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Apr 28, 2024

Portland Marathon Runner Comments

Back to Portland Marathon Information & Reviews

Course 3.5

Organization 4.2

Spectators 4.3

Number of comments: 295 [displaying comments 51 to 61]

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A. F. from Seattle (10/8/2012) "Great first time marathon. Amazing volunteers." (about: 2012) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Portland Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon and a great experience. Great volunteers and fans. Well stocked aid stations all the way through. Fairly easy course (one hard hill at mile 17, but pretty flat overall). Lots of food at the end (even for the slower finishers like me). Well organized start. Only negative is that the course is not the most beautiful, but I didn't mind that much. Thanks to everyone who helps make this race happen.
M. S. from Central Oregon (10/7/2012) "Half marathon" (about: 2012) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Portland Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 This review is for the half marathon. The only other half that I can compare it to is Rock & Roll Portland, which I ran earlier in the year and liked better. The Portland Half Marathon was a good experience. It was a great day for a run. Really beautiful weather. Volunteer support was good. The spectators were very encouraging. This race lacked the excitement of the Rock & Roll event. In my opinion, this course is inferior to the Rock & Roll course, which started and finished on the waterfront. Also this course does not take you into any neighborhoods. Instead, the last few miles are a long out and back between downtown and a warehouse area. The expo should move to the Oregon Convention Center. It has outgrown its current location. This half marathon is expensive. More expensive than a Rock & Roll race. Overall I would choose Rock & Roll Portland over this half marathon.
Michael Thompson from Omaha, NE (1/21/2012) "Freakin Incredible" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Portland Marathon COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Where to start? Hills, misty rain, cold...it was still awesome. More goodies at this race than any other race. A volunteer asked me at the finish if I wanted a ham sandwich. Hell yes I said. I've done some mid-sizes races, and this was incredible. Medals were great, shirts (yes, that's plural) were great, and they even gave me a tree seedling to plant when I got home. Weird, but still cool. It was the 40th running of the event, so not sure it's like that all the time, but man, I'd probably come back, just because it was so good. Was even better than the Twin Cities Marathon in MN, which I thought was the tops for a race of the same size.
D. H. from Portland, OR (12/9/2011) "Nice, but not great" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ Portland Marathons COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 This was my 10th Portland Marathon. It hasn't changed much over the past 25 years from my first time here. Same pluses and minuses. Pro: 1. Well organized, with only a couple minor exceptions. On the positive, for example, energy drink was always first at the aid stations, followed by the water. Expo well organized. etc. 2. Volunteers helpful and enthusiastic. 3. All miles clearly marked. 4. Loads and loads of food goodies at finish. Especially liked the popcicles and the cold oj, but there was certainly something for everyone to like. 5. Wave start was good Cons: 1. Ugly course. More than half is boring 'concrete jungle' of industrial areas. They do this to minimize traffic impact, but it definitely does not show off the beauty of the city. 2. Ugly finisher shirts. Normally the shirts are nice and distinctive. This year was the 40th anniversary, and they messed up a good thing by doing lots of poor looking roses on the shirt. Organizers: PLEASE go back to the design that has been so good in the past. Note: even the participant shirts were ugly, although not as bad as the finisher shirts. 3. no boxes or bags at the finish to carry all the nice goodies. Need something to use to carry all the 'stuff' (food, beverage, finisher medal, finisher pin, finisher pendant, finisher shirt, tree seedling, etc.). 4. Event merchandise overpriced. Very expensive compared to what other marathons charge. 5. Communications in the months before the race. Unless you were connected on Facebook, you might have missed helpful information. 6. Clothing retrieval at the finish was VERY difficult to locate. Also it was not stated anywhere in the race info whether the clothing drop off required participants to bring their own bags or if bags would be provided. 7. Spectators. Some have referred to the spectators as a positive, but my assessment is that the number of them is small compared to other events of this size, and their support level was 'fair' on the scale of 'poor' to 'great'. I will say that those who came out to watch/cheer had a disproportionate number of cowbells. Liked that part. Also of note: there are a number of other events that occur at the same time, such as 1/2 M, 5 mile run, marathon walk, etc. Parking is difficult to find, and the entire area can be quite congested. Finally the music: the event touts the many musical groups that are performing. This is definitely a plus. BUT, in the latter part of the race some of the groups began packing up and leaving after the 3:30 pace group went by, leaving numerous music stations vacated for the last half of the participants and probably most all of the marathon walkers. It was disappointing, but could easily be fixed in the future. Overall, a nice event, but not a top tier event. I'd recommend it for a first-timer, but not one you'd likely do again and again unless you lived nearby.
L. R. from Oakland, CA (11/12/2011) "Great organization, awesome fans" (about: 2011) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Portland Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my first marathon and I absolutely loved it. Never had to wait in line for water, gummy bears, or port-a-potties. Race started right on time. The people at the expo were incredibly encouraging and gave me some really helpful specifics about the course. Fans were all over the course and yelled my name out loud, I felt like a rock star. There were a few boring stretches but they made running over the bridges that much more awesome. Great race, can't wait to do it again next year!
A. D. from Erie, Pennsylvania (11/8/2011) "Good experience" (about: 2011) 4-5 previous marathons \| 1 Portland Marathon COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I had a great time at the Portland marathon. Yes, there were some long stretches of the course that were 'ugly' but I have yet to run a race that didn't have some down time in the course. 26.2 miles is a long way so I don't expect every mile to be beautiful and fun and exciting. The weather was drizzly and gray but I expected that from Portland! This race had some of the best spectators I have ever experienced. I am a slower runner and people were still cheering like crazy. The finish line was great; the energy was amazing and they had a ton of food options. I also loved the gummi bears on the course! The hills were more than I had expected but I still got through it and overall really enjoyed this experience. Very organized from start to finish.
T. S. from Austin, TX (10/23/2011) "First half of the course needs some work" (about: 2011) 1 previous marathon \| 1 Portland Marathon COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 5 Pros: 1. Fans were awesome. I was really happy to see all the people that came out to cheer after crossing the river. 2. The accomodations at the end were great. So much food (and thankfully, because I was starving, see below). 3. Participant and finishers shirts were great. Cons 1. An f'n TRAIN went across the course and required us to stop during the race. 2. The 3:35 pace group was all over the place in terms of timing (still ended at the correct time though) 3. Not a single Guu station. Even though the website said there would be. I was running on complete empty. If it weren't for the fans setting up their own fruit stations after the first bridge, I don't know how I would have finished. Instead, they handed out little dixie cups w/ 4 or 5 gummy bears in them. 4. As someone already said, if you like looking at warehouses, you'll LOVE this course. 5. The expo was cramped extremely hot. 6. Much more expensive than it should be. If I had to pick a place to run my first marathon again, it wouldn't be Portland. Should have run Chicago, as it was the same weekend.
B. O. from San Francisco, CA (10/14/2011) "Well organized, fantastic event." (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 6+ Portland Marathons COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my 12th Portland Marathon and it was the best one yet. The race has grown considerably since my first in 1997 and not always for the better. However, this year's race was extremely well organized from start to finish. The wave start was done very smoothly with volunteers checking bibs. There were still some walkers that made it through, but it significantly reduced the weaving in and out during the first few miles. There were lots of music and cheering spectators along the route. They've also increased the amount of porta-potties on the course over previous years, so that really helps. Aid stations were well stocked. Plenty of great volunteers for everything too. Runners were given a goodie bag with a technical short sleeve shirt at the expo (nice surprise), along with a long sleeve finisher's shirt at the end. Finishers were also given a nice gold medal, commemorative coin and small pendant... almost too much! =) As for the course, yes, the sections along the warehouse district and St. Helens Road are not scenic, but overall, it's still a great course. Weather for this year's race was drizzly and cool. Temps were in the high 50s most of the race and the humidity hovered around 95%. Overall, not ideal conditions, but still fairly good. One thing I would recommend is to 'friend' Portland Marathon on Facebook. This really helped with announcements and news items before the race. For instance, one of their posts alerted me to the fact that spectators could track runners via live updates from the marathon homepage. This came in very handy for my family!
Martin Getzinger from Portland, Oregon. USA (10/13/2011) "Smart Run / Fun Run" (about: 2011) 3 previous marathons \| 3 Portland Marathons COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was my 3rd Portland Marathon. This year I was mindful of the grade of the streets an stayed in the center where the street was flatter. I also walked the hill leading to th St Johns Bridge. This resulted in me not hitting the wall at the Bridge and I was able to make the run without blowing out my knees. I stuck to my plan throughout the course and the payoff was that I had FUN. My time wasn't great, but it was my best time so far. I could have shaved off some minutes but I wouldn't have enjoyed the Marathon like I did. I am totally pleased with my run :)
Dave Nicely from Berkeley, CA (10/12/2011) "Mixed Feelings" (about: 2011) 11-50 previous marathons \| 1 Portland Marathon COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 5 The positives: 1) Well organized pre/post race. 2) Packet pickup smooth. 3) Awesome final .2 to the finishing line. 4) Finisher area easy to get food, drink. 5) Gear bag pickup quick and easy The negatives: 1) Expo cramped, and why must people bring their strollers? 2) Course was dull, tight in places and had two out-and-back portions. 3) If you're a serious warehouse person, you'll be in heaven on this course. 4) No boxes for food line. There was a lot of stuff available and given to you, but no way to easily carry it. 5) No call outs at mileage signs so I missed a number of them. 6) Don't recall GUI being handed out at any aid station. Probably missed it, but it wasn't like other races where the volunteers are shouting out what they have. I drove 600+ miles for the event, and for the travel time and cost I would not run this course again.

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