THE GOOD This is a run with majority of the route inside the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The route is relative flat, although there are some moderate up and down hills. The roads were smooth, most of the time. The weather was fairly cooperative. It was not hot with breeze. There was a rain after I finished. There were a couple of CV-22 Osprey aircraft flew around the starting area before the marathon started. There is a different type of feature airplane each year. We ran through the aircraft parking lot before you reach the finish line. That was cool. The arrangements made everyone felt the special of this Marathon. There were plenty of aid stations with Gatorade and water supplied. Some of them had Gel, banana, and cookie for you to grab. When we ran to outside of the base, and at the finish line, there were plenty of people to cheer up the runners. There was a large digital clock telling the time we have spent on the course at every mile, although there were a few not working. There were many volunteers at each aid station. They were very enthusiastic, cheerful, and very helpful. There were quite a few entertainment stations. Some soldiers voluntarily on the roadside cheer up the runners with some jokes and funny lines. Because the route was mainly inside the base. Majority of the area were not accessible by spectators. The finish medal was well designed and it was fairly large. The medal design differs each year. The air force museum is an excellent place to visit. It is highly recommended. It is worthy a trip to Dayton, OH even you go there for visiting the museum only. THE BAD I had a muscle cramp. I stopped at every station after I had muscle cramp. There was no muscle spread at any station including the emergency rescue vehicles. The race delayed for 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. There was no announcement via common ways, such as text, email, official web site, or post a sign. I heard the news from some other runner who heard from some others. THE UGLY It took me 40 minutes driving from high way exit to finally having my car parked. The entire distance was about one mile. There were plenty of parking space. I have no idea of why it took that long. This is unexpected to an event have run yearly for 20 years. And especially, it is unexpected for a military organizer. read more

Air Force Marathon - The finish medal for 2016. V-22 is featured this year. - Races & Competitions Near Me - Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio

The Air Force Marathon is a cool race. (I did the 1/2 Marathon, but they have a full marathon, 10K and 5K races.) It could be a GREAT race if they upgraded a few things. First, the good parts: * Great atmosphere, with flyovers and a start/finish at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. * Interesting and challenging (i.e., not as flat as advertised) in and around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Not the most scenic course ever, but hey, it's Ohio. * Good runner premiums including a running hat, technical T and cool finisher's medals. Here's where the AF Marathon fell down for me a little bit: * The expo kind of sucked. Only a few running retailers there - usually where I can pick up good deals on running gear. Virtually no Air Force Marathon gear was available to purchase. * Shuttle service the morning of the race cut off VERY early and left me shivering out in the pre-dawn cold like two hours before race time. That part was miserable. Overall, I'm glad I travelled all the way from Virginia to do this race. (I'm running all the military races this season.) Pretty sure I won't be back to do it again, though. read more

In all fairness, this was not a good race for me. I was battling a foot injury and it didn't go well. The race itself was ok (I did the half marathon) but coming here from out of town I wasn't that familiar with the area and I found the shuttle service frustrating. You had to catch the shuttle very early and then spend a long time at the race site waiting for the race to start. And when you finish the race you are miles from where your car is parked. I know there was a shuttle back to the parking lot, however, I was never able to find it - even after asking several people. Eventually I was fortunate enough to have some military people drive me back to my car. So I think whoever organizes this race might want to consider a better way to handle the parking/shuttle aspect of it. read more