Vermont City Marathon

This course has always had a lot of twists and turns and variety but it no longer tours all the city as it was a reduced to a double loop course recently. Cheaper for the organizers, less of an experience for the runners. Gone is the best part of the bike path with views of the lake.

A wonderful race to do to get Vermont in if you are trying for 50 states as I am. Logistics are easy as the airport is only a few miles to downtown Burlington. Plenty of motels, Airbnbs and restaurants to choose from. The town is clean and safe, although there are some homeless folks in the area like most cities. The expo was the best I have attended of the 3 marathons I have done this year. A nice selection of vendors and free samples of items from several venders. I really liked they had a CPR brief training you could take, just in case you need to use it on another racer. The two loop course was very nice. It was hillier than I thought, not a lot of elevation gain, but long gradual up hill climbs. Also a bit warm, especially during the 2nd loop. The fan support was much greater than I anticipated and the 'cherry on top' was running down Church Street. The neighborhood areas had residents out with water cooling hoses and freeze pops! Race organization was excellent and a special thank you the bicycle EMT that helped me when I took a fall around mile 19! The swag was very good with a nice shirt, medal and a runners hat at the end. The finish area had pizza, beer, soda, chocolate milk and snacks. I thought for sure they would offer Ben and Jerry's or a maple creamee as they are a local favorites, but they did not. I really liked this race and highly recommend it.

I have run this marathon 20 times and have always loved it UNTIL this year. Organizers changed course to a double loop and added more neighborhoods. I was extremely disappointed.