouraging course support through the entire race. All of these elements came together to yield my (by far) best marathon PR time of WELL under the 4 hour barrier. I cannot recommend this marathon enough. What a wonderful experience! For a full detailed writeup of my review, you can visit https://runningriddles.com/races/the-2019-carlsbad-marathon-in-carlsbad-california/.

The Savage Seven Racing Series is a 7 day long event with the following races held each day: Half-Marathon, Marathon, and Ultra 50K. The races are held at the 5 mile loop at the Greenway Park Trails in Ocala, FL during the week between Christmas and New Years. The course is USATF-Certified with 5 laps around this loop being a marathon distance, and 6 laps being the 50K (approximately 31 miles) distance. It is actually rather peaceful as you spend the whole time running through the park amongst Florida greenery and palm trees (most of the course is shaded too!).

While vacationing in Florida with family, I decided to run the full marathon for fun on Friday, December 28 but had the last second thought of switching over to the 50K option. I sent a note to the race director JC Santa Teresa asking if possible to switch over and he immediately responded no problem at all…I would just have to pay the monetary difference. Right then I made the call to attempt my first ultra race.

The race start time for each day was 6 a.m., so it was still quite dark at 5:30 a.m. when I arrived at the park where the trail was located. I was glad I had brought my headlight (which I almost debated on leaving at home). A small gathering of runners was already present by the picnic area we were to meet at. As I walked up to get my racing bib I was immediately greeted by race director JC Santa Teresa. He was super friendly and got me transitioned over to the 50K race. There was no swag aside from a small t-shirt (they had run out of other sizes), but if you are running this series it is not about swag...but running!

Roughly 20-30 people attended the days' racing series when I was there...mostly a small group of marathon and running veterans…many whom are part of Marathon Maniacs like myself.

The course was open to the public (as it is a public park trail) during the race, so there were other individuals out there walking or running on the trail. However us participating in the race series were the ones wearing racing bibs!

Both aid areas were manned by awesome volunteers. At the halfway station, the gentlemen labeled our plastic cups with our bib number so we could keep reusing it if we wanted to help out the environment (awesome). The aid area at the start / finish seemed to have new food options each time we passed…bananas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hot egg breakfast biscuits, just to name a few.

Upon finishing, I was immediately congratulated by JC who gave me a really nice finishers medal and said “this medal is for bad a**es”. He also took a photo of me with the medal and one with my family. To top it off, he also gave me a helping of a type of chicken soup from his family’s own recipe (so good!).

I cannot say enough about how nice the organizers and runners of this race were. Everyone was so encouraging, friendly, and committed to seeing everyone finish no matter what their distance or goal that day. I’m really glad that this was my first-ever ultra race experience.

I love my home town of Winchester, Virginia which has many local races throughout the year. However my personal favorite is the Battlefield Half Marathon. First of all it is held during one of the most beautiful times of the year in early November when the leaves are usually at their peak autumn colors. Second, the course runs through the back country side roads of Winchester where the traffic is scarce and the scenery is wonderful.

The race is highly organized. Thought not much communication is sent out via prior to the race, and email with detailed information is provided a few days prior to the race. Packet pickup is available the day before or race day morning, and the swag provided by Frederick County Parks and Recreation Department is awesome. This year included a t-shirt, long-sleeve pull over, and a hat!

The parking and logistics of this marathon are incredibly smooth with close to 400 runners attending. Being held near a historic battlefield, there is plenty of parking with room to spare.

Through the first 2 miles the course does a loop through a local community before heading back through the battlefield and then out onto the roadways. The course is moderately hilly with some sloping inclines from around mile 3 through mile 10. I used my hydration pack for the race, but if I recall, water stops are roughly every 3 miles or so (maybe shorter). Some stops provided snacks, but not all.

Note that there is not much course support during the middle of the course aside from the water / relay team stops, but the country side scenery makes up for it. It is really peaceful during the middle of the race which I particularly enjoy.

All finishers receive a high quality medal upon finishing. I set a half marathon PR on this course last year, and ran it this year for fun having just run a marathon PR 3 weeks prior. I plan on running it next year again and highly recommend it if you are looking to run a half marathon full of peaceful country scenery.

I was looking forward to this marathon all year long after reading incredible reviews of how it is one of the most beautiful races on all of the east coast. It did not disappoint!

The course itself runs from Bar Harbor, ME along the coast through Acadia National Park, finishing at Southwest Harbor..another coastal town on Mount Desert Island. I was blessed with incredible marathon running weather on race day (temps in the upper 30s / low 40s with clear skies) and the trees were at peak fall foliage. The view of the water, mountains, and trees was incredible.

Regarding elevation, the course is not an easy one. With a total elevation gain of around 1700 ft., there are several large, drawn out inclines that you will need to run. However each incline is followed by a nice decline...and the last two miles of the course are mostly downhill too. Be sure to include some hills in your training plan.

The race organization was top-notch. Constant updates were sent out via email and posted on the Run MDI website full of pre-race information along with a very detailed race packet PDF that was helpful not only to runners, but spectators as well. Packet pick up is a breeze in the town of Bar Harbor, which also features many things to do including shopping, boat / trolley tours, or visiting Acadia National Park.

Course support was very nice as well. There were few points on the course were there were not any spectators. The highlight of the course support to me was a large fishing boat of some type blowing its horn to cheer on and encourage the runners.

Due to proper training, amazing views, and great weather I was able to run my first-ever sub-4 hour marathon...so my experience was a fantastic one!

One final tip...I would register for this race early and book lodging ASAP. Bar Harbor has many bed and breakfasts with a few other hotels, and they fill up quick due to the tourists visiting to see the autumn colors of Maine. We were fortunate to stay in a hotel that was only a 10 minute walk from the starting line, and made our booking 9-10 months in advance.

A fun but very challenging course! The communication and organization leading up the the race was perfect. Constant updates were posted on Facebook and emails sent as well. Packet pickup was super easy with plenty of parking. I was a little concerned that I would have to take a shuttle to the start of the race on race day, but that was super easy as well. While the race does not have much crowd support due to the course, there are plenty of aid stations and rest stops with excellent volunteers. Overall it was an incredible experience set up by race director Jamie Summerlin. One last word of warning though...the course is VERY tough. They don't use the hashtag #yesitshilly for no reason...and this coming from someone that trains on mountain back roads!