May 17, 2009

Fredericksburg, VA

Urban

4,923

Cool (50's), Windy, Rainy

Raining/overcast/nice cool running conditions

Pavement

6

Course information is very different than actual course layout, surprised by the rolling hills & multiple turns/twists, ending hill was not a step as was expected.

Challenging course mentally & much slower course than even Charlottesville!

Relatively flat course with a couple of hills, especially one about a 2 miles before the finish.

Fast.

Great gentle downhill and flat start for the first 9 miles or so, but a couple tough hills around mile 10-12.

Quality of Event:
1-poorly organized
10-very well organized

10

Good food/nice shirt-honor to see all the marine's out there in the rain supporting the event-Runnners.

DO NOT STAY AT THE FREDERICKSBURG HOSPITALITY HOUSE HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTER!!! It was the worst hotel experience I've ever had in my lifetime. There was an event going on beneath our room until 10pm and I couldn't sleep. The staff was rude and unhelpful.

Support of the crowd was good-some areas where there was none. The Marine's in uniform in the rain was very encouraging-lots of runners-running in memory of-which was really sad to see how many soldier people were there to support. Medal was fabulous but will not run again.

This was my first 1/2 last year, and I definitely wanted to do it again. It was very well organized, everyone very friendly, WELL DONE!!

I would rate this top notch, highly recommend it -I'll definitely go back next year.

Marathonfoto takes awesome pictures along the course! There is a free beer and free massage coupon for after the race. This year there was a beautiful medal. The only drawback this year was that there was a 2-night minimum stay for the hotels adjacent to the Expo Center (where packet pickup and the start/finish are located). The expo is a nice size.