Course is very hilly. Some scenery, especially along the TN river. Great crowd and volunteer support. Shirt and medal were very plain. Worst part is they made a course mistake and cut the race short by .28 miles. If you weren't doing this for anything but a marathon, no big deal. However, BQs or other qualifying or 50 States certified finish, go do another race. If it weren't for this they'd move further up the star o'meter. Next year should be good.

Packet pickup was easy and organized. Downtown chatty is becoming a vibrant scene in which to hang out. Plenty of pre/post race restaurants from which to choose. Community Pie being my favorite.
Race start was great with the best moment being the anthem. Electric guitar instrumental to really wake you up and get you jazzed for the day. All of the aid stations had friendly volunteers and were well stocked. Intersections were mostly all staffed as well with volunteers or offficers. Also. All very kind and encouraging. The course itself brought the stars down a bit for me. For all of the scenery and enjoyable moments, what sticks are the hills. Garmin tells me it was pretty normal gain for most of my marathons so I'm not sure why they hurt like they did. Maybe it was placement?
I don't imagine ever repeating this course. If you need TN and the weekend works out, go for it. I do plan to visit/stay in chatty again. Run happy!
-Chris #9203

The course was re-worked somewhat from the course that was set up short the previous (inaugural) year. One major hill (Orchard Knob) was taken out, but plenty of challenging hills remained including the ones in the North Shore/Country Club area. T-shirts and medal were better this year, too. Volunteers continued to be awesome - some of the best anywhere. The only potential issue is one that is out of the organizers' control: the March weather in Chattanooga is very unpredictable. It could be freezing cold, very warm, raining, snowing, windy, who knows what. If you can handle weather variations, I recommend this race.

Great race but NEVER AGAIN. Aid stations were perfectly placed, spaced and stocked with EVERYTHING I could have possibly needed. Massive amounts of volunteers simply everywhere along the course. Cheer squads were plentiful and effective. The course was beautiful and the new section through the old factories was really cool. But oh my God the HILLS. Every time you turn there is a looooooong massively steep hill straight up then straight down. I run enough marathons where I don't get serious DOMS anymore...usually...but I could barely walk on Monday. My knees and hips and hamstrings...ugh
If you like hills this is the course for you. The medal was nice and I love the tshirt which is rare. Chattanooga is a nice town to visit so all in all it was a great time. But a week later I still haven't been able to run yet. So I won't be doing it again. Just too hilly for me.