Latest reviews by Tim

(2014)
"Boston Stronger Than Ever"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
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WHAT'S AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE?
Everything. I'll focus on the value. Chicago and Boston are the same price at $175 and New York is north of $200. Yes, that's a lot for a marathon, figuring I'll be running Detroit later this year for $70. However, there is value with Boston. The swag is better. Boston has sufficient transportation that boasts the longest ride provided by the organizing committee. While additional ticket prices could be debated, the runner tickets for both the pasta dinner and official post-race party are free. In addition to the value, it's hard for marathons or anything in life to live up to the hype that precedes. Rarer is exceeding those expectations, something the Boston Marathon is two for two when it comes to me.

WHAT WASN'T AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE?
I am grasping at straws on this one. With all of the moving parts this marathon has, and then pile in an extra 9000 people into, I thought it was flawless. You could definitely tell at some of the events why the cap it at 27,000 most years. The only hiccup I had was with my runner passport, but that is the USPS screwing up, not the B.A.A. unless you want to blame the B.A.A. for not properly hydrating the guy licking the envelopes. I thought everything else was handled as good as any other race if not better. I am also waiting for the extreme weather situation to render the heat sheets New York and Boston have trotted out recently. I still wish I had my big bag of stuff closer, but even the Boston Common thing worked because it was easier to find my wife this year than it was to find my family in 2008.

Read more at my blog: http://tkmarathonman.blogspot.com/2014/05/race-report-boston-marathon.html

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(2014)
"Good, not great value race"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

WHAT WAS AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE
It really is a nice benchmark for the local runners to gauge where they are in their marathon or half marathon training. The Dick Lytie introduced the 9 mile distance to specifically address the number of half marathoners that wanted to do Dick Lytie but the half and 3 mile distance don't fit their training schedules. The hills are nice challenges for any runner to tackle. If you can tackle the hills with some success, it's a nice confidence boost going into the last quarter of your training cycle. If not, well, the Green Bay Marathon nor half marathon courses challenge you all that much outside of their distances. They don't have clocks on the course, so it's not the most competitive race in the world and has that training run feel to it. It is chip timed and the big clock is still at the end, so there is still that benchmark you can look at the end.

WHAT WASN'T AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE
For $28-30, you get what you get. However, it doesn't mean you can phone it in and not have your act together. The t-shirts had a logo from 3 years ago. The awards are the ones from two years ago. Chip timing is supposed to make results go a little quicker. Instead, the clubhouse was full for a full hour while we waited for the 9 mile and half marathon results were going to be finished. Some of these issues were because of over sensitive timing equipment, but I am a little shocked this wasn't figured out before hand. A lot of this would be tolerated a little bit more if the golf course was open for business, which means the bar and restaurant would be operating as well. Then we realized the results they originally posted were wrong. I didn't place and I probably would been my sore loser self and gone home well before I did to keep my wife a lot happier than she was when we left. There was also talk that this race wasn't 13.1 miles but as low as 12.8. 12.8 seems a little low, but there shouldn't be any doubt period, especially a race that has been run as long as this one.

For more about this race, check out my blog: http://tkmarathonman.blogspot.com/2014/04/race-report-dick-lytie-half-marathon.html

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(2014)
"Bonehead move on my part"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

WHAT WAS AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE?

It was an opportunity wasted by me, but thank you De Pere Public Works for scraping the roads for all of the runners. My legs would be trashed because the slickness of the roads and the weaving I would have to do to get good pavement to run on. Instead, even the path around Green Isle Park and the Abbey were fantastic. Honorable mentions are once again the city of De Pere opening itself with specials all day long so the runners felt welcomed and of course, Seroogy's busting out chocolate left and right for the runners and their families.

WHAT WASN'T SO AWESOME?

In the two times I have made wrong turns in races, I wasn't leading a race. I was following a person or persons in the race, and not right behind. If one person does it I can understand you'd let the knucklehead go do his thing. If you let two people go, you might want to re evaluate your directing skills. If you let three people make a wrong turn, then please get help. I will admit: I should have known to go straight. I will admit that every day of the week. I am just sore that I made that big of a mistake after 6 years of doing this race and winning it the previous year.

For more, check out my blog entry: http://tkmarathonman.blogspot.com/2014/02/race-report-seroogys-valentines-day-run.html

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(2013)
"Redemption from 2009"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
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Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

WHAT WASN'T SO AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE?

Yup. I am going to do it. The security was a little bit overkill. The security caused the finish line area to be dead as people are about to accomplish a huge life event because the common folk couldn't watch once the sponsors and ticketed guests got bored of watching the 3 and 4 hour marathoners. I felt like a mouse in a maze on the way to the race start thanks to any green space outside of Buckingham Fountain and Butler Field. The determined access points and the long lines for gear checkpoints made getting into the race and then finding people after the race a little bit of a pain. Of course I say this because nothing did happen. I felt just as safe as I usually do during a marathon. It's something I just don't think about until something like that happens. I thank the Chicago Police, Monterrey Security, and everyone else for their efforts to keep us and the spectators safe. Their presence was definitely felt as I was walking around afterwards looking for my wife and parents before we watched the rest of our crew run. It's just a shame because security is why these races are getting expensive and unless there are definite statistics pointing to what they prevented, I will probably always think less is more.

For More on the race, check out my blog entry: http://tkmarathonman.blogspot.com/2013/10/race-report-chicago-marathon.html

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(2013)
"The Word's Out...Finally"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

WHAT WAS AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE?

As I always alluded to, the course changes were great. It was great to actually go FROM the FORT TO the BASE. Ignore that I didn't throw the number two in there, but in all seriousness, that made it for me. Considering how much of the course was cut from the base, it made it seem like things were evened out. I'm sure that made Army officials happy that the general public got to see what they do on the North shore as well.
WHAT WASN'T AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE?
The event program we all received said that the event would go until noon. I don't always stay until the bitter end of events because eventually I need to get some lunch and continue the rest of my day. However, look at this:

If Fort 2 Base had anything else going on other than sponsor tents and merch stands, why wouldn't you want to hang around a little bit. During the inaugural event, race organizers had a really great band playing. Runners don't always need beer or tailgate party for us to stick around, but we do like to mingle and hang around a little bit. We did get the feeling we had to be cleared out completely by 1 p.m. so the members of our Navy can get back to work, but something worth sticking around for other than supporting our fellow runners would be nice too.

For more, check out my blog entry: http://tkmarathonman.blogspot.com/2013/08/race-report-fort-2-base.html

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