Erie Marathon 2025

The Erie Marathon is 2 loops around the beautiful Presque Isle State Park in Erie, PA. It is usually around the first weekend of September and one of the last chances to qualify for the next Boston Marathon.

Weather/Course

This year the weather was near perfect. It had rained a little bit that morning but cleared prior to the start of the race. Starting temperature was low 50s but a “feels like” around 48. The humidity didn’t seem to be too high or like a factor that negatively affected performance. At least not for me anyway. But I was just thankful to be out of the oppressive Texas heat and humidity. The sun came out during the second half of the race, and while the rise in temperature was noticeable it was not a negative factor for this Texas girl. I overheard some racers from cooler parts of the country comment that it was warmer towards the end than they would have liked. I think around 10:30 AM when I finished it was still under or near 60 degrees. There wasn’t much wind until the second half of the race. I really didn’t notice it until the back half of the course where runners were more exposed to the wind and sun. I appreciated it for the cooling effect, but I do feel like it impacted effort and time slightly. However, it was really only for a short time that I felt like the wind was a factor. The course was mostly protected from the wind and sun due to the trees and sand dunes. The course is pancake flat and all paved without many potholes. There is one bridge that serves as the only “real” incline and it took me all of about 15 seconds to get up without wasting too much effort. I think this occurred at miles 7 & 20-ish . There is one sharp curve at miles 12 and 25 which really isn’t that bad as long as you slow down a bit and just go as wide as possible. I didn’t notice the first pass, but when my legs were cooked at mile 25 I definitely noticed it more, but it didn’t slow me down overall. There aren’t a lot of turns and it was fairly easy to run tangents as long as you weren’t stuck in a pacing crowd. I stayed to the outside of the pace group towards the center line and cones. My GPS was fairly spot on with the course mile markers and my watch had me at 26.26 miles crossing the finish line (which is REALLY good for me—I’m usually way off). The course is closed to all traffic and there is only one race distance happening, so you won’t be running into slower half marathon or other runners which is nice. The start wasn’t too congested, and it was easy to spread out early on, unless you were trying to stick close to the pacer. There are many points throughout the course where the trees open up and there is some beautiful scenery. I had to remind myself to look around from time to time to enjoy the beautiful and serene setting. There isn’t a lot of crowd support except in the last mile of each loop and at the aid stations. I ran with a pace group for most of the race so I was never really alone even when I left the group. It is a fairly small race so I’m not sure if you were towards the front or back of the pack how lonely it would be.

Logistics

Packet pick up on Saturday was super easy. I got there an hour or 2 before the end and while there were more people than I expected there, the wait was very short. It is where the start line of the race will be. On Saturday you can park there, but you won’t be able to on race day. They also offer race day packet pick up. There is no fee to enter the state park. On race day you park at Waldameer & Water World. Parking opened at 5:30 and I got there around 5:45 AM. At that time there wasn’t any waiting to get parked, but supposedly if you get there much later than there can be a lot of traffic trying to park. There was a nice Sheetz gas station about 0.3 miles before the water park that you could get any last minute snacks at or use the restroom prior to parking. It was about 0.5-0.75 mile walk to the start line down a fairly steep hill. That means you got to walk back up it after the race. There were pacers on race day. Most seemed to be for slower than 3:30 finish time. The only two that I saw faster than that were 3:15 and 3:25. However, most runners there trying to BQ or improve their time so there were plenty running 3 hours or faster, so I doubt it would be hard to find a group to run with at those faster paces. The 3:25 pacer was super accurate with his pacing so I am going to assume all of the pacers were just as good. Aid stations were every mile on the right and had water and Gatorade. No gels or nutrition. It was in the small paper cups that are hard to drink out of while running.

Travel

I flew into Cleveland as it was roughly the same distance as either Pittsburgh or Buffalo, NY and was a little bit cheaper. The Cleveland airport is small and easy to navigate. It is a short shuttle ride to/from the rental car facility. I highly recommend NOT renting from Budget, as their fast pick up option wasn’t actually implemented so you had to wait in the long line regardless. It was a very easy and pleasant 1 hour 40 minute drive to Presque Isle from the Cleveland Airport. There is a lot of pretty farmlands between the cities. I booked my hotel very late (a week prior to the race) so my options were more limited. I ended up staying at the Sleep Inn in Erie which was about a 15-20 minutes drive to the race. It was inexpensive, clean and in a safe area close to a lot of food options. There was an Olive Garden about a mile away where I picked up dinner the night before the race. There is also a Starbucks that was en route to the race that opened at 5 AM that I got a pumpkin spice latte on my way to the race. They didn’t offer late check out, but maybe they would have if I booked earlier? There didn’t seem to be a lot of hotels/motels close to the state park, so you would definitely need to book early if you are wanting to stay close to Presque Isle.

Final Thoughts

I would absolutely run this race again and encourage others to do so. It definitely has potential to be a fast race and was a fun experience all around. Make sure to train long miles on flat terrain if you can, and preferably not all on a treadmill as your legs need to acclimate to the repetitive pounding they will take on this (or any exceptionally flat) course. This year was the race director’s last year, so hopefully she will find someone to take over and this race will continue.