This was my second marathon. The course is completely gorgeous - rolling hills all the way with a killer hill around 21 that was really tough given the heat.

I'm in agreement that this shouldn't be your first marathon, not only because of the hilly course, but because of the lack of spectators. The people who are watching are enthusiastic, but they are few and far between, and the nature of the course makes it difficult to follow your runner.

There were tons of bathrooms at the start, but too few until the half mark. There should be two port-a-potties at every site at least. I'd also agree that the post-party was lacking, especially in food which should be placed immediately after the finish.

The most important thing the organizers should do is review the website. Directions to the expo site, for example, would have been helpful to post. I also would have liked an FAQ email to be sent prior to the expo just to fill in some missing information.

To end on a good notethe people running the race - both runners and organizersare some of the nicest people I've met anywhere. I've never felt quite so supported by other runners during a race as I did during this one. So that, plus the AWESOME views will keep me coming back.

Easily the most difficult course I've done. Living in Houston there's no way to train for the altitude and also for the hills. Still, I enjoyed the challenge and the beautiful scenery along the way.

Pros
-Beautiful course. Winding your way through the Yampa Valley and along the Elk River provided great scenery while running the marathon.
-Small field. Sometimes I like running big races, but sometimes I prefer a smaller and less crowded atmosphere. The Steamboat Marathon had ~250 people run it, so for the majority of the course I was by myself and this provided a great opportunity to have some solitude and 'me' time while running in the Rockies.
-Technical t-shirt has good design. Nothing's worse than doing a marathon and getting a crappy-looking shirt that I'll never wear (think Toronto Marathon.)

Cons
-They had plastic cups at the aid stations...really?! After 32 years of running this race they haven't figured out that they should be using paper cups? It's frustrating when trying to drink and run at the same time and spilling half the water b/c you can't fold the cup.
-The aid stations were well placed throughout the course, but towards the end they really should have had bananas, orange slices, pretzels, etc... They did have Honey Stingers, but I've never heard of those and didn't want to risk trying something new during this race. They really should consider other food snacks at the aid stations in the last 10K.

Overall, if you're looking for a small, summer marathon with some great scenery, Steamboat should be on your list.

Course: is beautiful. Long rolling hills for entirety of course which makes this a hard marathon and not a PR or BQ course. Very little shade. Sometimes running directly into oncoming traffic.

Organization: Online is terrible and lacking in information. No race shirts other than in XL for men was stupid and left a bad taste. No need for a prior day expo for less than 300 runners. Could have done a morning pickup. Bus transportation, gear check, start area and aid stations were handled well. Finish area was a joke. Maybe a banana?

Fans/spectators: None, other than aid station folks or a few people in their front yards. Note: they don't make this clear because of the non-existent web presence, but your family can't see you on the course even if they want to as traveling anywhere on the course is discouraged.

Altitude: This was my first race at altitude and everything was fine after the first mile or so (for any flatlanders out there).

Overall: It was fun and unique. As it was a destination race that coincided with a family trip, I won't be back. Race organization is a little lacking and it shows. Nothing to do with size as I have run races with less than 100 people that were run better and felt 'bigger'.

Pros:
- well organized bus transportation to the start
- plenty of port o potties at the start

Cons
- ran out of ALL men's shirt sizes at the (poor excuse for an) expo
- PLASTIC cups at the aid stations (who made that decision?)
- not enough aid stations
- you had to pay for the post race beer (which is pretty criminal for a Colorado race where post race beer is STANDARD)
- you also had to pay for a post race massage (first time in 15 marathons I've seen that)
- post race food was virtually non existent (tiny subway sandwich, cookie and chips was all you got)
- age group awards were pretty pathetic....we just ran a marathon! Smartwool (main sponsor) needs to step it up in this department

Basically the marathon is the sideshow event of the half marathon. I wouldn't waste my time with this one again....you can get stellar scenery at other small marathons in CO and avoid all these cons.

Had run the half several times before. The full had a field of under 400 runners which made aid stations very easy to get fluid at. Spaceing of aid stations was perfect for me. The stations are closer together on the second half of the course.
If you were patient on the downhills early and saved something for the last 6 tough miles you prob. enjoy this race. It was very important to be well trained for both downhill and uphill running. If your training was all about running fast and flat this course would chew you up badly. It got warm near the end, maybe 80, on the asphalt, but again if you trained for the heat and ran smartly, not a problem.

With the temps and hills I would not recommend this race for a first timer or anyone that takes much more than 4 hours to complete the race.

Despite the overall net drop, elevations are in the 7000's and the ups and downs, etc.. make this far from an ideal course to think about pr s on.

The only thing this race has lost on lately are the quality of awards for placing runners. I did not see any prizes that would not find their way to the trash can pretty quickly.

Fantastic race in a great location. Weather was ideal in 2012, bus transport to the start was well organized. Aid stations were fun and well stocked, great volunteers. A brutal & long hill at mile 22. Overall a great race, one I hope to do again!

This was my first marathon. Definitely glad I did it, but probably wouldn't recommend it to other first time marathoners. I did it was 4 other first time marathoners and we all thought it was HARD. For a downhill course, there sure is a lot of uphill. I had expected much more downhill and had trained mostly for that, but I wish I had done a lot more uphill training.
Since reading other reviews, I took a pack and was glad I did since the aid stations were far apart. The people at the aide stations were very nice though. It was over 80F when I finished the marathon, and that heat and the hill between miles 18 and 22... man it was rough.
I ran my 20 miles in just under 4 hours and felt great afterwards. This took me more or less the ENTIRE 5 hours and 30 min which I was not expecting...
The course is beautiful, even though sometimes it smells like cow.
All in all, glad I did it. Wouldn't have chosen it for a first marathon if I knew it would be THAT challenging. All 5 of us finished.

The race was well-organized and I felt like everything went very smoothly. The course is beautiful, as advertised, though a bit hillier than I expected (the smallish hills are dwarfed in the elevation profile by the large descent between miles 4 and 6-ish, but they seem a bit bigger when you're climbing up them). The aid station workers were enthusiastic, well-organized, and helpful. Really a nice race overall. My only real complaint is the spacing of the aid stations - as the temperature rose through the mid-70s, it would have been nice to have aid a little more frequently than every ~3 miles on the back end.

The most beautiful course I've ever run but know the only course support will be the aid stations. It's hard for spectators get get around the course so it's you and your fellow runners. I ran a lot of miles alone except when someone caught me or I caught someone which was fine for me. The scenery kept me occupied. While the course is downhill, there are a few strategically placed inclines which will be challenging. The variation was probably good for the quads. My advice would be to carry water. This was my first high altitude race and I was encourage at packet pick up to carry water and I'm glad I did. They could have used a few more water stops.

I'm not sure why anyone would think the marathon catered to elite runners. I'm not an elite runner and didn't get that impression at all. If you're pushing the 6 hour time limit, the post race event may have been sparse but I thought the post race scene was very good, especially for a small race. If you like small marathons, give it a try. If you like big marathons, give it a try and you might prefer smaller races after running this marathon.

This was a great marathon - but it wasn't the marathon for me. I had a feeling from reading the website that the marathon catered to more of an elite runner. Having only just over 360 runners in the marathon made it painfully obvious if you weren't a faster runner. That being said, the event itself was wonderful (despite my performance). The volunteers were great and very supportive. There could have been more restrooms at the bus pick-up. I found out later that there were more there, but most everybody was lined up behind the only one we saw. The shirts were fairly plain. If Steamboat wants more participation in the marathon, they should cater to regular athletes. If they want to make it an elite event, that should be noted more specifically on the website.