New England Green River Marathon

Big PR day! Course is definitely fast AF. Couple hills at the end (one of which they call Heartbreak Hill) definitely beat me up a bit that late in the race, but overall you're cruising downhill or poppin over slow-rollers throughout most of it. The beginning is STEEP. I took others' advice and didn't push it on those descents which worked out well considering I passed ppl at the end who were complaining about shot quads. Stunning course, almost all in the shade (except the last few miles on pavement which was a grind... but always is post 22mi in a marathon). 100% recommend this race - either for a PR or just for enjoying the scenery.

See above - don't overdue it on those first steep downhills and bake in slower miles for the last couple hills.

Phenomenal race and support!

Great marathon, well organized. Nice and small and quiet. Good logistics at the beginning and end. Peaceful terrain.

Not sure how you can prepare for the beginning of this marathon. It's a very sharp downhill and takes a toll on the quads trying to hold up. Just be aware that it starts with a fairly significant downhill that is not kind. When you do reach an uphill, it's a welcome one to have other muscles do the work.

Very few porta potties on the course. Water stops are frequent enough, but you should plan on bringing water for in between those stops.

This is a fantastic course for spectators -- one of the best. I have taken the kids to watch their mom twice now. The scenery is spectacular, and we have enjoyed our trips immensely.

As a vehicle-borne spectator, it is best to do a little advanced route planning as the cell service is spotty and the roads sparse. Finding our way to the next vantage point has been one of the best (and most scenic) parts of each trip, but it is also a little nerve wracking, since it is possible to drive down tiny unpaved roads with no certainty of one's direction.

Arrive a bit early to check out the university / scenery. Pack your own coffee and food.

Gorgeous course, best volunteers, and an amazing event! Nice early start to beat the heat. Beautiful views of the river. One of the best!

Be prepared for the downhills! This is not an easy course. Your quads will feel it if you haven't trained on downhills, plus a few big up-hills in the 2nd half. Course description on their website is perfect. Not many spectators due to the nature of the course, so you can have time where you are running alone. But lots of water stops, and an awesome post race event!

Tons of parking at the finish, and shuttles to the start. Just be prepared that you have to be ready to get on the shuttle at 5am!! But super easy process. No stress!

The people who organized this race on did an amazing job. They put so much time and effort into the race as a whole, as well as the website and contacting the runners and keeping us up to date in the months and weeks leading up to the big day.

The website has a section that describes the course, and the amount of detail is unreal. It goes into incredible detail about almost every mile of the course, including describing a sharp downhill section, when and where the path changes from packed dirt and gravel to pavement and vise-versa, where the hills are, how much of an incline each hill has, where to keep a close eye out for traffic, etc. It also has a wide variety of course maps, which I was really happy about. It’s a net-downhill race, which was big draw, but they made sure to mention that runners should take the three main hills very seriously (they were not kidding). I felt *extremely* prepared for this race just from reading the course description. The first 20 miles are shady and cool, as they run along a little road next to the Green River. The final 5 miles are a brutal dash to the finish on hot, unshaded pavement. I’m all fairness, the website did warn us about it, but dang are those last five miles hot and miserable!

One of the best things NEGRM did, which I have never seen before, was to name the aid stations in alphabetical order. Each station was named after a local animal, which was relevant to the course purpose and very cool. The names made it really easy to figure out how many stations were left during the run, as long as you could remember that the last station was K for Kestrel. This was SO HELPFUL. I wish every single race did this.

The volunteers at each station were so enthusiastic and kind and helpful, and the woman at the end handing out the medals was the happiest and most enthusiastic person in the entire world and she made me feel so proud to be crossing the finish that I wanted to cry a little. Every single person involved in this race was so clearly excited about it and heavily invested in making sure it was a wonderful experience, and they were 100% successful. I will absolutely be back to run this race again. I'm also glad that they want to keep this race pretty small (2018 was capped at 350 runners). If you want to run this course, keep an eagle eye out for sign ups because they will go FAST.

When they say there are legit hills, despite this being a net downhill course, they are not kidding. There are three major hills and they are not fun.

There is a big section on the race website that goes into detail about this. If you're interested, I would check there.