The course winds around downtown and residential Boise through pleasant neighborhoods with colorful fall foliage. Aid stations and traffic control were excellent. Our hotel (the Owyhee Plaza) was right at the start/finish and graciously allowed us to defer our checkout until mid-afternoon, allowing time to clean up and rest after the race. And check out Asiago's just down the street for delicious dinners.

I ran this marathon on November 7, 2004. It was in the mid 30's at the start, with heavy fog. The fog never really lifted. This is just a real nice, well-organized, hassle-free marathon. It also has a half marathon for those who don't want to do a full marathon. It started and finished at the event hotel which was reasonably priced and had lots of rooms. You don't have to walk a long way to the start, or back from the finish. I liked this marathon very much and would recommend it highly.

Everything was perfect. The volunteers were great - thank you - we can't do a race without them. Every intersection was worked by someone directing traffic and showing the way. I will be back.

This was a really fun race to run! It's nice and flat and winds through some very pretty parts of town. The race was very well organized with lots of volunteers directing us and helping at water stops. Definitely one to do again. Bring your own spectators though!

Good Things:

-Despite the fact this course resembles a pretzel with all the turns, it was clearly marked for the marathon people. In addition, with ALL the street crossings I never felt unsafe, due to the fantastic volunteers. And with all the turns comes a lot of landscape variety.
-This is a PR course, particularly if you like your courses flat. Seriously, this one is as advertised. Tiny hill at mile 20.
-I stayed at the host hotel. Nothing is better than only having to come downstairs from your room to run!
-Great organization throughout, nice post-marathon grub (free beer!).

Three items of improvement:

1. Make the mile markers bigger, and make sure they are in the correct places. Some of us depend on them for pacing.
2. Put signs up for the expo.
3. Except for the great volunteers, not a lot of crowd support. HOWEVER, this is a small marathon and hopefully the crowds will grow with the marathon. Love to see this one get a little bigger.

Thanks, nice job guys! I will do this one again at some point.

The City of Trees Marathon is a small race with only a few hundred entrants. The entire course is contained in the Boise urban area with the start/finish located downtown. The course runs through downtown, residential nieghborhoods, business areas and adjacent to parks and Boise State University. The course is well laid out and easy to follow. It is a fast course with only 2 small hills which reward the runner with a scenic view looking down at a nice park and the downtown area.

The amount of effort required to conduct a marathon that is run entirely on urban streets is enormous -but this race makes the job look easy. All of the amenities are on par with what would be expected from a much larger (i.e. bigger budget) event. COT Marathon had great organization, great traffic control, wonderful aid stations, an abundance of friendly volunteers as well as a good pre-race expo and post-race party. I would recommend this run to anyone looking for a good marathon experience for both first-timers and seasoned marathoners like myself.

This was my 30th marathon. Most of them have been big city events with huge crowds. The City of Trees obviously does not have the same number of cheering spectators or runners, but it does have a great course (except for the long out-and-back at the finish line). The organizers and volunteers are both enthusiastic and dedicated. The local pep squads, bands, and cheering groups were a lot of fun. This race should just get better and better. I think I'll run it every year for the next 25 or 30 years

I was running through the streets of Boise thinking that 35,000 runners were running in New York City at the same time. I looked around me and I knew I was in the right place. Nice town, good organization, great folks. A race that should be done!

This was my 4th marathon (not counting oodles of 1/2 marathons) and I'm putting this one on my list of marathons to do again and again.

OK, some of the volunteers needed better training and the course could have been marked a little better. A few times I had to yell out to the volunteers 'WHICH WAY DO I GO?' and there were a few intersections that should have been manned for traffic control and they were not. (In defense of the organizers, there were TONS of intersections on this course and 99% of them were handled well). So you do have to be your own safety advocate and pay attention out there. But isn't that true of any road race? The volunteers are there to HELP keep you safe but in the end we all have to keep our eyes and ears open...

That's about the only negative thing I have to say. The course always offered something to look at, from downtown, through cute neighborhoods, scenic vistas, etc. Nice variety kept it interesting. Plenty of aid stations with water, Powerade, fruit, and GU. Porta-potties along the way (thank you) so you never had to go more than a couple miles without seeing one. There were a few well placed bands (loved the drummers with the funky costumes) and groups of high school cheerleaders.

The course is flat flat flat with just one little hill to speak of (around mile 20 and it really is little).

Stay at the Owyhee Plaza Hotel. The start and finish are literally right out their front door. Decent hotel for a decent price. They offer late check-outs for no extra cost.

Pasta feed was pretty good. Whole wheat pasta was a nice touch but the sauce choices were meat-laden red sauce or fat-laden white sauce. How about meatless red sauce? Nice fruit salad and green salad though. Joe Henderson gave a nice, friendly, uplifting talk that was directed at all runners, not just the elite. Thanks Joe!

Boise is a nice, compact, clean, friendly town. Nice place for a great race. If you are looking for a fast, flat, friendly race with good support (in terms of aid stations, porta-potties, etc.) give this one a try.

Bravo! To be perfectly honest, I thought the race was wonderful! It wasn't 'hard', though, I can't LIE to you, a marathon is NEVER easy!! But the course was nice, the people were grrrrrreat!! So what if they weren't always jumping up and down encouraging every single person as they ran by!!! They are VOLUNTEERS!! I give them a million 'points' for just volunteering and working hard! I felt lucky to be there and have a course open for us lucky runners to RUN!! The entertainment was awsome!! I got a kick out of the Hawaiian gang, the kids, the cheer leaders, the band and the drummers!!! Even the spectators in thick blankets and coats, thank you! It was cold (not HALF as cold as it was last year!) and to get the support we did get was great!! What a great small marathon!! I am lucky to live fairly close to such an event and participate! THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING IT HAPPEN!! YOU ARE ROCKSTARS!