Dominating the Track & Fall Marathons

I crushed my track workout yesterday.  Take that, Thomas Jefferson!

After the failure of the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon, I wanted to quickly set my sights on my next big race.  I thought it would be better to just pick up where I left off with training, as well as give myself something to look forward to on the horizon.  The training plan that I loosely followed leading up to the GB Marathon was about 18 weeks in length (admittedly, I probably only did 14 weeks of serious training), and I want to complete between 18-20 weeks of serious training for my next race.  I want to incorporate things like speedwork, hill repeats, and more crosstraining.  Yesterday, I ran a few blocks uptown to Thomas Jefferson Park and did some work on the track.  I did 6 x 800 meter repeats at faster than 5K pace, with a 400 meter slow jog in between reps.  My first lap around the track was 1:09 - much faster than I expected to be running.  Most of my 800 intervals were around 2:45, which made me think the track was shorter than 400 meters or I was somehow cheating because I am not fast.  I later double checked on the NYC Parks website that yes, indeed, the track is 400 meters.  I've been in kind of a rut since the marathon, but I was delighted with how I ran today, and I look forward to doing track workouts more frequently.

When planning my next race, the first one that came to mind was the ING New York City Marathon.  I was a medical volunteer last year, and I was itching to get a chance to run it this coming fall.  The crowd support for the NYC Marathon is out-of-control awesome, as the whole city along the course basically throws one giant party.  It's definitely something I want to experience as a runner.  My only chance for this year was via the lottery system, which apparently had a 8-10% acceptance rate.  But alas, the random selection machine didn't pick me, so I can cross that off the list of potential fall races.  Now that I realized I had to actually leave the city to run my fall marathon, I started to look for other options.

I have it narrowed down to 3 options, in this order:
1. The Under Amour Baltimore Marathon
2. Philadelphia Marathon
3. ING Hartford Marathon

They all have received pretty good reviews, so I'd be up for any of them.  Here's a brief sampling of what runners had to say about each one:
Baltimore:

Pros: -Lots of spectators on the course and support from the locals. -Neat run through a big city. -Packet pickup efficient and organized. -Race generally well organized (lots of food, water, etc.). Cons: -At mile 16 they merge the half marathoners in with the full marathoners. This wasn't a problem for me (probably because I was really slowing down at this point) but my boyfriend was going along at a good pace and then had to zig zag around people the rest of the race. He found it frustrating to have to alter his pace because of the crowd 16 miles into the race. -Complete chaos at finish. I couldn't find the reunion tents with letters on them to meet up with family and it was really packed with people and hard to navigate. -Finish line was weird. There were tons of spectators throughout the course but then at the finish is was very light because (I was told) there was no way to get to the finish area to watch. There also wasn't much support (people showing you where to go etc.). You had to sort of figure it out yourself. Thing to consider: -Almost entire course was hills. Only major flat spot was a lake loop near mile 20. There was one other small flat spot because I remember thinking 'I feel weird, oh it's because I'm not on a hill'. -Very windy. Not sure if it is always like that but made it even more challenging and kept my arms cold.

Philadelphia:

PROS: -Philly is a great city to visit and tour around. -The course is diverse (downtown, South Philly, 2 rivers, Fairmount Park, and Manayunk) and relatively flat compared to other big-city marathons. Some did not like the out-and-back at Falls Bridge and MLK Jr. Drive, but I'll take that over Lemon Hill any day. (It's called Lemon "Hill" for a reason.) -The spectators are very enthusiastic and supportive. Great music, dancers, costumes, and signs that made me laugh out loud. -The expo is not overwhelmingly large, and is well-organized. The long-sleeve, technical shirt and drawstring fabric bag were a nice touch. -Friendly and supportive team of volunteers (thank you, volunteers!) -Convenient switch from D-tags to B-tags (it's 1 fewer thing to worry about on race morning). -Easy transportation to the start/finish area via SEPTA. -Quick and efficient bag-check at the UPS trucks. -Decent number of port-a-johns at the start/finish. -Good crowd control this time at the finish line. The barricades gave runners plenty of space near the finish. -Attractive finisher's medal. CONS: -The corrals are still a problem. The beginning and end of the color-coded corrals needed to be better delineated. The corrals should probably be better enforced, as well. My wave had trouble trying to get to the starting line because eager beaver runners trying to get ahead, or because of runners who were just confused about where to stand and were in the wrong corrals and blocking other waves from being able to move forward. Even though your time does not start until you cross the starting line, I think most runners still prefer to run with others who run at/about the same pace. That seems to be the whole point of the corral system. It might also be beneficial to leave more gaps between the metal barricades along the corrals because I witnessed several runners trying to get into their corrals by jumping over the railings. There should be an easier and safer way for runners to get into their corrals. -There was a slight mix-up with the e-mail race confirmation initially sent, but it was quickly remedied. -Volunteers are certainly necessary and appreciated; without them there'd be no race. But, perhaps the race directors could provide a general instruction to try to keep gloves and fingers out of the H20 and Gatorade when handing out cups to the runners. (A minor point, I know, but my pet peeve.) At mile 23 I might drink H20 and Gatorade from cups handed out by volunteers with a lint-balled glove, hangnail, or chewed fingernail inside the cup because I'm tired and thirsty. But, I'd rather not.

Hartford:

PROS 1. Excellent course support. Not only were there plentiful aid stations, there was lots of bike support and the cyclists carried gels, etc to hand out to runners that needed them 2. Volunteers were well taken care of - they had at least one golf cart with coffee and donuts that drove up and down the course just to support the course marshals. Also all volunteers got a really nice jersey (not the $3 t-shirt most events give their volunteers) 3. They kept the mats down long after the official course close. With a 6 hour course cutoff, the last runner finished at 7:40. While I don't necessarily like folks staying out that long after the official close, it was good to see them not abandon runners or force them to quit. 4. Plenty of live music on the course. and the bagpipes are always fun - they had at least three separate pipers. CONS 1. Expo was a little small / disappointing. It was also not set up well for the vendors (i.e. have the shirt pickup at the far end to get everyone to walk through) so those who paid but ended up on the back row had very little traffic. 2. What was up with those (official) motorcycles? Did they really have to drive all the way up through all the packed runners massed at the start line? Only to wait just past the start for us all to run by them? And did they really have to park on the narrowest part of the course (the middle of the greenway) instead of off to the side? 3. Not a lot of spectators. With us running through neighborhoods I was surprised that more folks weren't out to cheer us on.

Has anybody run one of these and have an opinion one way or the other?