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☰
OBX Marathon Runner Comments
Back to OBX Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.3 
Organization 4.5 
Spectators 4.3
Number of comments: 183 [displaying comments 41 to 51]
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S. D. from Virginia Beach, Va.
(11/15/2011)
"Impossible not to love OBX" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 3 OBX Marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I'm always amazed at the crtical remarks of people about marathons. OBX 2011 was my 35th full and let's face it, the Outer Banks is the best. How can you not love this place? I've been coming here since 1969 when I was 2 years old and it's my favorite place to be. I just don't know what people want from a race. It's SUPPOSED to be hard. I hate to say it but my mother can't hold my hand the whole race. If bathrooms are such a big deallearn to poop in the open. | |
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D. K. from Midwest
(11/15/2011)
"Room for improvement..." (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 OBX Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Pros: -great volunteers -OBX communities really support the race with tons of 'welcome runners' signs, pasta feeds etc. Our hotel even gave us goodie bags upon checkin (a first for me) -Decent crowd support for the size of the communities and an off-season date. People here are friendly. -Interesting destination. Try hang gliding while you are here! -Nice medal -Good food offerings and beer at the finish Cons: -Shuttle service from Finish to Start location went smoothly but left runners standing in the cold for more than an hour before the race. -Race shirts were a big disappointment. Apparently shirts were 2 sizes smaller than they should have been so those to the expo early traded up sizes seriously depleting the numbers of larger size shirts available..many people did not get what they had requested (not that it would have fit). The 1/2 marathon situation was even worse..they were offering shirts from the race 2 years prior! - First water available was 3 miles in and I saw no Gatorade until just before mile 11...inexcusable. - It was a warm day. Around 50 at the start and upper 60s at the finish. Most of the first half of the run has some shade, but the second 1/2 is unshaded..just my luck it was a beautiful sunny day. -Majority of first half of the race involved a lot of s-curves, so lots of tangent running. And those roads were cambered. -Do not discount the difficulty of the 3 miles of trail running in the first half of the race. Packed gravel with sand and then fine mulch and pine needles really required you to dig in to get traction. AND the majority of the hills that you will find on the course are on this section of the run. I lost time here and my legs never recovered. -2nd half of the marathon course involves a great deal of running on the main road thru OBX, so you have vehicular traffic next to you and not a lot to look at. Given the location the run could be so much more scenic than it is. | |
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M. F. from North Carolina
(11/14/2011)
"Very well organized race in a great location" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 OBX Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 The OBX marathon weekend was a good experience. The OBSE does a very good job organizing a point-to-point marathon for a mid-sized marathon. SWAG: Nice painted color medal with a pirate map them. Good custom lanyard too. Shirts were short sleeve tech with the race logo. COURSE: First 10 miles are great through scenic neighborhoods with frequent looks over the water. Next three are in Nags Heads Woods. This off road section was my favorite. It was however surprisingly hilly. I have run hillier courses, I was just caught a little off guard for being at the beach. Once leaving the woods, you have 13 miles to go down the main road with traffic. Twice you detour through the neighborhoods, but the second half is just long and brutal. POST RACE: The streets of Manteo set up for a great party. Music, beer, food, pirate pictures and more. I did not eat, not I can comment on the food that was there. TRANSPORATION: Being a point-to-point race you need transportation to the start or the finish. For us there seemed to be ample buses. We had a short wait to get back after we finished. AID STATIONS: I strongly suggest OBX follow the other mid-size races and have electrolytes at every aid station. This year was pretty warm for November. Not having Gatorade until mile 7 was not ideal. After that at least twice the aid stations went back to just water. A small detail, but one I feel is important. OTHER RACES: This is a great family trip. It is a three day weekend. Kids can race on Saturday in the Fun Run, 5k, or 8k. HOTELS: Lots of great affordable hotel options available with a late check out option. Overall, a good marathon experience. If you are looking for a mid-sized fall marathon, OBX is worth the time. | |
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M. A. from Raleigh, NC
(11/14/2011)
"Fun in the sun except for OMG Bridge" (about: 2011)
2 previous marathons
| 1 OBX Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 My husband and I ran this marathon (my 2nd, his 1st) and we enjoyed the course. The dirt-rocks-pine needle part around miles 10-13 were a bit rough on the legs. The course was pretty well stocked with water & gatorade stops as well as energy gel stations (4 total). They also had ample Porta Potty and Medic stations along the route. The Washington Baum bridge (or as they called it, 'the OMG bridge') at mile 23 was brutal but from there on it was a nice downhill/flat finish. The finishing chute was well laid out but the post-race food was rather disappointing. I would hope for future races they could get better donations. Overall, couldn't have asked for better weather (though I did get a little sunburn from it being so sunny out) and would maybe do it again in the future. | |
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Jeff H. from Virginia
(11/14/2011)
"A nice mix of scenery, great organization" (about: 2011)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 OBX Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 You can read more expanded info on the course from previous comments, I call it a good mix of neighborhood, trail, and open road... and a big bridge. Organization was great, stops were great and they had gels right where published, life was good there. This was my 18th marathon this year but I got to experience something new. 99% of the community had signs all over with 'welcome runners' plastered all over the place and supported the participants... except my hotel. I stayed two nights to spend an extra day in town, when I checked in I asked for a late checkout so I could shower, the attendant said that needs to be requested on the day of departure, OK fine. On race morning while I was running, my wife asked for a late checkout and was told 'out by noon or you get charged for another day, NO EXCEPTIONS', so I had a nice long sweaty drive home. So this is NOT a knock on the race organizers by any means, it's not their fault at all, but if you visit here I do not recommend the Best Western Ocean Reef as they would not allow a late checkout and so don't expect one when you go. Surely there are other places that really do support the participants... good luck! | |
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J. F. from Cary, NC 27518
(11/13/2011)
"need more bathrooms" (about: 2011)
6-10 previous marathons
| 3 OBX Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 My thoughts are that if we are going to be running as long as we had on the main highway...or even through the residential area....you need to have WAY more bathrooms. You only had 2 porta johns at the places that DID have them....making for too long a line or wait. On the highway...there was no where to even ...um....hide behind. Lost valuable time. | |
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G. R. from Raleigh, NC
(11/13/2011)
"Won't be back" (about: 2011)
2 previous marathons
| 1 OBX Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 This was my 2nd marathon and perhaps the first one spoiled me but I wasn't impressed. The course was just ok, the beginning contained some uneven roads and the trails were more rolling than the 'flat course' description. Perhaps I didn't look around enough, but I didn't see the scenery others seemed to enjoy so much. The orginization was good but the start was weak, no music and a cap gun to indicate the start. | |
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Bob Ring from Harrisonburg, Virginia
(5/23/2011)
"Ran the first one in 2006, back in 2011" (about: 2006)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 OBX Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 I ran the first one in 2006. Got drenched on Rt 158 heading toward Manteo for about an hour. Finish line was messed up. Understand that that has been changed. Otherwise, a great course. We vacation there every year. Love the place. I ran it because we love the Outer Banks and I knew the course before running it. Looking forward to 2011. | |
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J. T. from Cary, NC
(1/29/2011)
"First half, GREAT; second half, OKAY" (about: 2010)
2 previous marathons
| 1 OBX Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 Nice, flat course and the first half is interesting and follows quiet back roads and trails. The second half is very exposed and follows main roads - but be careful: the sun and wind will cook you if it is not a cloudy day! All that said, I had a great time and would do it again. Nice excuse to spend a few days in the Outer Banks! Had a good group of runners (8) in a beach house - good times. | |
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J. T. from Raleigh, NC
(1/16/2011)
"Awesome race, well supported" (about: 2010)
2 previous marathons
| 1 OBX Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 A great race, well supported with great volunteers and spectators. The first half of the course is much more scenic than the second half, and the second half is also much more exposed - 5 stars for the first half, 3 stars for the second half = 4 stars! |
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