Carmel Marathon

If you are looking for a nice flat race to qualify for Boston with a small town feel and a reasonable price, this is the place. The expo was small and at the local high school. It had what you needed, a couple of sales on running clothes/nutrition, and some other races advertising future races. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes. Race day was well organized. I stayed at a hotel that offered free busing to the start line. The first bus sent to our hotel broke down but a new one was at the hotel within 10 minutes so no issues. The race was close to the hotel anyways. We were dropped off 1/4 mile from the start and walked down to the start line. I dropped off my bag with no issues and got in line for the bathrooms. They had a decent amount of bathrooms. While waiting, the snow starting coming down. It was like we were in a snow globe. It wasn't the kind of snow that would stick but I was worried about footing. The race started and on the first corner, a guy completely slipped and fell hard. I made sure to take it easy on any turns for the next couple of miles. As the race progressed, the weather wasn't fantastic. Lots of wind and some periodic sleet. By mile 9-10, that stopped and was fine the rest of the way. Overall, the course itself was very unremarkable. We ran on roads, we ran on trails, we ran through industrial parks. I wish they had used the cute city of Carmel more honestly. The crowd support was completely lacking which probably wasn't helped by the weather. The course itself was mostly flat but the wind from about mile 18-22 was not great. The finish line food was good-chocolate milk, donut holes, bags of chips, and homemade pancakes on the grill with a to go bag and syrup. It was a nice perk. They also had massages too. Overall, there were good and bad parts, but I was able to PR by 7 seconds on a rough weather day. If you like small cheap races and don't care if you see more than 100 people on the race, this is the race for you.

It was snowing at the start line. WOW. I still loved this run. Camel is a very cool town. Route is super and very well supported. Real good expo. Number 212 for me and I highly recommend it.

I've done over 400 races of various distances and this ranks right up there at the top. I ran the half this year. In the 30s, sunny start. Had a friend pickup my bib so didn't attend the expo. Race was well organized, free parking in parking garage near the start\finish, plenty of fluid on course, nice after race layout, plenty of drinks and snacks with pancakes. Course is mostly flat with some grades. Really only one short hill at about mile 11-12. It was a bit congested for the first mile or two but then thinned out. My only complaint was with some of my fellow runners, who couldn't be bothered to wear a mask in the corrals despite being asked to do so. I would guess about 90% complied. Unsure why the other 10% could not show the race organization, the City of Carmel, and their fellow runners who complied some courtesy by wearing a mask in the start corrals. I really appreciate the race director, his organization and the City of Carmel for having an in-person event, they did a fantastic job pulling this off.