Towpath Marathon

The Towpath Marathon has been on my marathon bucket list for awhile. I was greatly disappointed in the new course and it's a huge shame that this race is no longer completely within the National Park. If you want fall foliage, a shady tree covered route, crushed limestone and a fast flat BQ course this is no longer your race. The race started in the flats near downtown Cleveland. You had to pay to park and some parking lots had very long lines to pay a machine before the race. A lot of people didn't have enough time to pay to park, wait in line for the restroom and start the race on time. The course had hills in the first four and last four miles and only a short stretch was on crushed limestone. The course goes through steelyard commons, industrial areas and you see more graffiti then fall foliage. Most people ran the half and after the turnaround there weren't many runners on course. Very little spectators on course to help motivate you as well. Overall it was a huge disappointment and it was obvious it was a low budget race.