Spring Marathons

I have done Myrtle Beach 3 times and it is a flat well ran off marathon. You can run a very fast time on this course. The weather can be challenging. The first year they had thunderstorms for the first 30 minutes. One year they had a strong wind when you made the turn onto hwy 17. Great support. Great place and easy to find places to stay.

Knoxville is hilly so if you are going for a PR I wouldn't recommend it. However, I ran well there last year in the half. The finish line could be an issue but you won't have that problem for more than 100 meters and I don't think it will be that bad at 3 hrs.

has some good information on races but I get the feeling most runners are much slower than you by reading their comments.

if nothing else, all the races are well sorted by date.

I guess I should add Charlottesville on Aprl 21 as a possibility.

I have run Myrtle Beach. It was a well run event. Very flat course. You start at the minor league ballpark, so there is plenty of restrooms etc... for all your pre race stuff, starts pretty early around 6:30am. Weather can be tricky, but nothing that would hamper your performance. Can be windy.

Have you thought of Va. Beach? I think it is around mid March, that would allow for a few more recovery weeks since you just finished one. I have heard good things about it, wind as with all ocean courses can be a problem.

no worries with the half interfering with the full in Knoxville. all start together, the half turns toward the stadium and the finish near the 13-mile mark while those on the full head off toward the less scenic side of town. you won't get big groups of walkers there.

i did the inaugural half - IMO the first half is visually interesting, i understand the 2nd half gets bleak in spots.

the finish - through the tunnel and onto the field in Neyland stadium is pretty cool.

over all it's a well done, well organized event. the KTC always does a good job with their events.

MB is also well done. fast course if it isn't too windy. they've had some crazy weather - in 2001, a front blew through and i saw a woman get blown off the road. it was warm and wet at the start, cool and windy at the finish that year.

i know several guys who've done Ellerbe, it's low key and very tough.

there's Country Music in Nashville in April

http://www.cmmarathon.com/home.html

Big Sur Marathon has some hills,but is not overly difficult. It is well organized You could hit a sub 3 there,but won't be running with many other peopole.

Mark Charlottesville off the list. It is pretty for a tourist marathon but way too hilly for anybody who has a time goal. Also they have had runners go off course each of the last two years (I don't know about years prior to that).

I ran 2:41 at Knoxville thinking I was going to run 2:35. Fist part of the course not too bad, but then it's a bit rolling for a while before calming down again. The last few miles were brutal. On the other hand, the course is scenic and well-supported. I run occasionally with the new race director, and I think they'll have most of the criticisms regarding awards and post-race party ironed out.

The ING marathon in Atlanta will not be a pr race. I ran the course acouple of weeks ago and it is quite hilly. The hills are long too. YOur best bet so far would be the Myrtle Beach race.