Air Force Marathon

In all fairness, this was not a good race for me. I was battling a foot injury and it didn’t go well. The race itself was ok (I did the half marathon) but coming here from out of town I wasn’t that familiar with the area and I found the shuttle service frustrating. You had to catch the shuttle very early and then spend a long time at the race site waiting for the race to start. And when you finish the race you are miles from where your car is parked. I know there was a shuttle back to the parking lot, however, I was never able to find it — even after asking several people. Eventually I was fortunate enough to have some military people drive me back to my car. So I think whoever organizes this race might want to consider a better way to handle the parking/​shuttle aspect of it.

The Air Force Marathon is a cool race. (I did the ½ Marathon, but they have a full marathon, 10K and 5K races.) It could be a GREAT race if they upgraded a few things. First, the good parts:
* Great atmosphere, with flyovers and a start/​finish at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
* Interesting and challenging (i.e., not as flat as advertised) in and around Wright-​Patterson Air Force Base. Not the most scenic course ever, but hey, it’s Ohio.
* Good runner premiums including a running hat, technical T and cool finisher’s medals.
Here’s where the AF Marathon fell down for me a little bit:
* The expo kind of sucked. Only a few running retailers there — usually where I can pick up good deals on running gear. Virtually no Air Force Marathon gear was available to purchase.
* Shuttle service the morning of the race cut off VERY early and left me shivering out in the pre-​dawn cold like two hours before race time. That part was miserable.
Overall, I’m glad I travelled all the way from Virginia to do this race. (I’m running all the military races this season.) Pretty sure I won’t be back to do it again, though.