I broke my marathon PR here, set 19 years ago as a college senior at the Columbus (OH) Marathon. The only two downsides of the course are the amount of concrete along the river and the twists/turns through the park. The hills are relatively early. The competition is superb. I loved finishing on Hayward Field. The crowd and volunteer support was strong for a race of this size city. The weather was perfect.

This was my first trip to Eugene. It didn't take long to realize Eugene truly is a running mecca. The event is nicely done. Great hi-tech shirts, ample post-race food, including pancakes, and it was a thrill to finish on the track at Hayward Field. According to the local paper, registration was up 35%, including a huge contingent in the half-marathon, which made for an uncomfortably crowded start. Given the number of participants, it seems the race will need to provide for separate start times for the two events. That was the only true drawback. Overall a highly recommended race.

Race was great. Course is mostly flat, with the exception of a few early rolling hills. I've run this race the last two years, and both have been great. The organizers do a great job of listening to the runners on how to make improvements. Every minor issue I had with last year's race was addressed for this year. I loved finishing on Hayward Field. It was almost enough to make me forget that I missed a BQ by only 40 seconds. This is a must-do race for any marathoner.

Overall, I loved it. But there's always something. (1) No water available at the start - unpleasant surprise; (2) bananas at mile 9 - something about all of those fresh, wet, banana peels on the course that looked like a sight gag waiting to happen; and (3) POST-RACE MASSAGE was absolutely FABULOUS. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Wow, where to start? Organization was great. Spectators were very enthusiastic. Though they obviously numbered nowhere near what you see at Boston or New York, the turn out was better than I expected, very similar to Portland. Weather was fantastic! I know the weather has little to do with the organization of the race, but reviewers tend to blame the race for bad weather, so why not give kudos for a perfect day?

Rather than go on and on about the good points, here's a list of any nitpicky issues I could come up with:

1. Kind of crowded for first few miles. I know the trend has been for more marathons to include halves, but why not start them at a slightly different time or maybe in a different place? Also, the half/full split did cause some confusion. I was near a couple of folks running the half who had to turn back a couple of miles after the split. Though I felt the volunteers were pretty loudly calling the directions, maybe some signs would have helped?

2. Parts of the course were somewhat less than beautiful. Any way to cut out the trip through abandoned Springfield?

3. A few more porta-potties at the start would have been nice.

4. As it turns out you must bring your goody bag to the clothing check; boy, I wish I would have know that before (if I missed this piece of info it must have been printed pretty small). OK, this one is a real nitpick, but I had to park quite a ways away and thus had to run to my car and back, and just barely made the start.

OK, so that's all the possible negatives I could come up with. If anything isn't listed above, I would have included it in the "what was great" list, but that list would have been much too long for this review!

I very strongly recommend this marathon!

I just ran the 2010 Eugene Marathon and it was such a blast. The fans were everywhere and would cheer for everyone as they passed by. The run was overall an easy, mostly flat course. They had restrooms and water all along the course.

I was quite disappointed when I stopped at an aid station for a bandage at mile 17 and the women couldn't find one in her first aid bag! Very frustrating. So I stand there for at least three minutes before giving up and running on without one.

That was the only bad thing about it though. It was a really great race and I would definitely do it again.

A very well run marathon in a small college town - definitely earned its name as "Track Town, USA." A great finish on the track at Hayward Field - please keep this attribute of the race. Highly recommended to all! I set a PR on the course too!

Pros:
+ Very efficient race day shuttles from Valley River Center to the start - I arrived at 5:45 a.m. and did not have any lines to get on the bus. It was a short 15-minute ride to the start area.
+ Porta-potties: there appeared to be enough when I arrived at 6:15 a.m. at the start area, but I think the lines got longer as the start approached.
+ Great finish at Hayward Field.

Cons:
- The course was not a flat as expected - not hilly, but the first half had one really long hill and one shorter, steeper hill. Neither was too bad, but the first half was not flat. (The second half was pretty flat, though.)
- Online tracking via the race's website was not functioning for me, and neither did the Facebook application - which was a bit disappointing to those who wanted to follow my progress online.

Pros: It was easy to get to the start via the shuttle. Easy bag check at the start. Pretty course through neighborhoods, and along the river. Nice crowds for a town that size. Nice clothes for sale at the expo.

Next year suggestions: Add some healthy food options at the finish; maybe add some heaters at the start if it's cold again; add more shuttles back to runners' cars.

This is a great, relatively small marathon in a cool college town.

The course is almost totally flat and fast, and much of it is along the banks of the river, which is a nice place to be running.

The weather was ideal for a marathon this year, and I gather it was pretty typical of Eugene in May.

The expo, pasta dinner and generally organization were all excellent. I picked up probably my favorite race T-shirt ever at the expo (not the official one, but a cool, green, Nike one - running in the footsteps of legends).

I agree with others that it got a little painful running on lots of concrete trails, but I'm not sure how the course could be changed to avoid this without giving up the scenic river route. I don't know why Eugene would pave their running paths with concrete in the first place.

I'm not sure why everyone was complaining about having to dodge slow half-marathoners when the courses re-intersected briefly - it was for maybe a couple hundred meters.

My only real complaint (and this is from someone who missed a BQ by only two minutes) was waiting for the bus at the end of the race to get back to the Hilton. For some reason, there were plenty of buses before the start and only one after the race.

I will definitely run this again next year.

This was my second time running this course and it keeps getting better. I agree with everything else that was said. The only issue I saw was that it was a little crowded in spots and there were some places where the half and the full mixed that looked confusing for some people. Overall though I can't wait to run it again in 2010!