Omaha Marathon

Skip this one for a BQ. The course is alright, and it was nice to find a race to run during COVID, but with as much as they talk about being a certified course and a registered BQ race, they really should double check their course setup before sending people out. My watched ended up registering me at 27.1 miles by the end. Mine was a bit on the extreme side, everyone else I talked to had their GPS data showing 26.8 or 26.9. I get a course being maybe a tenth off, but over a half mile long? You're adding anywhere from 3-4 minutes to everyone's time. If you're close to the cutoff, don't trust this race. It isn't worth the gamble on your BQ if they can't bother to have it closer that a couple tenths to the actual race distance.

I ran the half marathon course in 2018, not the full, but still wanted to share my thoughts as i think they apply to both distances.

Pros:
* The medal was great, large, and nicely designed. However, I received the exact same medal as the full marathoners. There wasn't even a different ribbon to indicate that I didn't complete the full.
*Flat course (337 ft elevation gain)
*Good amount of porta-pottys (race start and along the course).
*Side roads were actually taped off between street signs (think "crime scene" tape) which I'd never seen before but I thought was a good idea and seemed to work well. I of course can only speak to the half marathon portion of the course.

Cons:
*This course has a very high percentage of concrete!
*HEED was the sports drink. Just my personal opinion that I didn't like it very much. It was confusing having a clear sports drink rather than a colored one and it was easy to get the wrong type of drink.
*Packet Pick-up was a non-event. There was one tent for picking up your shirt and bib. No race bag or any other items were given. The volunteers working the T-shirt tent were VERY rude. I have never been to a race packet pick up where I felt like I was annoying the workers. When we asked about road closures on race morning to plan how we would drive to the race start the response was "you'll be fine". They seemed annoyed that we were asking about it, didn't know the answer, and didn't offer to get an answer for us. There were only 3 tents of vendors in the parking lot. I was shocked to see such a bare bones, unwelcoming, and seemingly un-informed packet pick up.
*The long sleeved race shirt was very cheap and plain with one screen print on the chest.
*There was a pasta dinner that was apparently planned some time after we registered. (We are 50 staters so we plan far out and register early). A pasta dinner was not an option when we were registering. We got an email close to race day (FYI, the ONE email communication from the race) letting us know that attending this pasta dinner was free IF you RSVP'd by a certain date. This email was sent AFTER the RSVP date! So although we signed up very early, we would have had to pay for the pasta dinner so we did not attend.
*Awards. The awards ceremony was delayed over an hour because of a "glitch" in the timing, they said, due to hot temperatures. Runners were sitting on the ground on hot pavement with no shade waiting for the awards. Finally the announcer started flying through age group awards with no times. This should have been a red flag!
*Race Results. There were no printed race results to view after the race because of the "glitch". We waited for online results for over 72 hours. There were many people posting on the Omaha Marathon's facebook page during this time asking about results without any response from HITS Endurance. As they weren't responding to facebook, I emailed them on Tuesday asking about results and was told they would be up by the end of Tuesday (race was Sunday), but they weren't posted by then. The local news even released an article on Wednesday about runners still waiting for results and the local news couldn't get a response from HITS Endurance. Finally, Wednesday afternoon, results were posted. They were wrong. Many people's times were off by an hour. My father's time was an hour off and we realized he received the wrong award after the race. When my dad reached HITS Endurance Wednesday, they told him some people's chips defaulted to Eastern Time Zone (HITS Endurance who manages the Omaha Marathon is out of New York). As of a week later, HITS Endurance as still not answered my father regarding if they will be sending him the correct age group aware.
*HITS Endurance. So first of all, if something goes wrong, honesty would be good. Don't make up an excuse of heat when that isn't the issue. Don't give time frames of when results will go up if you aren't going to follow through. And just because people are upset that results aren't posted, DON'T POST WRONG RESULTS! Communicate with the runners to tell them what is happening. I think HITS Endurance did an absolutely terrible job with this race. Why is a company based out of New York organizing this Nebraska marathon? They are clearly not invested in the marathon, did everything as cheap as possible, and were horrible communicators. I have never been so disappointed in a race and I've ran many! Omaha is a lovely city that deserves to be showcased. This race needs someone local who is actually invested in the race and the city and who cares about managing a running race well. I would strongly advise choosing a different Nebraska marathon if HITS Endurance continues to be the organizers of this race.

The course is an out and back. For the half marathon, a high percentage was concete. It starts and finishes downtown at the TD Ameritrade Park so there is a downtown portion of the course. The half also went through a park and a residential area.

We found easy parking near the race start on race morning. Parking was free downtown on Sunday. Leaving the race area via car was a bit challenging due to road closures but not a big deal.

We used air B&B and were pleased with that type of accommodations.

During our stay we visited the Henry Doorly Zoo (fantastic! Plan a whole day!). The Old Market area is great! There are many great local art cooperatives we enjoyed. We ate at Upstream Brewery (GREAT happy hour!) and Trini’s Mexican Restaurant and were very happy! We enjoyed a nice post race jog along the Missouri River and over the Bob Kerrey Bridge. There is a great downtown walkway along a waterfront with many great artistic features and sculptures in the in Gene Leahy Mall. It’s a great town to explore...could use a better marathon to highlight it!

Course was great - slight hills are start/end, but the middle section was FLAT. Weather was great for 2017. The MapMyRun GPS map and course map showed 26.2 but you add the "field" run at the end so my watch read 26.59 and my phone 26.5. Wish they had an accurate representation of the course

Tons of aid stations and great volunteers - Heed products at all. We learned to yell "Heed?" as we came up so the right ones would step forward. The very last aid station was at mile 25 (or 1 for the 10K which started at 11 am). The marathoners had to dodge 10K folks to get aid, it was doable, but maybe a head volunteer could correct this by having volunteers looking the other way too.

Very little course support from residents. That was fine by us (a friend and ran every step together) but be aware if you want crowd support. Awards ceremony needs more people - you had to wait through every name to pick up an award from an already announced race. Post race drank a chocolate milk, didn't take any food.

Lady who designed shirts and medals was great - as were both of those. Probably my favorite marathon shirt ever. Also, got a PR so it was a great day in Omaha!

Prepare for a long course if you're trying to PR, fantastic police presence on course, utterly amazing.

Get a hotel close by and walk to and from (ask for late checkout). Check out Old Market for food the night before! Upstream Brewing Company

Due to a police-involved shooting (they took down a tweaker who had been shooting at moving cars, which were heading to the race, with a .22), the race was delayed and the course altered, thereby removing its certification this go-round. HITS Endurance handled the circumstances poorly, and with a notable lack of class, fairness, and professionalism...

Aid stations were plentiful, however.

If you have to run this race, do NOT assume the course will be certified. Lincoln is likely a better choice, and an easy drive from Omaha

Again, if you HAVE to run this race, do their pasta feed, which is free is you RSVP ahead of time. Omaha itself is surprisingly crummy.