Very well organized marathon, but oh my gosh what a boring course!! There were huge sections where there were no spectators and nothing to look at but ugly industrial buildings. Surely the organizers can showcase their city better than this!

I stayed at the host hotel (Hilton) downtown. Nice hotel and excellent service. I found it really concerning though, the number of homeless people in the city. I know this has nothing to do with the marathon, but gosh, strange atmosphere stepping around sleeping homeless people getting to the start line in the morning. Some of the underpasses had a distinct smell of urine as well as people curled up under blankets.

I made a choice to carry my own fluids in the race, because of Ultima being served on the course. Ultima is not the best choice for adequate carb and electrolyte replacement.

The commemorative tee and the finishers shirts were very nice, but the unisex sizing made them way too big for women. I got a small (there were no x-small) and they are like tents on me!

Portland puts on a great marathon...they just need to spruce up the details..

Pros: 1. good organization
2. nice short sleeve technical shirt with goodie bag and very nice long sleeve technical finisher's shirt


Cons: 1. medal - disappointed, for a 40th anniversary I was expecting something bigger or with a more detailed design.

2. flowers at the finish line. Instead of flowers they should have given a finisher's hat

3. expensive

4. Boring course through industrial areas and only a couple of nice bridges.

Starting with the positives - The volunteers were awesome, cool stuff afterwards like medal, coin, necklace, rose, finisher shirt, and a tree. That was pretty cool. It was so much stuff it was hard to carry and pick up food.

Negatives - If you love warehouses, this is the marathon for you. If not, egad this is an ugly marathon. I think it was about 15 miles of warehouses. Portland has pretty area. Why can't the organizers find it? I have run 8 marathons and this is by far the ugliest course. I hope I never see an uglier course.

The Portland Marathon is almost like a Rock 'n' Roll Marathon, if you're into that sort of thing. Plenty of entertainment along the course.

Pros:
1. Course support and spectators were great. However, the energy drink and gels were products I never used before, or even heard of.
2. The course. I heard a lot of criticism about the marathon course. I agree there could have been more scenery, but it wasn't too bad. I would not call it a fast course although I ran a decent time.
3. Fairly good running weather. The weather started out dry. Then there were rain showers a couple of hours into the race. The temperatures were comfortable.

Cons:
1. I don't like the way this race handles the start. Runners are assigned to separate corrals that are brought up to the start line for a wave start. They need better signage or more people directing runners to their corrals. It was difficult to find my way to the corral in the dark.
2. Not enough porta-potties at the start area.
3. The expo has outgrown the current venue. The organizers should seriously consider holding the expo at a larger venue that can accommodate it all on one floor.
4. Protesters near the finish area. There was a protest in downtown Portland over the weekend that extended to race day. We actually ran by the encampment at the start. The protest was held too close to the start/finish areas which made leaving the finish area congested. I heard demonstrators were permitted on the marathon course late in the race while there were still walkers using the course.

I liked the Portland Marathon. The city was nice, but it's not a race I'll return to. It wasn't worth the high entry fee.

This was my 4th marathon, 1st Portland, and I set my PR at 2:43.

I was up front in the A corral and the start was fine for me, but it looked like a total crowded mess shortly behind. Joining back up with slow half-marathoners around mile 24 was a bit frustrating.

The course was challenging, but mostly scenic, and I greatly enjoyed it. I expected the St John's bridge to be the toughest part, but the rolling hills and long gradual uphill portions right after it (miles 17-22) were by far the hardest part.

Spectators and volunteers were supportive and numerous, braving the typical Portland drizzly weather. The T-shirts (one for signing up, one for finishing) are very nice, as are the posters... the medals/coins/pendants are silly in my opinion.

I wish the race were not so expensive, and that they had publicized the fact that the Ultima sports drink contains no sugar, only electrolytes. I also think they need more port-a-potties near the start.

I ran this in 2011. Excellent organization, spectators and overall amazing..

Just ran the 2011 40th Annual Portland Marathon. Absolutely had a great time. I've read the negative reviews on this website and although I can see some of the negative comments, my experience was incredible. This is the third Marathon I've done after Santa Barbara and Marine Corps.

From the Expo to the start and finally finish line, organization of the event was outstanding. I can't believe how many volunteers they have for this race! Here is my review;

Expo: felt like any other expo but organized and no issues with getting bib/t-shirt/packets. Had great stores.

Start: Well organized and started in waves. Didn't seem crazy like the Marine Corps. Had that 'low-key' feeling.

Course: Course is overall flat and fast, ( ran my PR in this) . Crowd support was great and amazed at all of the bands they had peforming! I do a agree from other comments that crowd support thinned out in the some areas but cmon this isn't like running in downtown New York. Also plenty of water/fuel stations and portapotties.

Finish: well organized with plenty of food/drink and reunion area. Also they give you a medal/coin/pennant and 2 shirts! .....along with a rose and tree seeding. Very cool.

So overall had an absolute blast with the course/family. Weather was misty/showery but cleared most of the way. Would highly recommend this event!

This was my 11th marathon for this year. I've had many good ones, but Portland (my hometown), keeps making this better every year. This year they actually figured out how to do the wave start correctly. That's important with 12,000 full marathoners plus a bunch of 1/2's.
They also improved tremendously on the medal, which has been my biggest beef with them. Great job!!!
But one thing that didn't change, the best crowd support for a marathon of this size (sure, NYC is better, but it's a huge city)
Even with our famous Oregon rain, the crowds were out in full force ... so were the bands, cheer sections, etc. Something going on nearly the entire route.
Well done Portland !!!

I felt the most disappointing factor about this year's race was the hyped-up wave start. I expected great improvement over previous years. NOT! I was surprised to find myself in the last runners' wave, in front of only the walkers, which didn't reflect my anticipated finish time. The corrals were not monitored and people milled around wherever they wanted. It took over 19 minutes to get to the starting line! (Even in Boston, which has more than twice as many participants, it took less time than that, and their corrals were very professionally monitored.)

The start has always been tight for about the first mile, but this year I literally was unable to run for the first 3 miles, blocked in by too many bodies and too many walkers. The streets are narrow in places and couldn't handle the volume. I think that adding the half-marathoners to the same course at the same time has pushed this event over the tipping point. Start the half-marathoners at a different time and cap the marathon registrations to a more reasonable number and let us have a chance to start well. It is just too crowded.

This is the third time I've run Portland, and it was by far the worst with respect to weather. Surprisingly, once I started running, the rain didn't bother me except for the sheets of water on the roads. I think the rain really kept the music and bands away this year because there seemed to be far fewer than in years past. Crowd support was good for the most part but thinned out after the St. John's Bridge
.
Pros
1. Fairly well organized.
2. Great finish area with lots of food options.

Cons
1. Ultima fluid on the course, The stuff is nasty and is only electrolytes, no calories.
2. Most of the cups were plastic, which didn't allow for the usual squeezing necessary for drinking on the run.
3. Hyped up the date of the run as 10-10-10, but that was not to be found on the t-shirts or medals. I was disappointed.
4. Expensive.
5. This year they required packet pick up the day before the race. No day-of-race pickup, which is extremely inconvenient for those who don't live in Portland or aren't staying in a Portland hotel.