This was my 4th marathon, and most challenging. The course is never, well almost never, flat. The first 7 miles consisted of rolling mild hills with a net gain in elevation. At about 7.4 miles there is a steep down hill, followed by a small uphill before you get to the lake. Along the lake it is a net evelation loss. When you get to mile 14 you have about a 1.25 mile climb out of the lake and until mile 20 again rolling terian. After that it is a long down hill section. And then flat or slightly rolling terrain to the finish.

Spectators are very sparse, but I really don't care about that. The ones that were out there were very positive in there support.

Positives: the course is very nice and the aid stations well stocked. Trafic control was excellent and they always had at least 1/2 the road closed so you were never crowded onto a narrow shoulder. The weather was great, early July in Seattle area is pretty mild. The expo was small, but well organized and efficent. And the race start/finish were very smooth.

Negatives: They promised gels at mile 10 and 20, but they were only at mile 20. The Accelarde at most aid stations was mixed way to sweet. And the post race food was lame. And the hills, it was a love/hate relationship.

Summary: Nice course, but not a course to PR on. I would recommend it if you are up for a challenge.

Bellevue and Seafair did a great job of organizing the race and course. 19 water and aid stations were fantastic. The crowd support was good but limited due to areas of the city where they couldn't park and cheer. Those who did show up to cheer were great. This was all over shadowed by the fact that the course was too hilly. There were only 4-5 miles of flat course. One area of up hill and down hill was ridiculous around mile 7. The course elevation chart doesn't show this. The 1.6 mile path after mile 15 did me in. The path was virtually all up hill. Myself and other runners were complaining, which took away from enjoying the experience. I won't run this course again and recommend people stay away unless Seafair makes major changes.

A beautiful, urban race that had support people about every 1/4 mile complete with vest and radio. The rolling hills are a challenge,but the cool summer weather and lack of blighted areas were a refreshing change from other city marathons.The finish area was also well organized with food and water. My only wish was for cookies and yogurt. Very impressive organization!!

The race was well organized, with excellent traffic control and good crowd and aid station support. Cool temperature for most of the morning and lovely wooded neighborhoods along the way. Aid stations were well manned, though I prefer a sweet drink to the Amino Vitale they had (plenty of water, thank goodness). Loved the Red Bull at mile 16.

On the negative side, the loop course starts and finishes uphill. I'm sure they've got some little reason for this, but from the runner's point of view it is annoying, stressful, and just plain dumb. Why not reverse the loop? The course is extremely hilly either way, but at least we'd get a gentler warmup and a faster, ego-boosting finish.

My only other disappointment was that the aid stations did not have a few important items. I would like to see more salty snacks in the last 10 miles (a friend said there were some crackers, but you'd have to stop and go search the table to get them). Also, I needed some vaseline and was counting on the usual 'tray' being held out around mile 20. When I got there, I had to 'ask around' for it, and finally their medical guy said he had some, and began fishing through a fanny pack, at which point I just had to get going and do without. Sponges at mile 20 would have been nice too.

I'm not sure I'd do this marathon again unless they get rid of the ridiculous uphill start and finish, but I did enjoy most of the very hilly course. (Except the mile or so running along the side of the freeway.) It's a very pretty, suburban area and a well organized race.

For a first time event these folks did a really great job. The marathon was added to a long standing ½ and 5k. The organization was very well done. They started the full marathon 30 mins before the ½ which was nice. Also the course didn?t circle back to the ½ course until mile 20 so there was a nice separation. However the course was killer! Hills! Hills and more hills. This is no a PR course. But for an excellent race in July it was outstanding.

Pros-
- Marathon starting 30 minutes before the 1/2 (why don?t more races do this, it was great!)
- Good post race fest. Road Runner sports hooked me before the race for a forgotten item. Thanks ? I am now customer for life!
- Very organized - excellent course marshals ? Red bull on the course NICE!
- Easy in easy out.
- Outstanding weather!

Cons ?
- Only one - the course- it was tough. Lots of up and down. Long climbs short climbs etc?.it was a hard course.

Overall an excellent race, more so when you consider it is July.