Vermont or Virginia Beach Marathon

Oh... or the New Jersey Marathon. I missed that one.

Thanks!

Vermont City is not flat, but the hills are manageable and are pretty much over by mile 16. The last 5-6 miles are on a bike path on a very gentle downhill, which helps a lot when you are hurting. The only other issue is that the weather can be very unpredictable. When I ran it, it was perfect to start, rained hard for 45 min, cleared out nicely and got very hot by the time the 3:30+ runners were finishing. In other years it has been hot the entire way or freezing at the start with terrible winds.

Otherwise, it is a delightful race. Vermont is in full blown spring that time of year and is absolutely beautiful. The race as a good field of runners (plenty shooting for sub 3) and is very well managed. Hotels are cheap. You can park on the street the day of the race and walk up to the start line with a few minutes before the gun goes off.

VA Beach can be very windy in March

I ran Va Beach and really liked it EXCEPT the year I did it they had sunny 70 degree weather in mid-March. I really felt it over the last 10K. That being said, that day wasn't normal weather.

The race was well organized, well supported, and the course is flat enough you can certainly run fast; but like any marathon the weather can have a huge effect on your performance.

Shamrock - VA Beach - is entirely flat. The largest hill is like 10 feet over a bridge or something.

Thank you!

I don't know if you are familiar with the Philadelphia marathon?

If by the off chance you are, how do the hills compare to to those? People said Philly wasn't flat, but I found the hills at 8, 10, and 25 (I think) really not bad at all.

IMO Vermont is an easier course than Philly, and Philly can certainly be a fast course. Full disclosure, I work for VCM. Our course is a net downhill of about 100', which all comes over the last 11 miles because at 15.3 you are right next to the start line. The high point of the course is at mile 1.5, you won't notice it because it's a gradual climb and it's so early in the race. The 2 most significant hills are at mile 8 and mile 15, both rise about 80', mile 8 is over 3/4 of a mile, mile 15 is over 5 city blocks. Taiko drummers at the bottom of that hill if you like that sort of thing. Other than that, a few rollers mile 4-8, and short uphills at miles 12.4, 12.8, and 16.7. If you check out the course profile online it looks a lot hillier than it really is.

VCM was a 4 minute pr for me. I like the big downhill at mile 21.4 and that the last 4.5 miles are flat on the bikepath along the lake. If you're on pace at 30k there isn't anything on the course that's going to challenge you it's all about what do you have left.

We offer a Preferred Start Corral for those who have a sub 3:20 marathon or a sub 1:35 half in the last 2 years. We only get about 400 starters in that corral so the whole group crosses the start line within 15 seconds of the gun and you're guaranteed to not have any 4+ hour marathoners to weave around.

Good luck with your recovery and return to training - hope to see you in Burlington next May!! Any questions I can help with please feel free to drop me an email.

Thank you so much!

It sounds great. I think I'm leaning towards Vermont. :)

Hi,

Do relay runners start at the same time as the "preferred start corral"?

Are there a lot of relay runners running alongside the marathon?

Thanks!