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☰
Cleveland Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Cleveland Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 3.9 
Organization 3.9 
Spectators 3.3
Number of comments: 299 [displaying comments 201 to 211]
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L. O. from Ohio
(6/9/2006)
"WIIIIIINDY but nice course" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 The spectators were minimal due to the weather, but the ones that were there gave great support. For the "Cleveland Rocks and Runs," slogan I expected more music. (???) Course was good, other than the nasty hill between the 23-24 mile mark. Not horrible, but grueling when you are that far into a marathon. Who thought running by the water was a good idea? I'm sure it's normally windy but this year the 26-30 mph winds were unbelievable! Felt like you were being pushed backwards and side to side at times. Definitely took a few minutes off my finish. I still PR'd but missed BQ by 3 minutes - wonder if the wind did me in??? Only fix necessary is the fluid stations. No consistency. Should be on both sides of road and should have PowerAde in front and water in back (or vice versa) at all of them. You never knew what you were going to get. Loved the food at the finish but missed the disposable blanket (especially with the wind at the end!!!). Brrrrr. HATE Brightroom.com!! Wish they would use Marathonphoto instead. Only photos throughout 26 miles were of me at the finish with no banner or time displayed and they completely cut out my two girls running across the finish line with me! No one even asked if we wanted a picture together at the end in the runner's chute. Definitely have no souvenir photo from this one! Of the 10 people I knew that ran either the full or half, we all had the same problem. No one had anything other than finish-line photos with no way of knowing it was the finish other than the orange cones in the backround. Couldn't they have found us somewhere on the course or stood far enough back to get the banner/timer??? I think I enjoyed the half marathon here last year better and would take the Columbus over this full for an Ohio marathon. | |
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M. M. from Grand Rapids, MI
(6/5/2006)
"Not the best, Not the Worst" (about: 2006)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I had a PR here so I don't want to gripe too hard, but who was the genius that decided it would be a good idea to run along the shore of Lake Erie from Mile 19-24? The wind was brutal and cost me a few precious minutes. I am sure this route would have been great if the weather was calm or blowing behind you, but I would have gladly sacrificied the 'scenic' view of Lake Erie to not have to run into a 30 mph headwind for the last 6 miles of the race. With that being said, I actually really enjoyed the rest of the course, especially running past the stadiums and through the park around mile 18. I gave fan support a '2' because that is about the number of fans who were out there. The fans that did show up were awesome, but I was expecting more support from a city this size. If crowd support is your thing, this is not a good track. I do commend the energy of those who did show up. They were great. To sum up other points. What I liked: The finisher's medal is one of the best, the technical shirts were a nice touch and more appreciated than a cotton t-shirt (I got the second one for signing up early), the field size was great for running a PR and the runner's massage at the end was great. What I disliked: Cleveland overall was a big disappointment (Big city, but felt deserted), the expo needs to be rethought (small, difficult to get in and out and way too cramped). Aid stations needed help. I hesitate to criticize volunteers because I love and appreciate everyone that comes out, but the aid stations were disorganized and had no apparent order/division of water versus Powerade. Overall, I rate this course middle of the road. With a couple of little tweaks, this could be improved quite a bit. | |
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kevin hewitt from baltimore maryland
(6/4/2006)
"good for a first marathon" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Being that this was my first marathon I thought it was a very good course. I am from baltimore so the hills that everybody talked about seemed to me to be more like inclines. I enjoyed the tour of the city. Though the wind at 19 was not pleasant but what do you expect being on lake erie. I would definitely run it again. | |
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M. S. from Michigan, USA
(6/2/2006)
"Cleveland Marathon = LAME" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 1 I ran the full marathon this year, and after reading the reviews on this site, I was expecting a great race. Unfortunately, the course only had 2-3 entertainment stages, zero course support, and a solid 3-4 mile stretch of nothing but highway running. I did the Detroit Marathon a few months earlier, and couldn't believe how much better of an event Detroit put together. If you want a marathon in Ohio, do the Flying Pig - skip Cleveland! | |
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B. R. from Garfield Heights, Ohio
(5/31/2006)
"Great first marathon experience" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I had a blast! Not too many spectators (probably driven away by the pre-race downpours), but those that did show were very enthusiastic. Organization at both the start and finish were excellent; the announcers at the end were particularly inspiring. Great post race spread, too: I loved the Eat'n'Park cookies (but must have missed the Twinkies somehow - dangit). My only complaint about the organization is that more port-o-lets would have been nicer, and a few more rubbish bins for the cups. Enough complaining about the weather already. It could have been a LOT worse: just one week after this year's marathon, it was nearly 90 with humidity well over 50%. I'll take this year's race weather over that, thanks. It is usually a bit breezy near the lake, but nothing like the 25-30 mph blast we all got right around mile 20. I thought the course was very cleverly and attractively laid out, and contrary to another of the comments below, it was very flat, save only the points between miles 2-3 (which were run on a freeway) and a short hill near mile 23 (exiting the same freeway). Miles 5-8 (through the homes near the lakeshore) and 17-19 (through Rockefeller park) were particularly beautiful. | |
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G. H. from Upstate NY
(5/31/2006)
"RE: GPS" (about: 2006)
1 previous marathon
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 I had a Garmin on my arm.... The mile markers were all a tad off... by sometimes as much as 1/8 of a mile. However, when I crossed the finish line my GPS read 26.28 miles. | |
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t. p. from Akron, OH
(5/30/2006)
"half a marathon, twice the fun" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 Last year I ran the full marathon; this year only the half. I didn't much care for the full but the half really rocked. The rain stopped before the start and at least for the half the weather seemed perfect. A little drizzle didn't bother me in the least - much better than heat and humidity a week later. The 1/2 was very scenic. There was plenty of food and drink at the finish. Sometimes a half is better than a whole! | |
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A. T. from LongBeach,Ca
(5/29/2006)
"nice tour of the city" (about: 2006)
11-50 previous marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 I am originally from Cleveland and decided to run this one to knock off Ohio on my 50-state quest.This entire event reaffirms the reason why I left Cleveland. The weather was cold, windy and rainy and there were no disposable wraps at the finish line. | |
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S. A. from Arlington, VA
(5/29/2006)
"PR because of inaccurate distance in the Half?" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 I ran the Cleveland half marathon for the first time this year in 2006. I had a personal GPS device and throughout the course noted that my distance did not match up with mile markers on the course. Forgetting all about that, I was astounded to see my time, what surely would be (and perhaps was) a PR after coming back from a knee injury earlier in the spring. However, now after my runner's high has worn off, I am very skeptical about the actual distance of the course. My reading was 12.79 miles for the half, and some 5 minutes faster than I had anticipated. Would be really interested if anyone else made note of this possible discrepancy. On a positive note: the spectators were great; it was fun to start and finish downtown and the hills were not an issue; parking was relatively inexpensive and easy; and I would definitely drive the 400 miles to run it again next year. thanks Cleveland! | |
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M. A. from Houston, TX
(5/26/2006)
"Fun race but cold for this Houstonian" (about: 2006)
2 previous marathons
| 1 Cleveland Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I ran the half on this day, which I think is a good thing - my Houston-acclimated body was unprepared for the cold windy morning it endured! Even so - a very nice, surprisingly scenic course along Lake Erie. Lovely, historic neighborhoods to traverse. Friendly volunteers at the water stops (thanks to the "no tequila" guy at mile 12 for the laughs!). Few spectators, but the weather kind of precluded that. The shout-outs by the announcers at the end were really nice - I didn't get one personally, but I did hear of a fellow Texan coming across the finish line! The goodies at the end were fun, too - I haven't had a Twinkie in 20+ years! But I did that day. A couple of comments for improvements: Please. Please. Please. Supply more porta-johns along the course! Also... more trash cans at aid stations (do you think the volunteers *really* want to clean up 3 million discarded cups?). And, consider having aid stations on both sides of the street. So there's less cutting people off. Lastly, please put the mile markers higher up, where the runners can see them clearly. Placing them near the ground just isn't effective. Many times I ran right by one, without even seeing it. Cleveland was a fun race - I'd consider doing it again. Relatively small field of runners, friendly people. Nice finisher's medal - my girls are quite enamored of the swiveling guitar! Thanks for a half PR! |
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