Armed Services Marathon (prev. Oktoberfest Marathon)

I PB'ed at this race after 23 marathons, so it would be next to impossible for me to say anything particularly negative about it. It's two loops of an out-and-back course, which may not be for everyone. The start/finish is at a large high school, which was incredibly convenient for everything - parking, bathrooms, spectators, etc. The race field is small - only about 50 people - but I suspect that will increase in the coming years. My family and I had a great time, and I'd highly recommend this race to anyone looking to do Michigan. A few areas for improvement: #1 - Some of the volunteers at aid stations physically handed the water to you - others stood next to tables full of cups. Not sure if this was a Covid thing or not, but it would be nice to have some consistency. #2 - Given the small field in the marathon, it got real lonely after the half marathoners finished as there were only about 50 of us out there. It might make sense to stagger the half marathon start back an hour. #3 - Related to #2 - the course is well-marked, but in the second loop of the marathon, I went a few minutes without seeing anyone coming in either direction, and at one point was certain I had missed a turn. I doubled back and actually lost about 100m (and still PB'ed!) before I turned around. It might be helpful to mark every intersection, even with just a 'Keep Going Straight' arrow for those of us who are directionally challenged. Overall though, great race, and look forward to its continued success.

Spring Lake is a long, relatively narrow lake with lots of "fingers" that extend from the irregular shaped lake that empties into the Grand River near the city of Ferrysburg, with the community of Fruitport on north end, and with Ferrysburg and the Town of Spring Lake on the south end. The race started in a condo neighborhood area adjacent to Central Park, that connected with a bike and foot path that went all the way around the lake. A lot of that path was just regular sidewalk along the roads - and not along the lakeshore; in fact I think most of the course was sidewalk. And there was an out and back spur on Judson Road that they used to get the marathon distance. The marathon runners went around the lake two times. Because of the irregular shape of the lake and the fingers, there were several bridges. Exiting Central Park, we turned left and followed Fruitport Road, a long road that curved around and ended in Fruitport. There was a brief jog on 3rd Ave. there, and then we went into Pomona Park (where we use to swim when we were kids). Transiting the park, we exited turning left along Park St, which turned into West Fruitport Road. We followed that to Judson Road, did the out-and-back spur, and then continued down West Fruitport Road until reaching Ferrysburg. There, the road became Pine Street, and we followed that to Highway M-104, the main road thru the Town of Spring Lake. There were a couple of loops we had to do to cross under M-104 - twice, then for the last 2+ miles we were on a bike path that crossed residential streets. Some of that was right along the lake where there were condos on one side of the path and an enormous array of pleasure boats on the other side. In fact, there were boats along this course whenever you were close to the water. And during the last stretch there were marinas and huge boat-storage buildings - probably everybody who lived there had a boat or two. It was a very calm morning and early start runners were sent off right at dawn, and as the sun came up, the lake was calm and still. It was so peaceful, and a pleasant experience. I point out the following because it is reality. This race organization offered an early start for those who would finish close to six hours or perhaps a bit over six hours. In my 98 marathons I have done many early starts - maybe a dozen or so. Always, the times of the early start runners are integrated into the rest of the lot of runners, by the RD and/or timekeeping officials. This event does not do it that way. If you do an early start, you are listed on the website as an "early riser" and the times of the early start group are not classified with the rest of the runners, and are not reported to Marathon Guide dot com, et al, who post race results on their respective websites. If you are going to use your participation in this marathon event to certify results for a 50 States Marathon Club qualification - or such, you cannot get your statistics from Marathon Guide for this event. Your name won't be on the list. That is unfortunate, but as of this writing that is the way they are posting their data. I started an e-mail dialog with the RD, then after I presented this to him, I just seemed to be ignored or forgotten. I point this out because it could negatively impact runners wanting to run this marathon, do an early start, and then use the results for certification purposes. Having said this, the marathon was well-organized, well supported with volunteers, and had adequate resources for the runners both on the course and at the finish-line area.

So this was my 4th time running the full distance and definitely felt something/someone was cutting corners to save money. The course was a 2 loop and by the time you were on the 2nd it was as though you were running alone. Aid station with little to offer and often abandoned. Very cheap shirts and post race food was not good. Definitely better races at cheaper prices out there! Will not be back.