I drove from Morgantown to Hartford! I definitely wish I flew because the drive was annoying
On the way there, I spent the night at my friend's house in Philadelphia, so at least the drive wasn't straight through
Connecticut is a small state and there aren’t many options for marathons, so everyone does Hartford
The expo was held at the XL center, and it was midsize
I was there for a decent amount of time, so I didn't just go in and get my bib and leave
Since there were a bunch of marathon maniacs registered for the race, I tried to organize a group photo in front of the Lafeyette Statue at 7:30 on race day.
Not many maniacs got the memo, but it was still a nice group picture
We started at the CT Capitol Building
All runners started at the same time: Full, half, Relay, and 5K runners
There were about 8,000 people total, but less than 2,000 marathon runners
Since this was a mid-size race, I was able to freely run and not have to zig-zag between people
The weather was 10/10! I have zero complaints about the weather and scenery!
I can see why this is a popular race since the spectators love cheering the runners!
It got a little quieter when the half-marathoners split from the marathoners, but we still had support from the spectators
The volunteers were also 10/10!
Throughout the race, there were volunteers on bikes that offered GU as fuel to anyone. I never had a race that had this opportunity! I don't use GU or gels, so it's nice that runners had this!
The afterparty had a lot to offer!
The free food were soup, bananas, popcorn, bread, and monster cookie granola. Additionally, we received beer in the beer garden!
I highly recommend this race as a destination race! This is a course with rolling hills in the beginning, but it does flatten out in the second half of the course.
I would definitely do this race again if I do another round of the USA
Race Website: Hartford Marathon
Marathon Pictures!