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Five Points of Life Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Five Points of Life Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.2 
Organization 4.4 
Spectators 3.3
Number of comments: 51 [displaying comments 41 to 51]
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W. C. from Florida
(2/25/2006)
"Good race, I will be back!!!" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Five Points of Life Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 Well done race. I will return. Great first-year race. Next year will be even better. I ran the half marathon, and the event was great! | |
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James Dow from Florida
(2/22/2006)
"Great race, no chip time" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Five Points of Life Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I also have to say that the marathon was well done with a great course, but I too did not have a time listed in the results. My wife and I ran the half and I crossed the line half a second behind her. In the official results, she had a finishing time and I did not. Fortunately, I was not running for time so my results did not matter to me. I did notice that my sensor was a different color than the ones worn by other runners, including my wife's. I just hope that they work out this kink before I run the full next year. My only other recommendations would be to place more port-a-potties on the course and make sure all miles for the half and full are clearly marked. Slower, well hydrated athletes may be forced to use someone's yard to compensate for the lack and I am sure that the residents of Gainesville would not appreciate that. Other than the time problem, I would recommend this race to any runner or walker. Good effort for a first race. | |
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J. F. from Gainesville
(2/22/2006)
"Inaugural Event" (about: 2006)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 Five Points of Life Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 In short, for an inaugural event, they did a nice job. The course was scenic and the running lanes wide. Law enforcement was great and traffic control was outstanding. The expo. was rather dull. Packet pick-up was unorganized. I had to keep asking, "Where do I go next?" Where are the shirts? Where is the chip, etc.? The race hotel was very accommodating and across the street from the start. There were plenty of port-a-potties for a change. The course was laid out well and the runners got to see all of Gainesville. Running through the football stadium was a nice touch. The aid stations were chaotic and some under-manned. The mile markers were off (I think some joker moved them overnight). The timing was completely wrong. My finishing time was 8 minutes faster than the reported time, but they are continuing to try and fix that. The post-race party was uneventful, but Domino's kept their promise and fed all of us "all the pizza you can eat." To be fair, the weather may have contributed to some of the problems. It started out overcast and wet, but ended up rainy, windy and cold. Good for tired runners and ducks, but not so good for volunteers. | |
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Amy Yesbik from Gainesville, Florida
(2/21/2006)
"Wonderful People & Great Course" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Five Points of Life Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon, so I did not know what to expect. The people from LifeSouth were fantastic and friendly. They quickly answered all my questions. The course was fun and safe with a few small hills at the beginning and one around mile 18. There was ample supply of water, Gatorade, PowerBars, and gels. They seem to have everything organized very well. Luckily, I did not have a problem with my time chip. I would recommend this marathon to everyone. I look forward to the 2007 Five Points of Life Marathon. | |
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D. I. from Gainesville, FL
(2/21/2006)
"Well done for a first marathon!" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 The weather wasn't too bad... and the course was well marked. In spite of the cold, damp weather, there was crowd support. I enjoyed running through the stadium. I thought it was well done and well organized for a first marathon for Gainesville in many years. I did the half and would do it again. | |
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M. O. from Gainesville, FL
(2/20/2006)
"A nice inaugural marathon!" (about: 2006)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Five Points of Life Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 For a first-year effort, this was a nice race. It was a good smaller race (1,000 runners for the full and the half) run in a nice town. The course is well planned with terrific traffic control by police at all intersections. The entire course is coned with a full lane of the road reserved for runners, the only exceptions being a section through Florida Field (UF's football stadium) and on a rails-to-trails. Since this is Florida, the course is generally flat except for about 2 to 3 miles of rolling hills. There is a decent mix of much of the city along the route from residential to business areas to the historic duck pond area to the University of Florida to the rails-to-trails. Good water stops and a surprisingly good number of gel stops for a small marathon. Also, no bagels and bananas at the end; instead we got as much pizza, apples, cookies, and energy bars as we could eat. Free post-race massages were also available. Here are some complaints: Water stops were not situated at the mile markers but at weird places (like mile 3.2, 5.5, etc.), so it is difficult to time consumption of gels or even know when the next stop is coming up. The mile markers on the course map were incorrect, and only the volunteer Google map had the correct spots for mile markers. This combined with the former complaint made it hard to plan race nutrition. I was too tired to remember whether the next water stop was at 19.5 or 21.2 miles.... Due to the course layout, the half start is a quarter mile in front of the full, so marathoners had to run through the HM'ers. This wasn't a big problem since the start area runs directly onto a big two-lane road wide enough for passing, but it could be in the future if it draws 3,000+ runners. Crowd support is sparse (though enthusiastic in a few spots), partially because the race is new to the city. Also, the race results so far seem a little off for some people with the online results showing no times for some finishers. All these are minor problems that should be fixed next year, so I wouldn't hesitate recommending this race for anybody interested in a smaller-sized race. I will definitely run it again! Hat's off to the organizers and the city for putting a strong effort behind this race! | |
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D. M. from Florida, USA
(2/20/2006)
"A Star is Born" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Five Points of Life Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 I have done five major marathons (New York, Marine Corps, Disney to name a few) and the Five Points of Life Marathon has world-class quality. It was very well organized, and the host hotel was conveniently located to the start and finish. Runners were offered one lane of the road or a paved bike trail; and it was well marked and gave a nice tour through the campus. Running through the football stadium was a nice touch, especially with the drummers as you exited. The local police force were on just about every corner. I felt very safe crossing major intersections. Good finish line with music, food and massage therapists waiting for you. There were plenty of places for family and spectators to go. My only suggestion would be to use the actual "chip" for timing. Although the anklet didn't bother me, maybe others didn't have it facing correctly. Congratulations on a race well done. | |
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P. F. from Richmond, VA
(2/20/2006)
"Great, fun day in Gainesville!" (about: 2006)
3 previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 As a Florida alumni I looked forward to traveling back to Gainesville after 30 years to run in one of my favorite towns. The course did not disappoint, but where did you find the hills...I don't even remember hills in Gainesville except the one on UF campus leading down to Shands!! :-o The neighborhoods, the historic district, downtown and of course UF campus were great fun. I enjoyed this much more than Disney last month. I hope that someone makes a special point of letting Gainesville police know how much their enthusiastic attitude was noticed and appreciated. No matter what the pay is, it can't be fun to stand out all Sunday morning dealing with traffic and unhappy motorists. They were great and I don't always see that in races. The informative email newsletters were helpful leading up to race day. Some thoughts for next time: be sure to include start time on all correspondence and make it prominent, the medal for half marathon should say half (not just on ribbon)and include year on medals too, (keep the gator on it of course!) as the race grows get a couple of small local bands to play at certain spots. Water tables were spaced just right, lots of good food afterward. I personally appreciated the Starbucks coffee as I had to climb into the car immediately and drive back to Virginia. Many thanks to all who organized and volunteers who made it work. Good job! | |
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M. P. from Indiantown, FL
(2/20/2006)
"I loved this course!" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Five Points of Life Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 The course was beautifully laid out, especially the first 13 miles. Downtown Gainesville and the University area make quite a scenic course. The last 8 miles were not quite as scenic but still pleasant. The race staff had enthusiasm to spare and were well organized. However, being the first marathon in the town there were not an over-abuncdance of spectators. My congratulations to the race organizers for their efforts. It was an awesome experience for me. | |
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Ryan Tompkins from Gainesville, Fl.
(2/19/2006)
"Good half-marathon but times are erroneous!" (about: 2006)
6-10 previous marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Do you ever get the feeling that those chip timers don't always work? Well they didn't work for me or my two fellow runners. We ran the half marathon together and had great times, for us. After running 13.1 miles, the results were posted at the race and the final results were emailed to us afterwards. Both sets had me not finishing, one co-runner's time was 10 minutes too slow, and my other co-runner's was over one hour too slow. I overheard other runners voicing the same complaints. This course was supposed to be a Boston qualifier for full marathoners. Hopefully this error will be corrected and hopefully this was just a result of first-time jitters!Otherwise, the race was above average, from the course to fans to other activities. But when you get down to the meat of it, you want to see how you did overall and in your age group. |
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