Irving Marathon

First off from the previous comment, the course was 26.2 miles long, you did not run the short loop again on your second lap, which is why so many people were disqualified. I ran the full second lap and the course was fine, that was your mistake. With respect to the actual race, it was poorly organized, very difficult at times to know the exact course, even the race leader and Police motorcycle went the wrong way. About 30 of the top 60 racers were disqualified for not running the small loop in their second lap.

Apparently, this race was NOT my 21st marathon, as was originally planned. It turned out to be just a humid, miserable 24.6 mile Saturday long run. It started 20 minutes late, as the runners were forced to wait for a few people to finish parking. There was no signage at any turns, except the start/finish. Most H2O had to be grabbed off tables in full stride, and some you even had to run up onto the center road median to obtain. They ran out of H2O at one station, while others were positioned for runners heading in only one direction. The marathon course was an imprudent, double loop/out-and-back course. You had to make a 180° turn at the farthest point, come back and actually cross the 1/2 finish line and immediately make another 180° turn to run the entire 1/2 course again. Towards the end of the race, I was asking Police Officers if I was running in the correct direction. Three days following the race, runners received an email indicating that the course was roughly 1.6 miles short of an actual marathon distance. Ironically, the FINISHER medals are emblazoned with a huge 26.2, when they should actually read 24.6. Unfortunately, you just can't make this kind of stuff up...