Rocket City Marathon

The course was changed from the last time I ran this race and I really enjoyed the new route. This was the first year I've run the race with it having 2 half marathons simultaneous with the full. The result was many more participants and spectators on the course so more fun for me. There are a few major hills but nothing too hard. I highly recommend this new course.

Very good small to medium sized race (just over 900 finishers in 2022). Some rolling hills, about 750 feet of elevation gain according to my watch. First 16ish miles is a little boring through some neighborhoods, space and rocket center was nice and botanical gardens weren't too bad. Most roads were still at least partially open to traffic, but fortunately vehicles seemed aware/tolerant of runners' presence. Course support was good, aid stations averaging between 2 and 3 miles apart probably. Great signage alerting you to aid station coming up and mileage to the next porta-pottie. Post race food was pretty good (pizza, pbj, fruit, chocolate milk, salted potatoes and some other stuff I forget). A little wet this year so I was concerned about inside finish on smooth concrete venue hall floor, but they had thought to put grippy tape down the finish chute which was very nice. All in all a great race to check Alabama off your list if you're a 50 stater, great enthusiasm, thoughtfulness and communication from the race directors.

Expo: Not huge, but well organized. Good deals on old merch. Unique Details: I could purchase a spectator medal for my curbcrew. Also, race packet was in comic-book form that connected to the cool medal (it lights up!) Course: Some nice neighborhoods. It was cool to run around the space center with the rockets. Pacer was dead-even at the half and ran really consistently. Not a lot of spectators on the course, but the few were encouraging. It was easy for my curbcrew to navigate. Nice early start for those who needed it.