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Salt Lake City Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Salt Lake City Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.1 
Organization 4.1 
Spectators 3.9
Number of comments: 162 [displaying comments 91 to 101]
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K. K. from Colorado Springs, CO
(6/6/2006)
"Beautiful, well organized, but too hot" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Pros: The marathon had a 40-minute early start for walkers and slower joggers, which was nice. The host hotel (Hilton) was well located, had ample buses to the start, allowed a 2 p.m. late check-out and was reasonably priced. The expo was well organized and only a block away from the hotel. The fans on the race course were friendly and tried to help with the heat. Many turned on their garden hoses for runners to go through. A nice man gave me some ice from his cooler around mile 13 and some ladies around mile 18 were giving out watermelon slices. The aid stations were well stocked even for the back-of-the-pack runners. The wet sponges were a nice touch in the hot weather. Cons: 90 degrees is just too hot to run a marathon in (just ask the man I saw convulsing around mile 15). The section of the race that the locals referred to as the Vanwinkle was boring; it had few spectators and no shade. When I finished the only food I could find was a bag of snacks from Whole Foods. After completing 26.2 miles I would have preferred pizza, bratwurst or a sandwich - not just crackers, granola and juice. | |
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T. K. from Seattle, Washington
(6/6/2006)
"Wonderful Race!" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 SLC was my fourth marathon and one I was really looking forward to. I'd never been to Utah, but I knew it was a gorgeous state. The race was extremely well organized with a breathtakingly beautiful course. Course organization and support was outstanding. The spectators, however, really made the marathon for me. They were out in droves! Every runner felt like a celebrity with all of the cheering, the kind people hosing us down as we ran by, and the encouragement. Water stations were well manned and plentiful. This was very important considering the heat of the day. The finish line area was a little overcrowded with my MAJOR pet peeve, parents feeding their kids off the food offerings. I saw a family walk up to a table with milk and take the last of it with probably a few hundred runners left to come in. Nice! KEEP FAMILIES OUT OF THE FOOD AREA! Other than that, I would highly recommend this marathon to anyone. If I were planning on repeating a marathon, this would definitely be on the list. | |
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ben knorr from Salt Lake City, UT
(6/5/2006)
"Not the same as the previous two years" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 3 Salt Lake City Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 The expo was still excellent. The coordination of TRAX was better this year too. During the race however, it seemed like the drink tables were understaffed and smaller than before. On one occasion, I tasted gatorade that had a strong odor of mildew. The gel station was there somewhere, but all I saw were spent gels all along the ground- nobody handing out or advertising gels when I went through miles 13-18. At least I could get water though- a friend of mine didn't see water tables from the table near mile 4, then near mile 8 on the half course. She had a terrible time for the rest of the race. Other than that, the fans were still great, and again, there was mostly adequate fluids available. Giant sponges were also given out just before the long hot 500E stretch, which helped a TON! The finish area was partially under construction, so things were confusing. All sorts of non-racers were slipping into the finish line area where the foods were being handed out though...I got a bag with some chips, fruit roll up samples and other little candy type things, a couple oranges, chocolate milk, water, and some pomegranite juice sample. No bagles, bread, bananas =( This was still a fun race, but it has definitely slipped in overall quality from its first two. | |
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ben knorr from Salt Lake City, UT
(6/5/2006)
"Not the same as the previous two years" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 3 Salt Lake City Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 The expo was still excellent. The coordination of TRAX was better this year too. During the race however, it seemed like the drink tables were understaffed and smaller than before. On one occasion, I tasted Gatorade that had a strong odor of mildew. The gel station was there somewhere, but all I saw were spent gels all along the ground - nobody handing out or advertising gels when I went through miles 13-18. At least I could get water though - a friend of mine didn't see water tables from the table near mile 4, then near mile 8 on the half course. She had a terrible time for the rest of the race. Other than that, the fans were still great, and again, there was mostly adequate fluids available. Giant sponges were also given out just before the long hot 500E stretch, which helped a TON! The finish area was partially under construction, so things were confusing. All sorts of non-racers were slipping into the finish line area where the foods were being handed out though.... I got a bag with some chips, fruit roll-up samples and other little candy-type things, a couple oranges, chocolate milk, water, and some pomegranate juice sample. No bagels, bread, bananas. =( This was still a fun race, but it has definitely slipped in overall quality from its first two. | |
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E. S. from Salt Lake City, Utah
(6/5/2006)
"1st half great; last 1/2 hot and not so great" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 The 1st 1/2 of this race was great, coming through the campus, down Foothill into Sugarhouse & Holladay. When you turned north about mile 14, around Van Winkle, the scenery just was just like running on a divided highway, then into kind-of a sketchy neighborhood through So. Salt Lake, all the way to about 2100 So. As you hit 2100 So. you re-entered the Sugarhouse neighborhood the tree cover returned and the fear of drive-by shooting went away. It was really starting to get hot after the race left Liberty Park. It was kind of scenic running down State St., but really hot. I would have preferred to run under or up to the Eagle Gate and take South or North Temple St. to the Gateway finish so we could have ran past the Temple. The race is in Salt Lake City; it should go by the Temple shouldn't it? The organization of this race was great - extremely well organized. You got a great finisher's medallion; I think it's the nicest one I have ever received. The expo and finish line refreshments were pretty good. They also had a free concert at the awards ceremony. I enjoyed that. I prefer both the Ogden and St. George courses over this one. I may do the 1/2 marathon next year, but not the whole, unless my brother or somebody challenges me. | |
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T. B. from Salt Lake City, UT
(6/5/2006)
"One Big Circus" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 2 Salt Lake City Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 2 This is a great course and very beautiful. But I have to say they have turned it into a big circus: the marathon, 1/2 marathon, bike race, 5K, and 1K. So is it really the SL Marathon???? With the date changes to JUNE IN UTAH (one word: "HOT"), eliminating some of these events would have given the MARATHONERS an opportunity to start at 6:00 instead of 6:45ish. Upon the finish and weaving through an extra mile of construction to get my chip removed... I was given my goodie bag with some potato/pita chip and orange and a small 2-3 oz. cup of a smoothie. HUMMMM - just ran 26.2 miles, a bagel or piece of bread, or something a little meatier than potato chips would have been nice. Overall since the first marathon was held, numbers have dropped across the board and just not many spectators out, and not the same big rally at the finish. I don't know if I will consider this race again even being a local, unless the date changes. | |
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D. C. from Utah
(6/5/2006)
"Very Pretty But Too Warm" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Salt Lake City Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This race has a very nice course, but it does have deceptive inclines that are very gradual and can wear you down early. The mountains are very scenic. The organization is as good as any other race I've run in the past 15 years. They really treat the runners well and the aid stations are top-notch. The spectator support is solid, but not the best I've experienced. Entertainment on the course (bands, performers, etc.) was well done. Overall, a very good race. However, I doubt I will run this again. With this year's event moved to June from April, it was just way too hot. The last two hours of my run ranged from uncomfortable to dangerous. All the runners around me complained about the heat also. I had to summon help at one aid station to run 100 yards back down the course to help a runner lying on the sidewalk. If I run this race again, I'll probably just do the half marathon to avoid potential high temperatures. If they continue with this as a June race, the start time needs to be at 5:30 or 6 a.m. | |
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D. L. from Maryland
(6/5/2006)
"High Altitude + High Temps = Slow Mo" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Let me start by congratulating Salt Lake on a well-organized and well-run marathon. They had a great technical shirt, great medal, great water stops and goodly amount of port-o-potties. The orange slices helped, and many fans offered a cold garden hose spray-down, which was heavenly. But THE HEAT was in the 80's and brutal, with an occasional wind. The high altitude didn't help either, but at least the humidity was low. Miles 13 to 18 along Van Winkle were especially hard, with the long asphalt road shimmering in the heat, and no shade no-where. I drank enough liquids that my stomach sloshed around, yet I still felt dehydrated and tired. I pushed myself onward to the finish line by dreaming of snarfing down watermelon at the end; but when I got to the Gateway, they didn't have no stinking cold watermelon - they had cold milk! Only in Utah.... | |
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Steve Stillman from Redondo Beach, Ca.
(6/5/2006)
"June Ok, but April Probably Better" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 A week before the June 2006 SLC Marathon the weather forecast was for the 90s on race-day. At first I thought it was going to be a repeat of the 2004 Los Angeles Marathon, which was also in the 90s and just a miserable experience. However in this case the race organizers were better prepared. Even though they had a bike tour before the marathon, they got the early start marathoners started just 5 minutes after the bikers (6:05 a.m. Mountain Time) unlike LA, which waited until the bikers were done and so didn't start until 8ish. The regular marathoners started around 6:45 a.m. so most of the race was run before the heat. LA should do the same (and since the race organizers are the same as this event I would hope that someday they change). A few other notes. Ignore the recommendation to take the 4:30 a.m. UTA Trax train to the start. I got on at this time and there was just about nobody else on the train. I should have waited until 5:15 a.m. There are 4 or 5 porta-potties every 2 miles unlike other marathons, which seem to only have 1 or 2 at each stop. So it's possible to use the facilities without having to wait. There weren't many spectators but the ones who were out there usually had a garden hose ready to hose you down. Towards the end of the race when it started to get hot this was really appreciated. Also there were a couple of stops with volunteers ready to cool you down with ice cold sponges. Finally, this race is at close to 5,000 feet and it does seem to make a big difference if you train at sea level. | |
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S. H. from Park City, UT
(6/4/2006)
"Very Impressed!" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Expectations exceeded. Very nice shirt, awesome police/road closure support. Run thorough lots of neighborhoods where the locals took to the lawn chairs and cheered us on- very fun. Course with the snow capped mountians was beautiful. Some will complain about the heat but it didn't bother me (no I was not a fast finisher). I'm now local but moved from the East coast. If you are from a warmer climate or are used to training in the humid summer somewhere, than temps ranging from 60's at start to 80 at finish really won't be too bad, b/c no humidity. Marathon staff well prepared with 16 water stops- everyone very well staffed. Also had sponges at one stop, 2 with Cliff shots, 5 with Vaseline, 1 with oranges. Just as orgainzed as Marine Corps and Chicago. |
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