Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon

Sick of dodging runners in crowded streets while slipping on thousands of discarded water cups? Tired of waiting in huge porta potty lines and trudging through gigantic expos? Want to challenge yourself and run through beautiful wooded scenery? Try this race. It's really hilly. It's really quirky. Train hard on hills to prepare. Then, as the race director's email said, just show up to the start line, poop, pick up your bib, and go. You won't regret it.

Best RD in the US. Tough course: YUP BUT, In 210 marathons I've never got to the finish line and picked up a race shirt WITH MY NAME on it. This is amazing. Unique finishers "medal": a very worthy addition to my collection. Beautiful fall colors. Great starting plan: main start is 8am, but if you want to get your money's worth, feel free to start anytime from 6am on. Gads, that took a lot of pressure off finding the start area! I started at 6:10am. And best water stop/aide station ever; Jack Daniels at mile 24. You bet I fueled up. Oh, and it's paved roads (basically no cars), so no trail run ankle twisting, but all the awesome scenery of a trail run. Loved this run!

I was well-warned about the difficulty of the course, but decided to run it anyway. The comments did not lie-it's pretty tough, especially with a nice hill at mile 24 (with a sign at the top that reads 'this is not a hill') and a bigger hill at mile 25. BUT I'm glad I ran it. Beautiful course, great organization, and a fun time. No doubt this is a must. I ran this one as my 10th marathon and it is one I'll forever remember and love to do again.