After signing up for and training half the summer I started talking to some other runners who have ran the marathon before. They asked if I was doing the half and when I told them the full their response was oh man, that's brutal! They were not exaggerating! I loved all the cheering, the beautiful scenery and energy of the other runners! If I was passing or being passed the other runners were yelling great job! Now about those inclines! Holy smokes!!! The 1st thing I told my husband was I just finished the Roc #hillathon! There are 8 to 9 large hills and the rest of the course is also pretty hilly, just smaller gradual inclines. Towards the end there is a nice down hill but by that time my knees hurt so much that going down hill was far worse than up hill! I knew this was going to be a challenging course and it totally lived up to my expectations! I was so distracted by the crowds on the long flat down St Paul street and the beautiful scenery that I never "hit the wall". I had so much fun just muscling my way to the finish. The only thing that could have been better for me was having someone to run with the entire way! Maybe next year. As far as the "swag" goes, compared to other marathons, the medal is not cool and flattering and the shirt is the brightest green ever lol at least when I'm running at night in the fall cars will be able to see me!!!! I think maybe they should come up with several medal designs and allow the people to vote or even allow the people to come up with the designs and vote and same with the shirts. I'd be willing to pay more for sign up if they gave a nice jacket and if it clearly said marathon, for the marathoners, half for the halfers and 5k for the 5kers. I ran over 400 miles in 3 months to train for this! The least I could do for my $100 sign up is get a shirt clearly stating I worked my butt off for the marathon!