Salisbury Marathon

Such a hometown vibe. One of the runners I met runs a local gymnastics gym and she said she wanted to qualify for Boston that day. When I saw her later, she said close but next time, and I said, "You did awesome, clearly have a compassion for running, and others. It's contagious, many of us - me, included - got more out of ourselves out there today, got to the finish line, thanks to YOU, others, all in this together. I can tell there is a lot of local pride in this." She noted the mayor who promoted it, ran it himself, and added, "That aid station at Mile 25, that's my family!" How could we miss it, music blaring, shots flowing, if we choose that, such a positive vibe, "We all got this, together." Race directors Jason and Laura, too, so encouraging for all of us - thank you. I also met several from a group called Team 360, able-bodied athletes paired with a differently-abled athlete. Many entrants come over from Annapolis, too, and an Eastern Shore Running Club person said they have had an unofficial fun competition, who has more entrants. Lots of both, orange singlets for one, Navy blue for the other! Finish on the downtown mall is so much fun, with music, food, drink, but not too much, emphasis on the running. Salisbury Marathon is incredible!

The weather was rainy and windy, that said, it was a great race other than that. The RD is awesome! Lots of communication, especially with the weather--he kept us updated on the situation. The bag drop was good, the volunteers at the aide stations were awesome--they stayed even though the weather was pretty brutal at times. The course was fairly flat with small hills throughout, which is nice for working different muscles. I did not rent a car, I Ubered around and that worked out fine. Some people may prefer to rent a car because the parking situation was great, close to the start and finish. Shirt is a nice Tee that you can wear anywhere and the medal is nice.

I just completed the 2023 Salisbury Marathon during my 50 state quest and I felt this race in particular deserved a glowing review. This race has a small town feel yet the race director and all the volunteers did such an excellent job from start to finish, making sure questions were answered in a timely manner and providing a ton of pre-race email updates and reminders, all with a very supportive and engaging tone (not always the case with some races). It rained nearly the entire race, yet the volunteers seemed to weather it out with all of us runners and were very supportive along the way. If you like smaller races, this is an excellent choice. The aid stations were all well stocked (even for us back of the packers), parking was easy and well explained, and there were port a potties all along the course at each aid station. I would highly recommend this race, especially if you are looking to check Maryland off your 50 state quest.