Steamtown Marathon

The Scranton Marathon is hands down one of the best-organized and most rewarding races I've ever run. From the moment you pick up your bib to the last stretch through Downtown Scranton, the event radiates warmth, community, and true runner spirit. The course is fast yet scenic, mixing soft trails, charming neighborhoods, and an uplifting downtown finish lined with cheering locals.

Water stations are perfectly placed, volunteers go above and beyond, and the crowd support gives you an extra push right when you need it most. If you're chasing a Boston qualifier or just want a memorable race weekend, Scranton delivers. I'll absolutely be running it again next year. Five stars all the way.

Familiarize yourself with the course's elevation profile to prepare for the challenging hills in the latter part of the race. I ran the first half at a fast pace and didn't regret it because I knew the second part was flat with some hills.

Stay in a hotel near the finish line. Parking is easy in Scranton, and the shuttle bus in the morning is great.

After running Boston and CIM I cannot emphasize enough how amazing it is to be able to chill inside before the race. (And also have a drop bag so you can stay warm in sweats until go time.) The aid stations are solid although only two gel stations was a little sparse (bring your own as the first is passed ten miles) and I didn't know if there was gel till in was right on top of the kids holding them.

Course itself is awesome for 22 miles. Some rollers but no big deal and for the most part all gentle down. The trail portion was no problem, I actually liked it. At 22 there is a zig zag that no one warned about that kills momentum especially if you're in high stack shoes.

The hill at 23 is just as bad as everyone says. Hard to take advantage of the down after it so the race is pretty much a fight the last 5k.

That said, overall experience amazing at this race. Absolutely train on ups and down alike. Course is a 10/10 through 22 then maybe 4/10 but still an 8/9 overall.

Not sure if I'd do again but I would consider it.

Also, got a cheap(ish) hotel 10 min from bus drop the night before the race. Packet pickup took a minute. The logistics surrounding the race itself are top notch.

The best performance I saw were definitely people holding back early. Two HUGE mistakes I witnessed were not running tangents, forget the camber it's not that bad, run the tangents, and attacking the earlier hills. I had a pack leave me at about 9 when the hills started. Aside from a couple very shrewd runners, I got them all back. Your pace should absolutely slow a little the second ten miles.

Bring your gear with you to the start and have it at the drop bag at the finish so you aren't without anything you need immediately post race. It was pouring shortly after I finished and was so happy I had full sweats and rain jacket as soon as I finished.

Loved the course beauty, organization and fast downhill. Scranton was charming and EVERYONE was sooo nice. Post race amenities were great.

Not really a complaint because a race should be a challenge but the uphills in the last 3-4 miles was really tough when leg muscles were shredded for fast downhill pace. Be advised! If I do this race again, I will focus more and speed and strength training more like 2-3 months out instead of one which I usually do. I did qualify for Boston, NY and Chicago with this one so it is really good for that but the day after my legs are more sore than any race I have ever run in the post-race recovery.

A shuttle to the ANZ hotel, would have been great. I zombie walked 1.5 miles shivering to it. By the way, the ANZ hotel, as a value hotel, was fantastic! Super friendly staff and allowed ALL runners a late checkout to 1300. I actually checked out at like 1330 when the hotel manager insisted that I take a long hot shower before my drive back to Virginia.

After running Boston and CIM I cannot emphasize enough how amazing it is to be able to chill inside before the race. (And also have a drop bag so you can stay warm in sweats until go time.) The aid stations are solid although only two gel stations was a little sparse (bring your own as the first is passed ten miles) and I didn't know if there was gel till in was right on top of the kids holding them.

Course itself is awesome for 22 miles. Some rollers but no big deal and for the most part all gentle down. The trail portion was no problem, I actually liked it. At 22 there is a zig zag that no one warned about that kills momentum especially if you're in high stack shoes.

The hill at 23 is just as bad as everyone says. Hard to take advantage of the down after it so the race is pretty much a fight the last 5k.

That said, overall experience amazing at this race. Absolutely train on ups and down alike. Course is a 10/10 through 22 then maybe 4/10 but still an 8/9 overall.

Not sure if I'd do again but I would consider it.

Also, got a cheap(ish) hotel 10 min from bus drop the night before the race. Packet pickup took a minute. The logistics surrounding the race itself are top notch.

The best performance I saw were definitely people holding back early. Two HUGE mistakes I witnessed were not running tangents, forget the camber it's not that bad, run the tangents, and attacking the earlier hills. I had a pack leave me at about 9 when the hills started. Aside from a couple very shrewd runners, I got them all back. Your pace should absolutely slow a little the second ten miles.

Bring your gear with you to the start and have it at the drop bag at the finish so you aren't without anything you need immediately post race. It was pouring shortly after I finished and was so happy I had full sweats and rain jacket as soon as I finished.

This marathon is advertised as downhill, but there are a lot of hills, especially in the second half. It rained the most of race so the trail section was muddy and slippery. I lost momentum there, and struggled the rest of the race because of the hills (did I mention hills?). Also there were many turns that seemed kind of unnecessary. Great volunteers, and being able to stay indoor before the start was great.

Save your energy for the second half.

Stayed near the finish. The buses to the start area were great.

RUN THIS RACE

Everything about the race is as good as it gets. Organization, hospitality, course, volunteers, you name it. The community really gets behind the race and it leads the front page of the newspaper before and after the race.

Steamtown is my favorite marathon after Boston and this was my 15th overall.

The start is awesome as you are greeted by the students and cheerleaders from Forest City HS. You get to stay with inside the HS to keep warm in prior to the race, sit down etc...That’s a big bonus since it makes the pre-race wait so much easier.

Crowd support is solid through must of the course that is on roads. The crowd going up the hill at 24 definitely helps you out. The spectator support in the town of Carbondale around mile 9 is great.

The course is fast and really nice. It's pretty running along the river and the downhill grade is perfect except for a few tiny portions.

Finish line is great with more variety of food then you could possibly want or need. Parking is free and easy around the finish line so it's easy to get to the busses in the morning and to retrieve your car at the end.

Post race party at night is a nice touch. It's in a cool old Masonic temple with free drinks and food for EVERYONE, not just racers so bring your family and friends.

The only cons are it's kinda tough to get to Scranton if you can’t drive. The course has a very steep downhill near at about 1 mile but it's only for one block. There is also about a half mile section in mile 19 that is an unpaved trail that I thought was kinda rocky and didn't particularly enjoy. Other than that it was perfect all around.

The hill at 24 is real but it's manageable. I didn't look at my mile splits after mile 2 and just ran easy on how I felt and I ended up negative splitting the course by about 2.5 minutes. There was zero wait for busses, we literally just showed up and got on one and off we went.

Pros -> Amazing Volunteers, Great crowd support, Well coordinated, Great post race food and part, Not congested Cons -> Point to point, down hills, rolling hills I really had high expectations based on other reviews and this marathon far exceeded them. You get a sense that you are part of their family with the hospitality the town, the spectators, the volunteers and the organzines treat you with. It starts with the emails leading up to them. They are genuine, informative and funny. The expo had a race seminar that felt more like a conversation with good friends that ran the course before than a typical seminar on the course. It included some amazing athletes with impressive records. Also at the expo, they have about 2 volunteers for every runner (that is not a scientific number, but is the mantra for this whole race, lots of enthusiastic and friendly volunteers) . On race day its easy to get to the buses that take you to the starting point with their buses and just like everything else they have more than enough volunteers and buses and everything flows smoothly. We got off the buses to a tunnel of high school cheerleaders cheering for us. At the starting point, there were plenty of porta johns, indoor seating, tons of volunteers and a great atmosphere. The race has a great start with a civil war cannon! There are official water stops every two miles that are marked ahead with signs alerting you that they are coming. They have plenty of portajohns throughout the course. The course goes through many small towns where the citizens act like this is the biggest event all year with the amazing support they bring. In addition to the official aid stations, there are about another 20 impromptu aid stations with people in their front yards handing out everything from candy to tissues to baseline to beer to whiskey and many more things I can not recount. At the finish line, there is plenty of amazing food and a beautiful square to hang out with family and friends. There is also an awesome after party with free booze! The course is beautiful with a lot of variety between small towns and nature along scenic trails. In a nutshell, this race is amazing because the people are amazing. It has a small town charm and hospitality that you just cannot create at the big city races but has the efficiency and perks not found at the small races!

The most drop is the first 6 miles. Take them slower than any other miles or you will regret it! Although it's mostly downhill (see elevation chart) it will not feel like. The drops are all at once and in between the "flat" parts are actually slightly uphill. Has more of a rolling hill feel which really shocked. The "monster" hill at mile 25 that everyone talks about has amazing spectator support that will make it a lot easier than it is!

Take the busses to the starting point do not drive there!

Very well organized race. Point to point. Downhill. Emails before race are fun too. Find them on Facebook and read

Dont get too arrogant early in race. Fist 8 miles downhill. Train on downhills.

Bus transports you from finish line to start morning of race. Hotels are cheap in area with many having free parking.

Beautiful and fast course, great crowds and volunteers.

The last 2 years the weather was unusually hot and humid. Usually starting temps in low to mid 40's, low humidity.

I highly recommend the Steamtown Marathon! I have ran this race many times ! It is the best !! Lots of wonderful cheering supporters along the route !

Make sure to include some down hill training .. and hold back in th beginning! Such an awesome race.

Take advantage of the busses to the starting line.

Loved the scenery along the trails, the people along the course cheering, partying and giving drinks and snacks and I loved the challenge of the hills at the end of the race.

Save your energy during the first half of the race, you'll need it once you hit the hills of Scranton.

The Hilton Scranton is the best hotel to stay at. They usually have a two night minimum but who wants to drive home the day of the marathon anyway.

The race was extremely organized, weekly emails giving you bits of information about the race rather than all at once. The race itself is a mixture of trails along the river and on the road.

Include running down hills, a lot of miles in the beginning are in decreasing elevation

The Steamtown Marathon is a small town version of Boston in my eyes. The stress level is much lower, but you're still running through wonderful little communities that come out to support the runners. The race is fantastically put on and the emails leading up to it will lend some comic relief to your pre-race jitters.

Restrain yourself through the first half. ALL of the hills come after mile 22. Lastly Scranton, PA is obsessed with banners...on the final mile, you'll keep thinking you're about to finish...but it's just another banner, I think there were 10 or so.

The Springhill Suites nearby will give you breakfast supplies the night before if you tell them you're running the marathon.

This is a very well organized marathon. Start by studyng the course description and the related reviews in its' web page to decide if this marathon is for you. Do not expect to have a PR or BQ without proper training, as in any other marathon, and just run it. Do not try to bank time in the first 12 downhill miles to avoid destroying your quads for the relatively 3 tough hills in the last 3-4 miles. This is a suggestion of many seasoned runners that actually have run this marathon. My personal experience was gratifying, even without getting a PR that could get me to Boston. Believe me, not complains at all, very beautiful course, the support amazing, I have not enough words to praise all the details that make this a marathon for marathoners.

As mentioned just run your marathon, preferably trying to keep an even pace, or at least not running more than 5-10 seconds faster per mile during the first half.

Because of the location I think that there is not better hotel than the Hilton in downtown: very close tho the finish line and the buses that go to the start.

It's NOT easy. The last 4 miles are tougher than most marathons!

Do not bank time in beginning. Relax as much as possible! Mile 8-18 are downhill, but barely. Be prepared to work during those miles as well.

LOVED the Hilton.

Great, fast course. Course and race management was excellent. Hometown and family feel. Lots of good support from the locals showed it is appreciated by community. Funny weekly emails and updates leading up to the race.

Liked: Great organization, beautiful course, and gorgeous medals. Very friendly and one of my favorites (I love small town marathons.) Also enjoyed the weight classes.

Didn't like: don't expect much of an expo, and they ran out of the coolest shirt. (The women's shirts were awful- no trains on them! It's Steamtown! They should have trains!)

You will either love or hate this course, depending on how smartly you run it. I ran consistent energy rather than pace- a lot of people may have passed me in the beginning, but I passed a LOT of them back in the last eight miles. Run it smart and this is a PR course. Run it wrong and your legs will be hating life.

Fun environment,lots of fans, personalized bib and name called at the finish line. Very, VERY organized. Great course. And the FOOD is outstanding!

Beginning is mostly down hill. Pace yourself and don't try to bank hours! There's a huge hill at 22.

Hotels near finish line, take the bus to the start.

I've ran 10 fulls, and this is the only one I’ve ran twice. We traveled ten hours for this race, because it is a perfect course for runners. Just enough hills, just enough flat and nice gradual stretches of downhill keep any muscle from getting too tired or tense. I PRd by 18 minutes the first time I ran it in 2015 and felt great afterwards. I beat that time by 5 mins in 2016. Perfect weather both years. Great crowd support (best spectators of any race I've ran) great aid stations, and the emails and info sent out by the race director are hilarious and informative. I wish I lived closer to Scranton. I would run this race every year!!

If you're looking for a PR or BQ time and think this is ideal because of the decline, be warned, you will have to prepare intensely for the downhill. I have run similar profiles (Run for the Red most recently) with much success but this course chewed me up and spit me out. The downhill destroyed my quads by the halfway point and eventually that took its toll on the rest of me. It wasn't going out too fast or lack of training runs but rather a lack of quad strengthening before this race. If you decide to do it (there's a lot to like about this race if you like small town races - the director is organized and hilarious, the course is great for family to spectate on and see you at several points, you have a gym to stay in before the start, etc. etc. etc.) you MUST spend time building up your quads to withstand this downhill.

Train on downhills AND do quad specific strengthening prior to this race to withstand the decline in the course.

Overall "A" grade - weather is usually ideal for marathon running. Foliage beautiful. Support from the locals outstanding. Well organized for a smaller marathon.

Did not care for the part of the Rails to Trails section that was on soft ground. Yes, your knees and legs got a slight break from the pavement, but the unevenness and jagged rocks and sticks sometimes got you right in the foot when you landed.

This was my first marathon. The course is deceptive as others note. The downhills are not necessarily your friends. I think other race organizers do a bit of "smoothing" on the elevation profile, but if you look at the elevation profile on Steamtown's web site, you would think there is not a single uphill until the final 3 miles. Take a peek at other sites offering elevation profiles - there are plenty of small, short uphills - just not as daunting as the ones in the final stretch. But every hill counts when you're taking 30,000+ steps.

EVERY site, review, and discussion about Steamtown tells you to be conservative and treat the first 8 miles as your warmup. Then go race. How people did not know about that or ignored it (and wonder why they bonked) I have no idea.

You do not need special quad strength training to do Steamtown. You need to train and race smart. And I'm a guy who didn't log insane weeks of mileage (most weeks between 25-40). I didn't train exclusively on flat terrain, but I didn't seek out "hill training" either. I had no problem last weekend. I listened to the advice to chill out in the beginning and save energy. I never needed to walk on the course. I wasn't pushing for an elite time, so maybe my perspective isn't as helpful.

Fast course, great support, logistics, crowds

Great communication prior to the race. Beautiful course and nice point to point race. Definitely gets tough after the initial downhills and you will pay if you went out too fast during the last 6 miles.

Do not bank time early. The last few hills, though small, will be unbearable if you have nothing in the tank.

It starts at the high school in Forest City, so plenty of bathrooms, warm gyms to sit in. Smaller race, so you do not have to get there more than an hour before the start.

Well done race. Great for runners that like to run downhill. Tons of food at the finish line.

Save something for the 3 final hills at the end of the race.

We arrived on Friday night and found it helpful to take a short run on the final mile or so of the course. The give free admission to the train and trolley museums which were fun and interesting, but don't wear yourself out sightseeing.

Liked everything but the Hill by Coopers Seafood.

Don't get caught up in the early part of the race the downhill in the beginning will not help when you hit the hills later on.

This is a really well run marathon. The event has a very enjoyable small town feel including several nice elements like a great after race pasta party, race walk-thru and lots of spectators. The course did not seem that fast, but is deceptively so. A PR is very possible.

Early downhill miles need to be run conservatively. Rails to trails section is fun as the narrow trail has plenty of cheering onlookers on both sides.

Very easy to get to race if driving.

Absolutely top-notch marathon. Pre-race communication was second-to-none; informative and humorous. The small-ish expo at the high school was easy to find and packet pick-up was a breeze. Bus pick-up was smooth, the greeting by the high school kids at arrival was a nice touch, and waiting in the warm gym was great. There were plenty of potties at the start; not much of a line at all. As for the race, as others have noted you need to be prepared for the downhill stretch. I went out too fast and had a 8 minute positive split; the last couple of miles were difficult for me. Post-race was a blur; there was a decent spread but I just grabbed a banana and chocolate milk as eating is the last thing I want to do for a while after a race. I will be back in 2017 to get my sub 3:00.

Definitely include long downhill runs into your training; for sure some training at marathon pace and if possible some at tempo pace.

Well run, small town feel. Love how the towns along the way (it is a point to point race) welcome the runners. Staying warm in HS gym before race was nice and the HS students there were super supportive.

Lot's of downhill early. Be cautious or you will thrash your thighs. Three hills the last 5K which can really hurt if you went out tot hard. Nice few miles in the middle on a soft trail. Give your legs a break from the pounding.

The shuttle system to the start worked great for me (I did get there nice and early).

This is a great marathon, but don't think that just because the elevation profile is downhill that it is fast. I had the worst of my four marathons at this race. It is a well organized race with lots of people and local bands cheering along the way.

I really blew late in this race. I made the mistake of going out really fast on the downhill part of the race. The first six miles are really steep downhill. By the time I hit 17 miles, my legs were cramping bad. The last part of the race is really kind of hilly. If I was going to run this race again, I'd go out a lot slower and control myself down the hills.