Latest reviews by Christine Guenther

(2018)
"Abbott Dash to the Finish"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

Did the Dash to the Finish as a shakeout for the Marathon, especially since I came in from Washington State (a good 6 hr flight with connections).

Packet Pick Up: Monday through Wednesday, pick up is at the NYRR Run Center. Thursday and Friday, packet pick up is at the NYC Marathon Expo at the Jarvitis Center. Anyone can pick up your bib for you, but just keep in mind there’s no bib pick up race morning. Bibs were assigned at pick up. If it doesn’t automatically connect to you, don’t worry they upload everything at the end of each day.

Swag: a Beanie. I actually appreciated that because I have way too many shirts than I know what to do with or wear.

Expo: enjoy it if you go Thursday/Friday of race week. Lots of vendors and things to do

Race Start: off 41st and 1st Ave by the United Nations. Easy to get to either by walking or the MTA.

The Race itself: Some baby hills if anything, more so around Central Park. You head to 42nd St for a mile before turning onto 6th Ave. You keep on going until you hit Central Park, just past mile 2 before heading into the park for the last 1.1 mile. The course doesn’t follow the last 5K of the marathon for the entire course, but you hit a lot of it once you turn into Central Park. The finish is at 67th St, right at the finish of the marathon.

Post Race: You get a small bag of food and water before being directed out a few blocks later. Keep in mind, if you do the full marathon, you get earlier in the 5K over the marathon.

Overall, good way to get involved in the marathon weekend if you’re in watching someone or if you want a shake out run for Marathon Sunday

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(2018)
"NYC Marathon 2018"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
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This is my second NYC marathon, the first being in 2011 (pre hurricane Sandy). I flew in from the West Coast on Thursday prior to the race and spent the next few days getting situated.

The Expo: open to anyone, but if you’re picking up your bib, no one can pick up bib for you. It has to be you with photo ID and your race confirmation sheet sent out about a month before the race. If you forgot your confirmation sheet, they have bib number print station for you to print out your number slip and take it to your number station and get your packet. If you signed up for a poncho, there’s a wrist band that you HAVE to wear race day to get out before the bag pick up and to get your poncho. After your bib, you walk next door and pick up your shirt (they have an area for sample shirt try ons, but the shirts sanitation are meh). You’re directed into the New Balance Area (apparel sponsors for the marathon) where you can buy clothes, etc. After that you hit the main floor of vendors. Plenty to choose from and look at.

Race Transportation: be on the look out for emails to choose transportation in August. If you don’t choose, you either end up with something assigned to you randomly or you have to see race solutions at the expo. In 2011, I did the Staten Island Ferry and you ferry over before catching a boat to Ft. Wadsworth. This year I took the Midtown Bus from the NYPL. Be prepared for security and some lines that move. It took just over 80 minutes on the bus, I took a nap. Be prepared to some down time pre race though.

Runner’s Village: separated by corral colors. Your Bib will have which wave you’re in (unless you’re a pro wheelchair racer or a pro female racer), that will be 1-4 as well as a color. The color corresponds to where you enter from (orange, blue, green). They had water, coffee, Gatorade, bagels, bananas, etc), plenty of porta potties that I used about 5 times, areas to donate throw away clothes,etc. If you have a bag check (read, didn’t chose the poncho option), there’s UPS trucks to check your bags at, but be sure to have them checked in plenty of time (they have closing times).

The Start: Be prepared for multiple waves (pro wheelchairs, pro women, pro men with wave 1, wave 2, wave 3 and wave 4) staggered over very 20-30 minutes. You have to be in your corrals within a 20 min time frame and they close 20 min before your start since you have to walk to the Verizzano Bridge and that takes some time. Orange corral is on the left of the top of the bridge, Blue is on the right of the top and green is on the bottom.

The Course: You hit all 5 borroughs! You start in Staten Island and the first 2 miles are over the Verizzano Bridge. You hit your highest incline on the Verizzano Bridge (1st mile uphill, 2nd mile downhill). The orange and blue corrals go side by side and we joined up with the green corral at mile 3 in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is fairly flat and the crowd support you get is unreal. That’s your welcome to NYC. You spend a good 10 miles in Brooklyn before heading into Queens for 2 miles. Just after mile 14/15 you head on the Queensboro Bridge. Queensboro actually took a lot out of me and slowed me down this year. It took a toll on my legs with a gradual incline. After you hit the downhill, and come out on 1st Ave, you hit the energy of Manhattan. You have about 3-3.5 miles down First Ave and a whole lot of support as you head into the Bronx for a few miles. After a mile, you hit your last bridge of the day heading back into Manhattan on 5th Ave for the last 5 miles of the course. I was never happier to see Central Park and the charity cheer zone. Still some small hill like shinnanegans that you don’t realize when you’re not 20+ miles into a race. Was never happier to see the inside of Central Park at mile 24. You run through Central Park up past mile 25, before coming out along 59th street and crossing over towards Columbus Circle and heading back into Central Park the last 800 m of the race.

The Finish: Be prepared for congestion and slow moving ness; let’s face it, everyone’s tired and hurting a little bit. You’re presented with your medal and a heat sheet. Option for pictures, but people stopping to take their own added slowness. They had a recovery bag with water, Gatorade and food. I wanted some Chocolate milk which wasn’t there. If you had the poncho option, you cut out around 77th street, but you walked a good half a mile to get there. We walked a long time to get to the poncho (as in out of the park and to the street before they were even in site). Be sure to have your wristband on and to show your bib (has a P on it to match your wrist band).

Things to be aware of: I love the NYC marathon (I came back a second time for it). HOWEVER, because it’s so popular, it’s very congested. Even during the race, I feel like I ran another 1/2-1 mile trying to get around people who were walking/in the wrong starting corrals or going 5 people across. There were cheering sections that were so far in it actually made it difficult to get through. Also the finish is ridiculously congestion and slow moving. There has to be a way to fix that. The finish is off 67th, the first exit point if you weren’t VIP was 77th. I finished at 3:38 PM and it took me an hour and 20 minutes to get to my hotel off 54th and 7th. There are definitely slow moving areas so be aware of that.

The energy is wonderful, plenty of fluids. Definitely a must do race if you can!

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(2018)
"Charlotte Turkey Trot 8K"
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This is my 10th year doing this race (out of the last 11 years) and I’ve seen some changes over the years. This year, they had the 8K start at 830 (as opposed to 9) and the 5K start at 930 with the option of doing an 8K/5K challenge (I wish I’d seen that earlier, I would have been all over it).

Packet Pick Up happens the Tuesday and Wednesday before at the Dillards parking lot and you can pick up for family/Friends. There’s also race day pick up but no registration on race day

Race Options: 1 mile fun run, 5K, 8K and a kids fun trot

The race itself: didn’t seem as crowded as prior years, but still crowded at the start. The start happens in front of the South Park Mall before taking you through some of the business parts of town. After a mile or so, you get the residential parts of Charlotte with the lone major (ish) hill after mile 2, that really didn’t seem that bad this year. Just after 3 miles, you turn down Sharon Road for just under a mile before turning Down Colony road. This year, we had to do an out and back portion on Rexford Road before turning into the parking lot of the South Park Mall

Post race: water and medals at the finish and food as well. Seemed less congested and less of a hot mess than prior years

Overall, fun tradition. Wish they would have done a little more advertising about the change in race times because I’m pretty sure people weren’t aware of it. Something though to keep coming back for if you’re in the area

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(2018)
"Onward Shay Half Marathon"
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T-Shirts/SWAG
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Course Scenery
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First time running Onward Shay in Boise. I left Friday night from Spokane and got to the hotel just before 10 pm. After trying to stay up for the World Series, I fell asleep and slept well (woke up at 9:45 AM!).

The Expo: On Saturday only, 10-5. It was at Payette Brewing, which was about 1/2 mile walk from the hotel, not bad at all. It was pretty straight forward, you walk in and you're assigned a bib rather than knowing your number ahead of time. Generally this worked out well, except for race day where someone's bib didn't get assigned correctly. Oh well?. Shirts were inside, as were some vendors (mainly sponsors). Saturday afternoon, there was a kid's run so it was a little more crowded. If you couldn't make it Saturday, race day pick up started at 730 AM

Race Distances: 5K (started at 915), 10K (Started at 920) and the half and full marathon (900 am start time).

Race Day: ended up meeting up with fellow Bibrave Pro Bridget who did the 5k and her husband. I was there half an hour early, plenty of time to look around. Wish there would have been some pre race water or something. Dutch Bros did have coffee for sale. Port a potties available with a line and bag drop for the half and full marathon.

The course: flat course, minus when you ran under some under passes. The course was mainly on the Greenway Belt, which is a paved running/biking path. The first 5 miles had you go out and around part of it in a loop. You ran past the Boise State Performance Center and Ann Morrison Park to hit mile 3 before heading back along the Boise River. Just before mile 5, you passed the start and hit the first part of your loop again after mile 6, you were crossing over the river again, only going the opposite way for the next few miles. The course took you out just over 3 miles before the half marathon turned around and came back along the river. The only downside of turning around before the full marathon is the last 4 miles of the half marathon weren't marked, you were basing things off the mile markers 23-26 miles of the marathon. Finish line is where you started.

Aid Stations: every 1.5-2 miles with water, gatorade, gels and sometimes port a potties.

Post Race: after party included hamburgers, hot dogs, cookies and beer, bananas and oranges. I couldn't stay long as I had to shower and catch a flight, but it looked fun. I only wish they had chocolate milk as well!

Overall, flat race and one I'd go back for. Chocolate milk at the finish would be nice, but perfect weather, well run and a flat race!

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(2018)
"Smuttynose Half Marathon"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management

Ran the Smuttynose Half Marathon this weekend to check off NH off my half marathon state list. I was in Boston for a conference and drove just over an hour to Hampton, NH. I got in shortly afternoon on Saturday.

Expo: The expo was from 1-5 pm on Saturday at the start/finish area. Not a whole lot there. There was race day registration available. Bib pick up was based off last name. After you get your bib, you go get your fleeces. I appreciate fleeces because I have way too many shirts. I wish it would have started maybe around noon or something along those lines. Held outside under tents. Takes about 10 minutes tops.

Race day: the half marathon started at 8:05 AM (the 5K at 8:40). The first 2 miles and change were around a loop around the start before heading out towards Seabrook Town Beach and back. Mile 5-6 took you down the main drag. After mile 6 and change we made our way along the Atlantic before turning into part of town and running along the streets for 2 miles or so. After mile 10, we headed back into town and finished along the main drag.

Aid Stations: Feel like this part could do some work. On the way back, not so many of them. I feel like since there were parts that were out and back, the water stops should have been in the middle of the road so you could get to them from both sides.

Parking: Make sure you get there with enough time to park or your parking aways out.

Getting there: be sure to look at the directions. There was bridge work on the main way in, so I took an alternate route in order to avoid traffic

Swag: medals, fleece

Post Race Party: food and alcohol along the beach. Since I had to get to the airport,I couldn’t enjoy it, but it looked like fun :-(

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