Where : Memphis Tennessee.

What : Full 26.2. They also have a half, 10 amd 5.

Time : 4:38 (PR) no walking besides water stops.

Summary

This was my second marathon. I ran CIM last year (4:48). I loved both races. They are very very different. CIM runs you early through lightly populated rolling hills on your fresh legs and tempts you to wear them out. Then the end is flats through the city with that city energy. St Jude’s front half has a few smallish uphills but mostly is a jaunt through Memphis downtown which i would describe as relatively easy run. Say a 3 or 4 out of 10. Dont think true flat but only a couple steeps that you need to purposefully decide how you run. Lots of people, lots of energy. The run through the hospital at 10 is a beautiful tear jerker. The people and the energy where great. I ran the full but the half is most definitely an A+ half. My two friends who ran with me have 20 something marathons under their belts between them and they agree.

The second half of St Jude is good but not like the first. It felt like 70% of folks veered off for the half split. They changed the full this year to do one loop of the big park rather than 2. I believe that is better. The park is pretty but i would not want to double loop it. They ran us looping through neighborhoods of Memphis with a fair amount of turning. Then the mentioned park with is noticable hills (nothing crazy but you know they are happening for sure)

I was holding about 4:34 pace through the park. Right after the park is a needle where you run out one side of the road and run back the other. It is not my favorite as it felt like late in the race I was not getting anywhere. Then the last 3 miles have more hills. Nothing crazy steep but concentrated. Overall the last 7 miles are the toughest miles. Plan for a race that finishes tough. My goal was to stick with the 4:35 pacers through 20… i made 22. I knew i was running above my pace goal of 4:40 (no 4:40 pacer). But i was hoping my legs might hold as they were doing very well at 21. But those last 4 miles began to seize my legs enough I actually worried about DNF up through 25.5. There is a hill at 25.8 that i went and cheered people through after i finished. Its hard on the soul. I bumped up to 11:30 ish pace for this last 4 mile jaunt and thank god the last 0.2 are a down sloped victory pose run.

Couple more points…

Schwag : solid. I raised 250+ so i got 2 shirts not one. Our day turned out warm but they had heat blankets (thin metal things) for the finish line. We also got a hat and of course a medal.

Water : great. water stops with Gatorade and water every 1.5 at least and individuals added many extras including rad pickle juice.

Accessibility : surprisingly this was a ding. My friend ran as a guide for an MS person. They did not seem to have a proper setup for guide running. The finish area was also quite difficult for his girlfriend (also MS) to maneuver.