Race Recap and Review: Foot Traffic Flat Marathon, July 4, 2015, Repeating Oregon

Once upon a time my mantra was 50 Marathons - 50 States - I would run only 50 lifetime marathons and pick up all 50 states.  However, that made getting into Marathon Maniacs difficult.  So it came to pass, that on a very hot Fourth of July I found myself in nearby Sauvie Island preparing to run the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon, my second marathon in Oregon.

Since I had the Missoula Marathon and Ragnar Northwest Passage on the calendar within two weeks of this race, I just wanted to get through it so I could qualify for Marathon Maniacs in Missoula. Plus I knew the heat was going to be an obstacle unto itself.  It had been scorching hot the week before, and it was projected to be over 100 degrees on the July 4. I was actually surprised when they didn't cancel the race.  By the time I crossed the finish line it was in the upper 90's.

Packet pick-up/Expo: Grade:B-. The packet pickup was at the Foot Traffic stores, rotating it through the three branches of the store.  There is a store not too far from my house, so it was convenient to grab the packet rather than relying on day-of pickup.  There were no other vendors there, but they did offer a discount on merchandise at the store if you bought something during pick-up.

Shirt/Swag: Grade:B+. The shirt was a nice burgundy tech shirt with the crane in front of the stars and stripes heart logo - a logo that I really like.  No other swag.

Starting line: Grade B+. The starting line was at a local farm that hosts a pumpkin patch in the fall.  There was plenty of parking just across the street from the starting line.  There were plenty of porta potties and lots of room to stretch prior to the start.  I took advantage of the early start (6 AM instead of 6:30 AM) because I knew I was going to need the extra time.

Support: Grade A-. Support in this race day was way more important than it often is in races because of the heat, especially near the end when it was getting toasty.  However, even for those of us dragging ass in the back, there was water and electrolytes, and misting bottles.  The course marshals made frequent passes on bikes and cars to keep an eye on all of us. One marshal gave me a cold towel to use for the last few miles, which might have made the difference between finishing or not finishing for me. When I finished I overheard the race director talking on the walkie talkie running down exactly how many runners were still on the course and where they were.

Course: Grade B-. The course certainly lived up to the name of the race, as it was flat, flat, flat.  The course runs the length and breadth of Sauvie Island, which is an island situated between the Columbia River and the man made Multnomah Channel.
It is a pretty enough Pacific Northwest scene. However, some of the roads were relatively busy, even for the morning of Independence Day. Twelve miles of the race were on an out-and-back, which I'm not a fan of. At first I thought they were limited by geography, but looking at the map, I think they could have gotten a little more creative with the race to avoid that. (Of course, they would have had to have added more aid stations, which might have been a concern for a smallish race.)

Finish Area: Grade C+.  The finish line was the same location as the start line.  While they certainly paid attention to the back-of-the-packers on the road, there wasn't much in the way of food or drink when we got there.  The promised strawberry shortcake had been gone for hours when I got there. (I think a lot of the half-marathoners took more than the one piece they had a ticket for.) They only had veggie hot dogs left.  There was water. And they still had the misting station going. It was nice just to cross the street, turn on the car and AC and head out though.


Medal: Grade A. A nice big medal based on their cool logo.

Miscellaneous:  Did I mention it was hot?

Overall Grade: B. The next time I am around on Independence Day, I'll be back... for the half marathon.

Race Recap and Review: Missoula Marathon, July 12, 2015, Marathon State #7 - Montana

For State number seven - Montana - I ran the Missoula Marathon. I was actually signed up to run this marathon in 2014, but I couldn't do it.  Thankfully I was able to defer to 2015 and didn't lose my entry fee.
I've been in love with Montana - especially the Missoula area and north - since I first visited in 2000. I've predicted that I will die in Montana, but hopefully fighting a grizzly bear in my 80's, not in a marathon.
My goal was the standard "just finish," but since this race was shoehorned between a July 4 marathon (ran so I could qualify for Marathon Maniacs in Missoula) and Ragnar the next weekend I feel like "just finish" was less of a cop out than it usually is.

Packet pick-up/Expo: Grade: B. My main complaint was that they closed down at 4 PM. Which was really 3 PM coming from the Pacific Time Zone. It made getting into town from 6 hours away a bit of an unpleasant experience.  Even that wouldn't have been a problem if they offered a morning-of packet pickup, and frankly, there is no reason they couldn't have done that given the smallish size of the race and the large amount of space available at the start line.
However, as it was, it was a decent enough expo for the size of race. It had lots of vendors, quick pick up of bib, chip, and swag. It was held in a nice park under some tents - good since it was raining.  (Not for nothing, the park abuts one of the locations of my favorite pizza place - MacKenzie River Pizza Company.)

Traditional Pre-Race Selfie

Shirt/Swag: Grade:A-. Solid shirt. Gray with the cool elk logo.  They also gave out a nice gear check bag that doesn't fall apart after the third use (eh hem, Rock n Roll series).

Starting line: Grade: C+. The starting line was way the hell out in Frenchtown.  A 25 minute shuttle bus ride from the University of Montana was required to get out there. (The race started at 6 AM, so it was an early call to make the bus.) Once that was accomplished, there were lots of porta potties, but not much else.  There was a small PA system playing music, but it was hard to hear too far away from it. There were a couple of water coolers, so hopefully you had your water bottles filled.  Gear check was easy enough, as would be expected for a smallish race. 

Support:  Grade A-. There were plenty of aid stations. Water and Gatorade was available even for us slow folk at the end of the race. Like other towns that pride themselves on being a little weird, there was some organic community support. I didn't see anyone offering beer, but there was a guy in a tux playing piano in his front yard.

Course: Grade: A-. Missoula, like Couer d'Alene, benefits from being a pretty place. The course meandered through country on its way out of Frenchtown.  We ran by ranches with views of mountains and along and over the Clark Fork and into Missoula. It finishes near the park where packet pickup was held.
Despite being in Missoula, Montana, the course is pretty flat, gaining 350 feet in the first 14 miles and then flattening out.

The only disheartening piece of the course is one significant hill right smack in the middle of the race. It is around a blind corner so you are never quite sure when it is going to end.


 Medal: Grade A.  Look at the size of that thing! Plus, I love the "Elk with Shoes in Antlers" logo.

Finish Area: Grade: B+. The PA announcer sure talked
up the finishers as we came through.  He even asked if it was my first marathon. (Now I can wear a Marathon Maniacs hat, so hopefully won't get asked that anymore.) There was plenty of food still available for the back of the packers.

Miscellaneous:  

• I didn't think the 3000 foot elevation would bother me much, since I usually don't feel elevation until over 5000 feet when I hike or backpack.  However, running a marathon was a different story.  I felt it through the last half. 
• Heat wasn't a problem, but IT WAS HUMID! There were several splash pads that we ran by. I really wanted to detour through. I was yearning for the heat from the marathon I ran on July 4 to dry me off.
• Getting a text at mile 24 that your kid needs to go to the ER when you finish is kind of a downer. (He didn't end up going, his stomach settled down.) 
• Like I mentioned earlier, this was my qualifying race for the Marathon Maniacs.  That was a goal I'd had for a long time, and I was thrilled to get it done.
  

Overall Grade: A-.     I always have a good time in Montana. This race was no exception. I was happy to cross off my seventh state, and qualify for Marathon Maniacs, in Missoula.

Race Recap and Review: New Orleans Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, January 25, 2015, Marathon State #6 - Louisiana

After a 14 month break from running marathons for one reason or another, I returned to marathon running to celebrate my 40th birthday at the New Orleans Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. 

The goal for this marathon was to simply finish. Preferably before all the bananas and finisher's jackets were gone and the shuttles back to the start line stopped running. Not a problem.

Packet pick-up/Expo: Grade: B. The Expo is the standard Rock 'n' Roll marathon expo. Big, mandatory, and well run. I was in and out quickly (aside from the walk there from the other side of the expo center - more on that) but I'm sure I could have spent a fair amount of time shopping there. Whatever...

As a side note the New Orleans expo center is HUGE.  We entered on the opposite side of the center and had a ten minute walk to the other side. It was empty when we were there, aside from the Expo, but that place must be rocking when it is full.

Joan of Arc watching the runners.

Shirt/Swag: Grade: B+.  The shirt was a nice tech shirt with a big fleur de lis on the front.  They love their fluer de lis down there. New to me in the RnR series was a finisher's jacket.  It isn't anything I'll wear out to the Ritz for dinner, but it will be nice to have to throw on during a breezy northwest day. The standard RnR gear bag and samples were also given.

Starting line: Grade: B+.  The start line is near Lafayette Square and the corral lines wrapped around the Square.  Again, it is an RnR, so there are mandatory corrals and a lot of porta potties.  What was a little different here was that the porta potties were being used by run tourists who had been eating gumbo, jambalaya, and other creole dishes for the last few days, so they smelled a little different.
It took about 30 minutes from the gun for me to cross the start line which I consider not bad in these giant races.


Support:  Grade A-.  Again, this is something that the RnR is good at now.  Plenty of hydration and gu, even for those of us that were amongst the last to hit each watering hole.  There were also plenty of medical tents. I hit one at about mile 18 to get some Vaseline after my Body Glide had expired for the day. There seemed to be fewer bands than on the Seattle RnR  route, and I was a little disappointment there wasn't more of a New Orleans feel to a lot of them. But I was never one to stop and listen to the bands anyway. They might run out of bananas if I stop to appreciate the bands.
There was also plenty of police in the areas where the course ran through more "interesting" parts of the city. 

Jugging footballs for 26.2.

New Orleans also had a nice showing of unofficial support. On one of the course segments that was a hairpin, the inbound and outbound were separated by a wide median. Some folks were barbecuing on the median. On the inbound side of the course a man was telling you we were a mile and a half from barbecue. And on the way out, there was another person from the gang handing it out. I wish I could have stomached partaking.
There were also several people handing out beer on the course, but that is less novel in New Orleans than it is on other courses.


Course: Grade: A-. Can I tell you how much I love flat courses? I love them a lot. And boy, was this course was flat. There was only one small hump near Lake Pontchartrain that I can recall.
The course itself runs through all the famous areas of New Orleans. The French Quarter, the Garden District, the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.
The worst thing about the course was that it took great effort not to stop at Cafe du Monde and down some beignets.

My other minor complaint that this was another race where the marathoners have to watch/listen to the half marathoners finish at mile 13 as the courses separate.  That is always disheartening...

Medal: Grade A.  The RnR series races always have nice medals. But in addition they gave you the option of attaching some Mardi Gras beads to the medal, which I took them up on.

Finish Area: Grade: B+. The race ended in City Park.  RnR does a good job of having water and fruit ready.  My only complaint was that they took advantage of the size of the park and spread everything out.  It was a good half mile walk to gather up the finisher's jacket and get to the shuttle back to the start.

 Miscellaneous: 

• I got to the start line and was arranging my music for the run.  I found out too late that I did not switch out my Harry Connick, Jr. Christmas albums for some of his non-Christmas music. Since I could not in run a marathon in Harry's home town without him on my playlist, I ended up listening to some Christmas music in January.
• Speaking of playlists, make sure you have "House of the Rising Sun" on yours somewhere if you partake in this race.

Overall Grade: A-.   I'm sure the organizers realized that this would be a destination race for many of the participants. The course gave a nice tour of the famous parts of the city and they made sure we were well supported. Well done!

Even on the shuttle bus, the fun continued.

Race Recap and Review: Couer d'Alene Marathon, May 29, 2011, Marathon State #1 - Idaho

My first marathon was May 29, 2011, at Couer d'Alene, Idaho, at, appropriately enough, the Couer d'Alene Marathon.  This was long before I had the goal of running a marathon in every state. In fact,  at the time I finished, I told everyone I ran two marathons that day - my first and my last.

The goal for this marathon was to simply finish. However, I scored my best finish time of my first five marathons, coming in at 5:12:21.

Packet pick-up/Expo: Grade C+: The venue was an unoccupied shop space in the Featherstone development, so it was not terribly big.  I don't recall many vendors as there wasn't a lot of room for them. There were some other festivities going on in the development for Memorial Day Weekend, including a bounce house for the kids, but the downside of that was that it made for a crowd when trying to get in to grab shirts and packets.

Nice hat!

Shirt/Swag: Grade: B.  The shirt was a standard tech shirt with long sleeves. Just a small logo and a few sponsors on the back. They also presented me with a brimless finisher's hat at the finish line.  If I lived in CdA or back in Wisconsin it would be a nice hat for winter running. I don't have a lot of use for it where I live now, though, other than as a hat to wear in the morning when I am camping.

Starting line: Grade: C+.  The half marathoners started later than the marathoners so they let us cut in line to use the portable toilets. Had they not done that there may have been issues.
Otherwise the starting area was pretty standard for a smallish race. They had music blaring and the race director DJing, I assume annoying the people living in the condos above on Memorial Day Weekend
Sunday.


Support:  Grade B-.  Standard stops with water, generic sports drink, and occasionally Gu.  I remember being very thirsty in the home stretch, so they probably could have used one or two more stations on the route.  To be fair, when I was running this course every step I took after Mile 20 was the farthest that I had ever run, so it might have been my inexperience in staying hydrated in marathon distances that was to blame.

Lake CdA

Course: Grade: A. Here's where the CdA shines (or at least did*).  Couer d'Alene is one of the most naturally beautiful cities in America and when utilizing the Centennial Trail - the beneficiary of the race - which runs along Lake Couer d'Alene it should be hard to screw up a course.

I-90 passing over the course

Buffalo Amongst the Gazelles

(*I note they have changed the course for 2014 to be two laps of the half marathon course, so I guess they figured out a way to screw it up after all. I would not have selected this race had that been the course configuration in 2011. The benefit is that they eliminated the one pretty big hill that was on the course when I ran it.)


Medal: Grade C-. I like the outline of the State of Idaho with CdA starred, but other than that it is pretty slim. No date - that is left to the ribbon - no color.

Finish Area: Grade: B-. The race finished and started in the same place as the Expo, with the same crowding problems. Though by the time us stragglers finished the marathon crowd had thinned.  They had fruit, water, a medal, and hat for me, so I can't complain.  The kids went to the bounce house while I wound down.

 Miscellaneous observations: 

• At about mile 22 we ran past a cemetery. I spotted a freshly dug open grave and thought about jumping in. 

Overall Grade:B+.  The beautiful course was the main attraction here, and that was enough to overcome some of the more "laid back" attitude of the organizers.  I'm glad I picked a destination race as my first marathon because it made the whole experience a little more special than it would have been if I would have just driven to Tacoma for a marathon.

Race Recap and Review: Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, June 23, 2012, Marathon State #2 - Washington

I ran the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on June 23, 2012.

My goal on this one was simple: Finish. After my first marathon I swore I'd never run another one. But here I was, running my second one, but didn't feel nearly as prepared as I did for the first one.  I think there was a 6 hour time limit, but they certified me as a finisher at 6:15:44.

Packet pick-up/Expo: Grade B.
The Expo is the standard for for-profit races: Big, sprawling, but efficient.  Every runner has to come and pick up their own packet, no exceptions. This guarantees traffic for their vendors which lets them pump up the fee for exhibiting.  I wouldn't patronize the vendors because I was irritated I had to make a special trip to Seattle to grab my packet. It won't be an issue for me when I run the half in 2014 because I work in Seattle again.
That said I was able to get in, grab my stuff, get out.

Shirt/Swag: Grade: B+. 
Standard shirt. Nice gear check bag. Coupon for free McDonald's oatmeal. Good enough.

 Starting line: Grade: B+.

31 - My kind of corral!

There were a lot of people at the start and everyone was sorted into mandatory corrals. I always have mixed feelings about corrals, but based on the last time I ran the Seattle marathon and was irritated with the start in the same area, I like the corrals here.
There were enough portable toilets, which is always the first thing I look for in a starting line.


Support:  Grade B+.
Competitor has this figured out by
now and there were a sufficient number of aid stations. I seem to recall actual Gatorade rather than knock off stuff. The gold standard for support though is having Vaseline available, which they did not have.

Awesome-O?

One of the many bands on the course.

The bands are an interesting idea, but you can hear them for about a minute as you approach and run by.

Course: Grade: B+.
The 2012 race was the first year the R'n'R course became extremely similar to the Seattle Marathon course. In fact, the reason I decided to run this course is that they changed it to incorporate the I-90 floating bridge. I wanted to run that bridge, but did not want to do it in November during the Seattle Marathon because of the risk of wind and rain. Ironically, there was plenty of hard rain while I was crossing the bridge and on the Alaskan Way viaduct.
It is a nice course through downtown, the International District, around Seward Park, the I-90 Bridge, and the top level of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
If you want to see it you can watch the course tour here.

Starting across Lake Washington on I-90.

Medal: Grade B.
It is a hefty medal.  The R'n'R series is not cheap, but they don't skimp on the medal. It is pretty, but not in my favorite 10% of my finisher's medals.



Finish Area: Grade:?I can't grade this, but it is because I am slow. Things were packing up when I finished. They had a medal for me, and I think they had some food left.  The UPS truck where I checked my gear was about ready to head out, which would have been a disaster for me, since my wallet was in the bag. My fellow runners seemed to have had a good time in the finish area, though.



Miscellaneous observations: 

• This run was the first one that I encountered where automatic texts could be sent to friends and family as you passed timing gates.  I set them up so my wife, who was home with the kids, knew I was still moving and not dead. They worked fine. 

• After I retrieved my gear, I looked at my watch and realized I could make the next ferry if I made the mile and a half run. I did, so I always jokingly refer to this run as my first ultra-marathon.

Overall Grade:B.  
If you do a lot of marathons or half marathons I'm sure you've heard plenty about the Rock 'n' Roll series. The event was competent, but has a definite corporate feel to it. I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way, but it isn't for everyone. Note I'm giving the event an overall grade less than the average of all of the parts.  That's not an accident.

Race Recap and Review: Minneapolis Marathon, June 2, 2013, Marathon State #3 - Minnesota

I ran the Minneapolis Marathon on June 2, 2013.  My family and I were in downtown Minneapolis on this weekend for my brother-in-law's wedding.  As a happy coincidence, the Minneapolis Marathon was being run the same weekend, with shuttle buses to the start leaving mere blocks from my hotel and with the finishing line being about a mile from our hotel.

My goal on this one was simple: There was a strict 6 hour gun time cut-off and I needed to beat it to check Minnesota off of my list.  I did with about 5 minutes to spare, finishing in about 5:50 chip time.

Packet pick-up/Expo: Grade B. If you are a fan of going to the expo for exhibitors, you'll probably find this a little on the small side.  However, packet pickup was quick and painless, and if I remember correctly, they handed you the shirt and the packet at the same time.

Shirt/Swag: Grade: B. The shirt was on the nice side.  My one complaint is that it said "Finisher" on the back, despite the fact that I hadn't finished anything when they handed it to me.

Starting line: Grade: C. The starting line was in a park a distance from downtown Minneapolis. There was a last minute change in the starting line. It previously was supposed to start and finish in downtown Minneapolis.  The park was nice enough, my criticisms are that:

1. They made you pay $5 (or so) for the shuttle bus to the start.  It seems that should be included in the price of the registration.  It was an unanticipated expense for them, but since they made such a big change in the course after registration opened, I think they should have ate the expense. 



View of downtown from the starting area.




2. The portable toilets were located a good quarter mile down hill from the start line.  They were outside the boundaries of the park in the parking lot of an office building, suggesting some kind of snafu with the permitting.

Support:  Grade B+. I do remember being quite thirsty at times, but I was running a marathon in the Midwest in June.  There were enough aid stations. The course was well marked. Even when I was running alone, I didn't have a hard time following it.

The pacer I followed for about half the race.

There were plenty of pace teams. I fell in behind the 5:15 pacer, since that was about my PR pace, but I lost him at about the halfway mark.  Incidentally, it was his first marathon. I checked his time and he was dead on at 5:15.

Course: Grade: B+.  The course showed off Minneapolis's best feature: The Mississippi River. From the start the course makes its way to the river, follows it, eventually hairpins and returns you to the finish. (The finish incidentally was directly across the river from the park that I would finish the Great River Ragnar in a few months later.)

I don't care for the markings on that bridge.

My biggest gripe was that the half marathon course diverged from the marathon course about 0.1 miles before it ended. For me watching half marathoners finish as I started digging in for the second half of the marathon was a little demoralizing. 

Since it is an along the river course, it was pretty flat. There were a few Midwesterners calling it hilly, especially near the start, but for me it seemed quite flat. (Ah, I remember the days when I thought we had big hills in Wisconsin.) 

Medal: Grade B-. I will grant that by not living in the area, I am missing out on one of the "features" of the medal. If you do the other races put on by Team Ortho, the medals from this race and all of the races fit together and create some kind of super medal.
However, as it stands for me, the medal is just OK. The metal that the medal is made from feels kind of cheapish compared to some others I have, and I feel like the plastic in the medal detracts from it. I like the Minneapolis skyline, but they could have done it differently.
It is kind of pointy, though, and could probably be used as a weapon in a pinch.

Finish Area: Grade: B. Like I mentioned above, I came in right before the cutoff, so they were packing it up when I got there. However, they had a medal for me. They had bottles of water, fruit, and power bars out as well.  Even though I was a late finisher, they gave me the support they promised.
It looked like they were having fun there when the half marathoners (and first marathoners) were finishing, but it was kind of blah, when I got there.


Miscellaneous observations: 

• For a marathon named after a major city, it was on the small side. Only about 750 marathoners, and 2500 half marathoners.  I gather that the Twin Cities Marathon in the fall is the main event around there.  Come to think of it I'm kind of surprised that the Rock 'n' Roll series hasn't tried to make an incursion into the area.
• I highly recommend

  

  At first glance I thought it said "Mills Runs Park" which   would have been appropriate.

  the bike cab back to downtown hotels from the finish line. I did not feel like walking the mile and a half back, and was thankful when I came across one of them.

Overall Grade:B.  A fine enough marathon, but nothing spectacular.  It certainly got the job done for me, though, as I didn't have to go out of my way or spend one extra dollar (besides the entry fee) to run it.  From what I hear, if you are going to travel to run one marathon in Minnesota, you might want to opt for the Twin Cities Marathon, or, if you are looking for a PR, Grandmas Marathon in Duluth. But if you are in town anyway, this one will get the job done.

Race Recap and Review: Portland Marathon, October 6, 2013, Marathon State #4 - Oregon

I ran the Portland Marathon on October 6, 2013.  Originally this was going to be the Super Bowl of my race season. (That would make the Poulsbo Half Marathon the next week the Pro Bowl?) Then I signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 27, and had to figure out the best way to prepare for both.
Complicating matters, I was put out of commission by walking pneumonia for a good chunk of the first part of September.

My goals going into the race were to finish, and not be diverted to the alternate course. Both goals were accomplished.

Packet pick-up/Expo: Grade: B. My main complaint about the packet pickup/expo is that it is another big city marathon that holds their expo in a parking-challenged environment. However, as I would find out a couple weeks later at the MCM, the fact that it took longer to find a place to park than it did to pick up my packet isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Despite having over 15,000 runners, it was a smooth process picking up the bib, chip, and race shirt. My main complaint, as always, is the two-stop system to get the bib and then the shirt, especially here since the two-floor expo made it a bit of a maze. (It didn't help that I had a two-year-old chomping at the bit to get lost in the merchandise.)


Shirt/Swag: Grade: A.  In this case it is shirts. They give you a race shirt at the expo and a long-sleeve finisher's shirt after finishing.  Both shirts were Boston Marathon blue and yellow this year and matched the medal nicely.

My finisher's seedling.

Additionally, finishing swag included a pin which is a copy of the medal, a finisher's coin, and - the weirdest piece of swag I've ever received - a cedar tree seeding.

Traditional pre-race selfie.

Starting line: Grade: B+. I took the Portland light rail to the starting line from my hotel near the airport. That was super-convenient. Portland uses mandatory corrals, which worked out well for getting us slow runners in Corral F across the line in a reasonable amount of time after the gun.

The portable toilets were in the corral areas, and there were just a few less in my corral than I would have liked to have seen.  Once you were in a corral you weren't allowed to leave for nebulous "security reasons" so runners couldn't go find another corral with shorter lines.

A dragon was amongst the on-course entertainment.

Support: Grade: A. There was a lot of both planned and organic community support on the course. There was some kind of music every mile or so including rock bands, bag pipers, marching bands, Hawaiian bands, DJs, pirates and belly dancers. It really put the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon entertainment to shame.

VASELINE!

There were plenty of water stations, aid stations, and gummi bear and pretzel stations. Also - Vaseline! Someone finally figured out that runners might need Vaseline en route. I stopped at about mile 16 to reinforce my Body Glide with Vaseline and saved my man-nipples a lot of bleeding.

The Portlanders came out in force, as well. They were very enthusiastic and one of them handed me a beer at mile 23. Beer at mile 23 was surprisingly good.

First string quintet I've ever seen on a course.

Course: Grade: A-. The course is essentially a big loop around the Willamette River both starting and finishing in downtown Portland with a few hairpins thrown in for good measure.  It runs through downtown, an industrial area, parks, and residential areas. It gives you a good feel for Portland, especially when you run - twice - through a homeless encampment underneath an overpass.

Thought about stopping at about Mile 16.

For a Pacific Northwest course it is pretty flat. The only real hill comes on the climb up to the St. Johns Bridge.  As part of the Portland Marathon's aggressive anti-bandit efforts they have security at the entrance to the bridge and no one may pass without a bib.

You shall not pass! (Without a bib.)

There is a cutoff shortly past mile 21. Anyone not at the cutoff 6.5 hours after the gun is diverted to an alternative course. There is an 8-hour course time-limit, so it is really only the very tail end that need to worry about that diversion.

St. Johns Bridge. Mt. St. Helens on the left.

All in all it is a pretty course with views of the river, Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, and some of the more unique areas of one of America's more unique cities.

Marathon Finisher's Medal

Medal: Grade:A+.  Quite simply, the Portland medal is the nicest finisher's medal I have earned to date. While I wasn't a huge fan of the iron cross design initially, once I had the mint struck medal in my hand and saw the care that went into the design and production, it won me over.

Finish Area: Grade:A. Plenty of water, fruit, drinks, and other support.  I had an medical aid worker  check to make sure I felt OK as soon as I crossed the line, and then had my pick of food as I picked up my swag.  It was a bit of a walk to the family reunification area, but I they probably needed the space during the time when the bulk of the racers were finishing.

Miscellaneous observations: I love personalized bibs. Having people yell "Go Bull Moose!" was fun.

As seen in the video below taken at about mile 26, the Portland Marathon did have some bandit problems:

Overall Grade: A. Runner's World consistently names the Portland Marathon the best marathon in the Northwest for a reason. It is also nice to run a marathon in a biggish city where it seems like the average citizens are happy that we are there (despite the crazy lady on the light rail yelling at us to not come back when we all got off near the start.)
As I put it in a tweet shortly after the marathon: "For a city full of addicts, hippies, and weirdos, Portland puts on a hell of a marathon. Or maybe that's why they do."