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Best Boston Marathon Qualifiers
It's here! Our annual list of the year's best marathons to help you qualify for the Boston Marathon.
Marathon 2 Marathon Reviews
Marathon 2 Marathon
4.7 Stars from
3 Runners
Not so easy
By M.E. about 2017
Review
The best thing about this race is that it is extremely mentally tough. There is no crowd support at all so if feels like you are out in the desert all alone. Its 26.2 miles of monotonous running with no escaping the sun and no change of scenery. It is a very humbling race in this aspect and gives you a lot of newly found respect on the marathon distance as there is no relying on race day adrenaline from the support. This makes crossing the finish seem like a much bigger accomplishment than 26.2 miles at a popular race.
I did not like the curvature of the road. The road is severely slanted the entire way and my left leg was hitting the ground higher than my right leg the entire way.
I like the small intimacy of the race and the cool temps. I liked the tons of cool swag at ppu. I liked the very original tech shirt provided.
Race Tips
If you are not used to dry weather, I recommend carrying a water bottle from start to finish. I usually do not carry water for a marathon and only use the water stations about 5 or 6 times during a full, but running for hours in a dry climate with 15-20 minutes between water stops is not enough to keep the thirst away. The curvature/ slant of the road seemed severe to me, so keep that in mind.
Marathon has very limited lodging so I stayed in alpine. If I ran this race again, I would prefer to stay in Ft Stockton. Alpine doesn't have very many pre-race friendly restaurants and I had to pack my own food for the day prior to race day.
Cons: You have to run on the shoulder of a highway the whole way which is a sort of 'spiky-like' unworn asphalt.
Race Tips
Mile 22 has a slight uphill climb, be ready for that. The last two miles is the steepest down hill part, get ready to fly here! I ran my fastest pace the last two miles.
It's a small town, so reserve your room early. I stayed in Alpine, a town about 30 miles away but it placed me an hour from the starting line. If I do it again, I might try to stay in Fort Stockton or Marathon. But I like to hang out, grab a beer, etc, the night before a race so I like to be in s bigger town for that reason.
5 /
5 Stars
By Troy Hibbitts about 2015
Review
Aside from Boston, this is my favorite Marathon. Small field, scenic landscape, lots of returning runners year after year so that you see the same guys (and ladies) each year. I've run it 4x, with a PR on the course of 2:58:05
Race Tips
run easy the first 2 miles (uphill), don't get carried away the next 6 (downhill), and save a little for the hills at mile 21-22. Hope for a tailwind and not a headwind (its point to point) and be ready for a sunny day.
reserve your room early if you intend to stay at the Gage Hotel in Marathon. Camping at the Marathon RV Park is convenient and probably the most economical choice. There are a few houses for overnight rentals in town
Not so easy