Well you have done all the "famous" ones.


Fargo Marathon is great.

Bayshore Marathon - Traverse City, MI.

Beautiful run directly along Lake Michigan. Flat (but not pancake), fast, lot of local breweries and wineries, and great restaurants. It is also a unique time (Memorial Day weekend) where the weather is perfect in the UP (36 degrees at the start and 55 at the finish the year I did it). Liked everything about this race. It is my my favorite small town destination marathon (minus Big Sur).

Also, Mount Desert Island Marathon (Bar Harbor Maine). Beautiful course (minus the last 4-5 miles). Great time to visit Bar Harbor (was 1 weekend past leaf season the year we did it). Great weather as well. Lots and lots to do. Course can be tough...lots of hills from mile 19 on. Loved our time up there.

Bar Harbor is awesome, my wife is doing MDI Marathon this fall. Another small yet great fall race in New England is the Cape Cod Marathon. Challenging and very scenic course, very well organized race.

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SLO Marathon, in beautiful California wine country. Just be prepared to run some hills

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You've got to do NYC - it's as good or better than Boston IMO.

Disney is fun too, if you're into that stuff.

Catalina Island, either the Eco Marathon (3500 ish feet) or the Catalina Conservancy Marathon (4000 ish feet)

NY is an experience I'll never forget. Should be on everyone's bucket list.

Twin Cities Marathon

Eugene was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed St. George and Top of Utah. Disney was too.

St George, and Bizz Johnson are awesome too

The Pikes Peak Marathon maybe? Only 7k elevation gain in the first half.

Two thoughts, one has already been mentioned. I'm biased so I'd say you check out the Kansas City marathon. KC has been getting a lot of press for a destination that you wouldn't think of going but won't regret having visited. Great course, some challenging hills, and you don't know if it's going to be 82 deg. or 28 deg. I like the challenge. Also, if you want a good challenge, I'd agree with whomever said Pikes Peak marathon. Super challenging but very very pretty.
One last...I recommend the Goofy run in Orlando (Disney Marathon and Disney Half Marathon in one weekend)
Happy Running!

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Todd

I'm biased, but the Detroit Free Press Marathon is unique in that you run over the Ambassador Bridge into Canada, through Windsor for a few miles, and then run through the tunnel under the Detroit River back to the U.S. It's billed as the only underwater international mile. Yes, you do need your passport to pick up your race bib.

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Baton Rouge has two excellent marathons: Baton Rouge Beach in December, and Louisiana in January. Good courses, largely flat. Weather usually chilly and good. Both are right around that 1,000 or so runner size, which I prefer to 30,000.

Ben

I really dislike marathons that also have a half going on at the same time. None of the world majors do this. Its not that I don't respect 13.1, it just deserves its own day. There's something special about everyone do the same race together. Having said that, I have two lingering races that I need to scratch off my list -- Grandmas and Detroit Free Press.

Philadelphia Marathon is a really great race if you're going slower than 2:40 (gets really lonely if you're faster).

Why not just check out the Runner's World top marathon list (with ratings from thousands or readers)? Or on Letsrun.com

I've done the bigs as well, after that check out the list and then for a short vacay with the family or what not.

2 I didn't see recommended would be Big Sur (CA) and the Flying Pig (Cincy)

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x2 I have done Cape Cod twice, nice course.

I have also heard Mt. Desert Island in Maine.

Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon, b/c any small pain you may feel during the race is miniscule compared to the pain the soldiers felt during the battle. Also, it is a rolling course through the battlefield with lots of fall foliage, along with the numerous cannon and memorials to the various regiments that fought there back in Sept 1863, which IMO are very inspiring. Usually held in early to mid-Nov each year, organized by the Chattanooga Track Club.

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I hear Tobacco Road is good. Haven't done it personally though.

Newport, Rhode Island is beautiful. Many miles along the water and the miles not along the water had $10M+ houses. Organization was so-so.

Mystery Mountain Marathon in Chattsworth, Georgia is a bee-yatch. 1,200 foot descent in a single mile! And with the downs come tons of ups.

Knoxville marathon had some cool neighborhoods, great finish line(Neeland Stadium), and good post race(separated from the half mary hordes). Definitely not a Tennessee fan, but running to Rocky Top and finishing inside a 100K+ stadium was really cool. Don't bother with Sunburst for the Notre Dame stadium finish or Illinois for the Illinois stadium finish.

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Swim - Bike - Run the rest is just clothing changes.

x2

Marathon is the afterthought in most co-races. RnR NOLA was a good half, but an awful full. Ditto with Columbus and many others. Usually the food is gone, massage tables are full, and the finish stretch is crowded with half-mary walkers by the time I finish.

Knoxville was an exception as the half mary finish party was on the basketball court while the full was in the basketball team meeting rooms. Different, higher quality food and no crowds for the full marathoners.

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Swim - Bike - Run the rest is just clothing changes.

That is a nice one. I did it back in 2004 - small but very well organized and amazing history.

To the OP - that's a hard question to answer without knowing more of what you like running. Not everyone likes the big city "bucket list" races. If you like trail races, the Grand Island Marathon in MI and the Hauling Aspen Marathon in Bend are great options. For road races, Fargo in ND is a very well organized event. That was a good one.

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Vale!
Tracy T
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Of the 15 marathons I have run these are the best: Boston, St. George, Pikes Peak, and Top of Utah. I would love to do Big Sur and Grandma's in the US and London, Comrades, and Athens internationally. In the US I really think the only big city marathon worth doing is Boston and that is only because of the qualification process and the history behind it. Big city marathons, for the most part, are big hassles.

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