Jersey City Marathon

I ran my personal best here. Weather wasn't bad - wouldn't have minded a few degrees cooler, but it was overcast and around 55F the whole race. Crowd support was great just about everywhere except the run through the park. The course is a loop that you do in one direction, then go back the other direction. There was quite a drop-off in the number of people who were still out cheering by the time I was on the second loop. Overall well run - easy packet pickup the day before and I had no problem with the water stations.

The first 3 or 4 miles are crowded and you'll mostly just run with the crowd, so try to find the right pacing group to be around at the start.

I stayed in a hotel nearby, about a mile from the start, and it worked great.

The course is a very approachable city course and I enjoyed it. It is not challenging and the volunteer and aid stations are great! Iran the full marathon in 2024 and the half in 2025 and problems existed in 2024 that have gotten much worse

1) the traffic race day is insane. Even if you pay for parking in advance there is an extremely good chance you will not be able to get there. Many racers had to start 10-20 or more minutes after the gun went off and that was after running to the start line.

2) in 2025 the Mylar sheets they gave out after the race were about 18 inches wide (they either split the sheets in 1/2 or 1/3 which did not help racers get warm after the race

3) awards were not shipped, despite my asking many times until 5 months after the race. Various excuses were given about shipments being lost, problems with vendors, switching time companies, etc. but none rang true.

Overall the run was fine but the support and organization was atrocious. I would pick another race.

Stay in Jersey city the night before.

Course is a little bit boring, but good, with a reversed double loop that doesn't feel repetitive. The marathon is pretty small, but plenty of people for the half marathon, so it never trully feels empty, especially the first loop.

Was a little bit too warm for the last few miles.

Hope they go back to last year's route, seemed nicer through the park.

No need to arrive hours earlier like bigger marathons. Didn't use a bathroom in the start Zone, but those seemed terrible

Pre-Race - Prior to the race, some of the hotels and businesses (JP Morgan Chase) opened their doors to the runners to let us hang and keep warm. Plenty of porta-potties near the start - didn't use bag drop but supposedly it closes early (6:27am).

Race - Full is a double loop course with the 2nd loop in reverse. First time doing this and honestly didn't mind it. Course is mostly flat with a couple overpasses to deal with. On course hydration was a little spotty - especially on the back half. Hydration spots aren't marked on the website/course map and there was a *huge* gap between miles 21.8 and I think about mile 25 when the course is dead in the sun with no cover. There also was no rhyme or reason to hydration stations as some contained Gatorade/water while others were just water. Water stations were well marked and signs provided about 500' in advance to notify you.

Course was well marked and plenty of checkpoints for timing.

Crowd can be sparse in areas - especially on that back portion from about mile 21 to 25 (when you hit the city again). Reminds me of Philly running up Kelly Dr.

Pacers - Course does provide pacers for both the half and the full. However, inexplicably, they had a pacer at 2:50:00 and 3:15:00 but no one at 3:00:00.

Post-Race - Nice spread at the finish. Volunteers were excellent in tending to your needs and everything was well organized. Bagels were fresh, plenty of hydration options.

Swag - Shirt was disappointing. For the $150+ cost of race fees, was expecting a little more from the shirt. If I recall, last year's shirt was much nicer so maybe just a scheduling snafu with the printer. Medal is very nice although wasn't much different from the 2023 race. Plenty of photographers on the course who actually took some really nice photos.

If I were to run this again, I'd most likely either do it as a pacer or run the half. I ran an awesome time so no complaints about the course being slow. It's just not a *flashy* race as the highlight visually is the Liberty Science Center.

It's definitely a fast course as we've had multiple runners in our club significantly PB here.

Definitely buy a prepaid spot in the parking garages. It's $27 for a prepaid spot and well worth it. Or, take mass transit (Newport/Pavonia on PATH).

For expo - take mass transit if you go on Friday. *Do Not* attempt to drive into Jersey City unless you want to waste two hours of your life getting out.

Pretty flat besides two small hills. They had a pacer for 2:50 which was pretty wild. Water stations were about every 2-2.5 miles. Gatorade at the station as well. Wish they had more frequent water stations. Roads a little uneven at times and some various potholes. Scenery 6/10. Wish it went through liberty state park.

Weather was perfect this year. Maybe a little warm towards the end.

Flat flat flat. Except 2 hills.

Lots of porta potties at the beginning of race. Picking up bib can get pretty crowded. In a very small hotel lobby/conference area. Easy to get into corrals. Lovely people.

The course is mostly flat with great views of Downtown Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The organization was pretty good in the expo and during the race. However the post-race area was terrible. We had to walk about 1km to get to the food, there was no place to sit and recover. To make it worse the floor was covered with rocks, so we could not even sit on the floor. If you don’t need some immediate calories and a place to recover after running 26.2 miles, this race is perfect for you.

The inaugural Jersey City marathon was an enjoyable race and course. I do hope this becomes an annual race but also that it grows into a better event. Here is the breakdown:

The Expo - the expo was in a beautiful location near the waterfront. But the expo was tiny. There were hardly any vendors there and little if any swag for sale. I did appreciate how quickly I was able to go in/out. The area has little street parking so you may have to park in a garage.

Race Start/Course - It was exciting. Plenty of people and we were given a proper sendoff by race officials and Jersey City mayor. It was raining a lot and it remained that way for most of the run. It was a bit packed at first, like most races, but I feel it thinned out after a mile. The miles were properly marked. I did not see 2 or 3 of them. I don't know if they were missing or I just missed them. Also the mile markers were a bit on the small side but nothing that bothered me. Just an FYI.

Crowd Support - It was a mix of crowd support. Certain areas you had great support and other times it was non-existent. I am sure the rain had something to do with that. Stations - water/electrolyte stations were properly manned with wonderful volunteers and I never felt there were too few stations. It was perfect. I didn't like that they used Powerbar electrolytes. It's not something I wanted to try for the first time during a marathon. Because of that, I stuck to water. I just didn't want to take a chance that it might mess up my stomach. So, stick to water or bring your own electrolytes. I believe they also had a gel station but since I brought my own, I don't remember how many gel stations there were.

End of the Race: The end of the race was exciting and awesome. Again, great support and solid volunteer work. My BIG issue with this race was the lack of post-race goodies. There was water and well that was really it. I mean, really? No bagels? No pretzels? No fruit? Anything? That was disappointing. You run 26.2 miles and you expect some sort of nourishment afterwards. I saw another reviewer say there was food but it was not close to the finish line. I can say I never saw the food and the race organizers did a poor job of communicating its presence on or before race day.

Conclusion- nice fast, flat course, great volunteers, decent crowd support, nice medal, Expo can be improved and post-race snacks need a mega upgrade/or better placement.

It is a mostly flat course so I say go for that PR! I paced myself accordingly and was able to PR. The course was in/around downtown Jersey City so you run through the business district, residential areas and Liberty State Park.

I arrived 45 minutes before the 7am race start and that was plenty of time. You will not find parking around here (unless it is a parking lot - which may be full) so best idea is to just get dropped off a few blocks away from the race start. I know there are hotels in the area but it's not something I look into since I live a couple of towns over.