Awesome. Race packet pick up was a breeze. Staffed perfectly. Helpful. Nice. Great deals on clothing too! ;)

LOVED the race medal. LOVED reaching my PR goal!! 3:20! YAY!!

Love the "smaller" marathons. This was my favorite by far.

You could have not asked for a nicer course with any better weather than what was experienced at this race. Like a previous poster said, they advertised flat and fast, and it sure was!! This was my 26th marathon and with temps in the low 50's on a flat course I was able to set a new PR by 2 minutes. Like a few others, I flew across the country as well, and I also ran on about 2 hours on sleep, but it did not affect my race at all. The friendly vibe of the spectators, race officials, and fellow runners, as well as the scrumptious strawberry shortcake, were the icing on the cake of a well-put-together race. Highly recommended!!

I really enjoyed this race. Beautiful course! Great staff willing to accommodate the needs of the runners. Fun and supportive volunteers. Plus, the medal is one of the coolest I've ever gotten. This is a great small-town race with tons of friendly people who let you know you're appreciated. My only room for suggestion would be for the shuttles to run longer. Us 5-hour finishers didn't have any time to enjoy the festivities and spend our money to support more of the fire department's fundraisers before having to catch the last shuttle from the island. Just something to think about. Thanks for a great race!

Wow, I PR'ed and almost qualified for Boston on this course! However, I am used to running in extreme heat with no water. They promised flat, and it was. They promised fast, and it was.

The island is so quaint and it was a great place to hold a race. The petting barn and strawberry shortcake were nice treats. As for those complaining about the traffic, the website warned you... just plan accordingly. I still think that there could be more water stops with larger cups and I would have liked to have seen at least one timing pad and one race clock somewhere on the course.

Kudos to Sean, the race director, who organized a great event and even personally helped me resolve a registration problem. All in all, a great race. I flew all the way across the country for a stay of less than 24 hours, but I was not disappointed. If you need OR for 50 states like I did, this marathon is a must-do!

This is my 3rd half-marathon - the other two I've done were larger races, but I thought the smaller, hometown feel of this race was really charming... and I felt much more relaxed!! I disagree that there weren't enough aid stations (at least for the half). One every 2 miles seemed to be enough - take 2 cups of water if you need! The weather was perfect, not too hot, and the course truly was flat. I am a slower runner (12-minute miles), but it was frustrating to have to go around so many walkers walking 4 across and not paying attention. A separate "walker start" was advertised, but it didn't seem to happen (or maybe some of the walkers didn't get the memo). I'm not knocking walkers - I think it's great - I just wish people would be more conscious of others around them. Toward the end I saw a LOT of marathoners having to dodge walkers - that has to be frustrating when you are trying to qualify for Boston.

Overall, it was a lot of fun and the shortcake was delicious!

This is the second year I have run this race. Traffic on the island remains a problem. I think more shuttles should be offered and perhaps made mandatory from a designated area? More aid stations made a huge difference. Great race and tons of fun. I highly recommend it.

I would say you should be well-trained to enter this race, as medical aid seemed scarce (at least compared to big events like Portland).

The 2010 edition was my second running of the half. My carpool group left 1.25 hours early for what's normally a 30-minute drive and we still arrived 35 minutes LATE! More carpooling (and the newly-introduced shuttle buses) would solve this problem, but I still saw tons of single-occupant cars entering as I ran out (shame on them). Nice overcast skies this year, enough hydration stations (water and electrolytes), a few bands, local spectators, and enough fun activities at the end made for a festive atmosphere. (Seeing kiddies on the cow train was fun.) Strawberry shortcake is a nice, 4th-of-July touch.

Yes, it was 80 at the finish, but it was July 4th, so caveat emptor! Great course - I love the small-race feel. However, if you are running a low-three-hour marathon, you are going to run into all of the walkers in the half-marathon, walking 4-5 abreast. Be prepared to weave, which is tough when you're slogging in the heat at mile 22. I'd kindly request that the race director figures out a way to have a more open road for the marathoners at the finish. It was pretty frustrating. But I still had a good time.

This race was a lot of fun. It's cool to run around an island. Aid stations were awesome and the volunteers had enthusiasm. The race t-shirt is brown; it's nice to get a different color. The race does get warm at the end, but that made the run that much more fun. At the post-race festivities they had strawberry shortcake and hot dogs, with a lot of energetic volunteers.

The race is just north of Portland, and easy to get to. I recommend after the race that you reward yourself at the Rouge Brewery. As a side trip, head up to Mount Hood for a trail run or snowboarding (yes, there is still snow in July)!

For those of you who complain that it was too hot, do not run a summer marathon. There were not enough aid stations, so bring your own water bottle. They didn't give a great medal.

This is a neat local race, and coming from So Cal, I am happy that I ran. Thank you to all of the volunteers, and keep up the hard work!

Holy smokes... come at least a half-hour early! A one-lane road to get on Sauvies Island with traffic backed up over 2 miles! We missed the start for the full marathon due to the crazy congestion. It was super hot, so more aid stations would be great! It was a very friendly race; there were not many spectators, but we loved getting hosed down by the islanders. :) Plenty of food at the finish. A true road race with lots of cars passing. Pretty scenery....