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GO! St. Louis Marathon Runner Comments
Back to GO! St. Louis Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 3.9 
Organization 3.9 
Spectators 3.5
Number of comments: 357 [displaying comments 131 to 141]
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a. p. from georgia
(4/7/2008)
"Lovely city, great organization, and good course" (about: 2008)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 You guys did a good job! I was not sure what to expect, but I was very pleased. Some hills, but that was ok. Weather was great! Congrats on a well put-together race. I was a bit disappointed at the end of the marathon - not so much food - but I did not come in until a bit after 5 hours. Luggage was lost and I had to run in new clothing and shoes - not good, but I made it. Thank you! | |
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C. B. from Sycamore, IL
(4/7/2008)
"Very spectator friendly, but deceptively hilly." (about: 2008)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 Great medium sized race (9,000+). You truly got the feeling that all of St. Louis was pitching in to make this happen. Very spectator friendly; I saw friends 5+ times on course thanks to an easy downtown train that the course is parallel with. Pros: - Spectators (spots without, then batches with a lot) - Scenic run past St. Louis history (River, Arch, Busch Stadium, Busch Factory, Forrest Park) - Cool giveaways: hat, tech shirt, medal - After-race beer from Michelob Ultra - Post-race massage/stretch, food and healthy drinks - Organized and cheerful volunteers Cons: - Not a lot of live entertainment - Spots where police had cars cross course to keep the city moving. It would've been nice if it was just closed down. In Summary: Great race to have friends and family at, but do your hill work. You ascend and descend constantly with FEW flat places in between. | |
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A. H. from Iowa City, IA
(4/6/2008)
"I'm happy with it." (about: 2008)
3 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Routing 26 miles thrugh a city means a lot of road closures or a very boring course. I think they did well, closing the route to the Bud plant and all of Market Street, and adding a long stretch in Forest Park where there was no traffic. The rest of the time we had a lane or two to ourselves and plenty of traffic control. Starting and finishing looking at the arch was a nice touch - I like it a lot more than I thought I would. I like my shirt, I like my medal, there were plenty of fluids and Gu's, they were very organized at the expo and at the stations/finish line, and Drury Plaza was pleasant (although Carmine's was AWFUL). The spectators were in places pretty dispirited, but there were lots of nice people there. Overall, I figure they did as well as they could do, and I got my money's worth. | |
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J. M. from St Louis, MO
(4/6/2008)
"Great race" (about: 2008)
2 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I ran the half in the GO! St Louis Marathon. After reading the comments, I expected a much hillier course, but it was relatively flat with a few bridges/ramps that are typical for city races. There is a gradual hill about mile 7 that goes about a mile, but you get to run down it from mile 12-13. No special training for the hills is needed, but I would suggesting making sure some of your training runs include a few inclines. The course is made up of a couple sections of out-and-back, which means you can see the fast marathoners on the other side of the road (separated by grassy medians) going out and the walkers/joggers on your way back. The race did a good job marking the paces at the starting line and a good job keeping the marathoners separate from the halfers for the last 3 miles where the courses meet again. I like being able to see friends/family/and the winners come, so I liked that aspect of the course, I know some don't. Weather was great in 2008. The only downside was that the family reunion area had NO letter signs... in a 12,000-person race, it's pretty hard to find someone, especially if you aren't familiar with other landmarks nearby. I'd make a plan to meet family at a nearby street intersection or carry cell phones. I hope race directors will spend 15 minutes making a few letter signs next year, and that problem will be solved. Food at the end was good, medals were nice, long-sleeve t-shirts were some of the best, and the finisher's running hat is pretty awesome too. I've run 6 half's and 2 full's, and this one was pretty great.... But of course, I did PR, so I might be biased. :) | |
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B. M. from Decatur, Illinois
(1/18/2008)
"Great course, support, and organization." (about: 2007)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I have been running for over 25 years, and this race is top-notch. I am coming back in 2008 to run the marathon. | |
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L. F. from Chicago, IL
(9/22/2007)
"Great, flat half-marathon course for Chicagoans" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 St. Louis Half 2006 was my first half ever. Having trained in Chicago, the course was as close to flat as one could hope for. It was also nice that it was only congested for the first mile and a half. For the rest of the race, there were plenty of people to run alongside, but it wasn't crowded at all. My only complaint would be the lack of spectators. If you're looking for crowds to buoy you along to the half finish line, this isn't the race for you. But, if you're looking for a solid race that's well-run and doesn't have any hills to speak of, then this is the race for you! | |
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M. B. from Illinois
(7/16/2007)
"In need of some organization" (about: 2007)
1 previous marathon
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 1 FANS: 3 As the first big race I've run in, I was very disappointed with the lack of organization at the St. Louis Marathon. Now, I have experience with shorter races, and as a spectator at numerous marathons, so this should just be dismissed as a rookie not knowing what's going on. For starters, they need to organize the start. I'm roughly a 10-minute miler, so not an elite runner, but not a back-of-the-packer; however, I had to spend probably the first mile or mile and a half working my way through walkers. Some starting corrals or at the very least requiring dedicated walkers to start at the rear would have prevented a very dangerous situation for runners at the start. Secondly, as basically a mid-pack runner, I was shocked that several water/Gatorade stations were out of fluids when I arrived at the station. Did they not know how many runners were running and how to prepare to keep them hydrated? Beyond those organizational shortcomings, I thought the course was excellent, the spectators were nice, but there were some points on the course where you were very isolated and not really getting any fan support. So all in all, dangerous start and dehydration risks aside, the St. Louis Marathon is not a bad race to run. | |
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S. D. from Westchester, New York
(6/14/2007)
"pretences to greatness" (about: 2007)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 St. Louis is a city which saw its best days in 1904, when it hosted the Worlds Fair and the Olympics in the same year. At one time, St. Louis was the gateway to the West and a rival city to Chicago. But the last 100 years have not been kind to St. Louis. It is a city which struggles to keep alive its prior greatness and to achieve a place for itself in a modern post-industrial America. The same is true for this marathon. It has all the trappings of a big-city marathon and tries very hard to prove that it is worthy of consideration, but falls short in many ways. The host hotel - Mark Adams - is to be avioded as a place to stay at all costs. The service was terrible, the rooms in need of refurbishing, and the on-site food poor. The expo was the one thing that was first-rate; unfortunately, the room it was held in was too small and cramped. They had a lot of venders with good deals but the place was to cramped and crowded. The course - except for the trip to the Bud plant - took you out of the downtown through a large park and Washington University. It was a good course which showed off the few remaining nice parts of St. Louis. Unfortunately it was very hilly - basically a hard uphill going out of the city center with constant headwinds followed by quad-busting declines with a tailwind heading back. The hills can't be helped, the trip to the Bud plant must have something to do with sponsorship, and if you took another route all you would be exposing the runners to is the urban decay which takes up the majority of St. Louis. The spectators where out in numbers greater than I expected. The city does support the race and people do come out to cheer. Unfortunately it is not the size of the crowds you get in other cities which have large marathons. As for the organization, the size of the race with the numbers of entrants seems to have overwhelmed the organizers and the finish line and the start was chaotic. This race, like its city, tries hard to be something it is not, which is a first-rate, big-time event. For those of you looking to run all fifty states, look to the Louis and Clark Marathon. IT HAS MORE CHARM AND A NICER COURSE. | |
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P. R. from Cincinnati
(5/4/2007)
"Race Keeps Getting Better" (about: 2007)
4-5 previous marathons
| 2 GO! St. Louis Marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I ran this race 3 years ago and left very disappointed. At that point, I could only compare it to the Flying Pig in Cincinnati. I think they've done an incredible job in just a short amount of time to improve the race. I gave it a second chance because my brother lives in Saint Louis. He wanted to run this race again. I'm impressed. The course changed for the better. The mile markers are easier to spot. The problem with overburdened water stations seems to be fixed. I was able to find the physical therapy area after the race to work out a kink in my hip flexor. They were very helpful. Yes, you spend much of the race on a gradual incline or decline. Despite the challenging hills, it's a pretty rare. Improvements still needed: The race still hasn't figured out a way to make sure the half-marathoners don't eat up all the post race food and drink. I finished just under four hours and found water... But, that was it. Where was the beer (no beer in Busch's hometown?) I'd still love the organizers to find a way to run closer to the arch. Find a way to get more fans on the course... Is it marked in any way ahead of time for residents to know they're on the course? Overall, a good well organized race that I'm sure will continue to strive to improve. The runners are fun and supportive and the fans that do come out will cheer you on (if you have a name or your shirt). | |
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J. H. from St. Louis, Missouri
(5/2/2007)
"Rough Start" (about: 2007)
3 previous marathons
| 1 GO! St. Louis Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 This marathon had a very rough start. I arrived early, but the line to check baggage was over 100 people (maybe more). It looked like they had one person filling out stickers for your bag and then putting it in the trucks. In the future, it might be better to let the runners label their own bags and avoid the long lines. Since the line was so long, I had to return my bag to my car and then come back to the start. I felt very rushed and had trouble getting into the starting area. The starting area was not marked by times. In the future, I would think the organizers would want to have the starting corrals clearly marked by times and that walkers should start 15 minutes or so behind the runners. I spent the first mile or so trying to get around slower runners and walkers. I'm not blaming them though; rather, I'm blaming the race organizers for failing to appropriately mark the starting corrals. That being said, I thought the finish area had plenty of food, and volunteers were very friendly. The course is hilly, but not too hilly. Plenty of water stops and time clocks. I would recommend the marathon to anyone. |
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