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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 131 to 141]
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D. M. from West Valley City, UT
(5/6/2004)
"Olympic Style!" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 It was my first marathon, and it was great! Congratulations to Salt Lake City - there was so much energy everywhere. This one promises to be popular! | |
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Jim Skibo from Dallas, TX
(5/4/2004)
"Great urban course w/ great support." (about: 2004)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Great scenery, very friendly supporters, lots of unexpected goodies from local neighborhoods, great weather (cool start to moderate finish). Despite being surrounded by 8-9,000-foot mountains, the course was relatively flat going from 4,797? down to 4,382? with a total of 479? of ascent and 1072? of descent. A hill or two early on, but nothing to get excited about. Organization was just superb. I expected some inaugural glitches and found none. The altitude did affect me, but it was the first time I?ve ever run anything above 1000 feet. Felt kind of odd the whole race... never was able to zone out. But I finished and felt good, so that?s all that counts for me. Having a few thousand spectators at the end was kind of cool. The finisher?s medal is well fashioned and stands out among my other medals (although the Mercedes logo?d medal for the Birmingham Mercedes Marathon is a tough act to follow!!). There were the typical refreshments after the race and the awards ceremony was later that night preceding a B52?s concert. Definitely cool and it gave a nice audience for those who received an award. My only criticism is that there was absolutely no seating anywhere after the race. If you wanted to hang with your fellow runners after the race, you didn?t have any place to sit and do that unless you wanted to camp on an asphalt parking lot. Need a large tent with seats or direct runners to the old but cool Union Pacific railroad station that is very close. This race and the Birmingham, AL Mercedes Marathon are my favorites so far. I think I?d do this one again next year. Jim in Dallas | |
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D. W. from Raleigh, North Carolina
(5/4/2004)
"A great first-time effort for SLC!" (about: 2004)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 SLC was my 10th marathon, and certainly one of my favorites. The city itself is beautiful and the course showed off much of the same. Nothing nicer than running when it is 60 degrees and sunny, with snow on the mountains in the distance! The crowd support was very good, especially for a first-time marathon. Other than a dry stretch from about miles 15 to 19, there were good crowds along the course who had words of encouragement and support for the runners. The only complaint I have was the lack of any digital time clocks on the course. The folks who stayed out there for 5+ hours to orally state the mile-splits are to be commended, but I was bothered about the lack of a clock at the finish line!! Being from the East Coast, the altitude did take its toll on me during the latter stages of the race, but this is a race definitely worth running for the experience, even if it isn't a PR course. Way to go SLC! Hopefully I'll be back next year. | |
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K. H. from The Woodlands, TX
(5/3/2004)
"Nice job, SLC!!" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 My first marathon, so nothing to compare it to. I can say that I'm hooked, and hope that other marathons I will run in the future will measure up. Perfect weather that day. Nice scenery and great crowd support. Having trained in the flatlands, I was a little anxious about the course. Not a problem, first half was mostly downhill and shallow grades, second half was flat. | |
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R. H. from Excelsior, Minnesota
(5/3/2004)
"Well organized, scenic and a smart course" (about: 2004)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 For a primarily urban marathon, this is quite scenic with the Wasatch Mountains always in view. Aid stations and overall operational organization was great! The course profile was unique in that there were significant downhills but almost compensating uphills in the first half (better there than in the second half)! In the second half it flattens out and the last 7-8 miles have a wonderful slight downhill bias. It was inclined just enough to give one that little extra boost to really keep you rolling just when you need it! Brilliant! Do be prepared for some altitude effect, however. My flatlander's heartrate was about 5-8 beats over normal the whole way and that takes some toll. That's the good news, but there is room for improvement in a couple of areas. First, better maps and/or directions to the pasta dinner (many, many people got lost or misdirected) and also to the start. Race officials need to understand that out-of-towners don't know the local sites and often don't have the time or vehicles to pre-locate them. And, PLEASE forget the rock band at the pasta dinner! Any marathon runner will tell you that they want to kibitz with fellow runners at the dinner, not have their eardrums blown out by a performance such as this year! And, finally, I don't know how successful the B-52 party was, but if it was a bit lightly attended, it's because most runners, I think, would prefer to have the awards right after the race and crash rather than going to a party at 7 PM. Overall, I still give this marathon high marks (I have completed 94). Thanks! | |
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E. L. from American Fork, UT
(5/2/2004)
"A race worth running!" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 Salt Lake City did a wonderful job setting up the inaugural marathon. The weather couldn't have been more perfect, the course was great, and the supporting crowds and volunteers helped to make this event worth every step!! | |
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J. D. from Hamden, CT
(4/30/2004)
"Good inaugural marathon" (about: 2004)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I have had bad luck with extremely poor organization at previous inaugural marathons before (San Diego Rock and Roll '98, Miami '03, and Phoenix RnR '04, so I was expecting the worst. Salt Lake City was the best of the bunch. The race did start about 15 minutes late and the sound system was so poor that I didn't hear anything before the race started (and I was near the front of the lineup), and the fireworks at the beginning of the race left a nice cloud of noxious smoke to run through, but other than these small and correctable issues, it was a well run event. The course was very friendly. Downhill or flat most of the way with only a few little hills or upgrades. The course ran through two parks and had nice views of various snowcapped mountains for much of the race. The course was open to traffic on the opposite side of the road for significant portions of the race and the emissions testing in the state of Utah must not be particularly good. The finish of the race was through a crowded open air mall and was pretty exciting. I train at sea level and didn't think that the altitude affected me much, although I was at about 75% effort to begin with from an injury I had going in. That I still finished in one piece is testament to the relative ease of the course. The expo was good, although in a weird setup in multiple rooms at the Marriot. The post-race eats and massage were above average. The long-sleeve Cool Max shirt is a functional and welcome addition to my mostly cotton marathon shirts. The medal is nicer than average. All in all, a recommended marathon. | |
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Colleen Eren from New York
(4/30/2004)
"Olympic finish, beautiful run" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 This was my first marathon, and it was fantastic--an absolutely beautiful course, with the first 10 or so miles in full view of the beautiful Wysach mountains. The weather was perfect--cool, but not damp. Some complained of the 'altitude' component, but I was not really affected. Mostly flat, with a few rolling hills and a generally downward grade. With only 2,500 runners you are able to get a fast start. Though the crowds were scant, those who were there were incredibly supportive and enthusiastic. Split markers were off a few times, and the race started about 15 minutes late. The runners from Utah are among the friendliest I've encountered, especially coming from New York :). Overall, definitely worth the effort, and finishing off in the Olympic Village leaves you feeling like a star. Bravo! | |
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J. W. from New Orleans
(4/30/2004)
"Pulled off a great first marathon" (about: 2004)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Salt Lake City Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I found the first SLC marathon to be well organized. The expo had some good vendors. The start will get crowded if the marathon grows. Also the sound system needs some work. The crowds were spotty but enthusiastic. I ran with the pace group and that kept me and my fellow runners upbeat. I will be back to this one next year. | |
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p. s. from Taylorsvill, UT
(4/29/2004)
"Awsome and fun!!" (about: 2004)
1 previous marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Things were great. Start to finish the organization was great. One thing for next year: there are better courses thoughout the valley with better views. |
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