Air Force Marathon/Half Marathon Question

[mousemgr2]

Has anyone done the Air Force Marathon or Half Marathon in Ohio? A friend of mine along with some of my co-workers and I have signed up for the half. I was wondering if anyone had any input/review of the race. You know, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Thanks!

Susan

 

[johde]

I did the 10K last year, my first race of this distance. I had a real good time and I'm planning on doing some race there this year as well. (Waiting until after Cleveland on May 16th to decide)

The Good:
Well Organized
Relatively Flat Course
Ample water breaks and Volunteers
Good supply and variety of food after the race. (Panera bread, La Rosa Pizza, in addition to the water, gatorade, bananas, oranges etc.)
Great HEAVY finishers medal.
Very motivating start (F16 fly over, paratropers landing with the American flag and POW/MIA Flag, Cannon fire to start the race)

The Bad:
Being primarily on a military base, not a lot of cheering fans, but the volunteers and even the guards on the course for cheering for people.

The 5K starts and ends at the same location as the expo/packet pickup, so plan on getting your packet early if at all possible.

The marathon and 10K start an hour before the Half and the end of mile 1/beginning of mile 2 go right by the main enterance for parking, this caused problems for people coming for the half. If you are running the half, plan on shortly before the full marathon begins.

The half marathon follow alot of the back half of the marathon (unless the change the course). Fast marathons complained about the need to weave through slower half marathoners.

You can also find more reviews on Marathon Guide.

 

[SAHDad]

I ran in 2008, and liked it.

The Good:
Pretty falt course. I remember some hills in the beginning miles, but it was pretty flat
Well-organized
Decent Expo
Mediocre pre-race pasta dinner, but inside the Air Museum, which made it a lot better. (And they had Bart Yasso as the speaker, even better!)
Flyover start (in 08 it was a brace of F-22 Raptors, and they had planes doing flyovers from time to time during the race)
Great military volunteers, and officers were distributing medals at the end
Finish line is between two lines of vintage military aircraft -made for a very inspiring finish.
Medal - changes every year, heavy as heck, and very nice.


Cons
Sparse crowd support in some spots
There are a couple long, flat stretches - which doesn't sound bad, but running down a runway in the blazing sun is not fun.

 

[syko]

I know that they are looking at the full running into the half runners.
I have been talking to them about the chairs, and they said that this was a problem last year.
They asked my lots of questions at WDW and they have my email incase they had any questions.
I will be doing the full this year.


Tha air force base that it is on is on goast hunters as I type!!!!!

 

[mousemgr2]

Thank you for all the great information My co-workers have never done a race let alone a half marathon. They are really excited and have lots of questions. It will be great being able to give them this information. Thanks again!

 

[SAHDad]

Thank you for all the great information My co-workers have never done a race let alone a half marathon. They are really excited and have lots of questions. It will be great being able to give them this information. Thanks again!

No problem. Somewhere I had a longer race report, but I don't recall where I posted it. (I know it wasn't here, but it could have been DisneyRunning, or the Runners' World forums, or a couple runnig blogs. . .just haven't tracked it down yet.) For what it's worth - the only reason I have not gone back to run it again is because I want to hit a marathon in every state (plus DC) before I turn 50, which does tend to limit the ones I can afford to repeat (in terms of both time and money.) If I was just making a yearly circuit, it would probably be on it.

 

[FireDancer]

This race is on my tour of Ohio halves but I haven't gotten to it yet. Thanks for the reviews guys.

 

[catsrule]

DH has done the marathon the past two years and is doing it again this year. One of his favorite marathons. Flat course. Jets fly overhead. Well organized. Lots of bands. Nice scenery.

 

[getnthinr]

I've done the marathon three times as well. I've enjoyed the race shirts and especially the medals each year. The marathon medal (don't know about the others) has a different aircraft on one side each year and the race logo on the other -- 3-D, very heavy. One of my favorites! (Oh, and the inaugural event was my very first marathon "way back when" in '98.)

Second the kudos for the Air Force Museum. Great aircraft, WWII exhibits, etc. Can't wait for my husband, the WWII buff, to join me there one year.

Finally, I can't say enough about their support for the back-of-the-packers. They even present a "tail-end Charlie" award to the last marathon finisher -- or have in years past.

I love using this marathon as the opener for my Goofy training: nice long time limit, relaxed race, great medal, and a wonderful way to get the feel for the distance again.

As was stated, there is not much in the way of crowd support because it's on a base, but I enjoy the quiet. And I seem to remember hills, contrary to what everyone has said -- but I'm from a pretty flat area, so perhaps I'm not a good person to judge. It's definitely not a mega-marathon destination race, like the Elite Rock 'n' Roll series, so if that's what you're looking for, you'd be disappointed, but if you just want a well-run, solidly-supported safe race course, this is a good bet.

Bottom line: My guess is you'll enjoy it!

 

[catsrule]

The medal is one of the better ones. Compared to the hills around here, it is flat. DH always does the Flying Pig here as well.

 

[twoWDWfools]

We'll be doing the half this year and are really looking forward to it (DH is military aircraft nut). Thanks for all the info!

 

[airman]

Thanks for the info, as a former member of the Air Force, I want to do this half marathon. I am signed up for the Wine & Dine and this would be a test for me. Besides, I love going to the Air Force Museum.

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

The half is one I'd like to do some day. I have heard it is a good event. Good to hear the reviews.

 

[queen mimi]

I see Catsrule is from Cincinnati. Compared to Cincinnati, the Air Force base in Dayton looks like a pancake. So, for us, it is very flat. The one warning that I would give to anyone competing in a race that day is to arrive early. Remember, it is on an air force base. That means going through a security checkpoint. It really doesn't check everybody, but the traffic going down to a single lane, really slows everybody down. Allow ample time to park and get to the race. I did the 10 K last year. It was a great race and I will do the 10K or their half marathon this year, if I don't go to Disneyland to do the half in September.

Meg

 

[Hockeychic]

I'm doing this one. Sounds aweseome!!!

 

[mousemgr2]

Does anyone have a suggestion/recommendation as where to stay?