The marathon course is beautiful and is a real character builder - dont change it, not every course has to be a Boston qualifier. Although it was my first marathon, I'm sure that if you can do this course you can probably do most. Overall the organization was excellent.

The Pros:
Awesome course - very scenic and uncrowded/real fun city/good time of year/great weather/monorail transport to start was great/stations and volunteers excellent/chowder at the end tasty/Boy Scouts bag storage in stands is efficient/expo good/stadium finish exciting especially with name called out on loud speaker/mileage well marked - only missed one sign/Westin hotel conveniently located with great food (expensive).

The Cons:
Downhill concrete off ramps at end deadly/big line up at first porta-potty (2-3mi?)/carbo load dinner good but expensive ($30 for plate of spaghetti) and uninspiring (how about a motivational speaker?)/no bagels at finish/technical race shirt should have Seattle Marathon Logo on it - only logo found on cheap cotton t-shirt.

Overall:
Highly recommended!

The course was beautiful, the weather was extremely cooperative and the hills were aplenty (and where there weren?t hills, the wind was there to keep you company). You take the good with the bad, I say.

I?ve run 13 marathons now and this was probably the most difficult. Oh sure, the stitch in my side at 16 didn?t help matters, but neither did the winds along the lake. I?m somewhat glad the stitch hit before the Cardiac Hill at 20, at least I didn?t have to kick myself post-race for getting broken on that thing (a 150-foot rise in about a half mile that late in the course??... a little sadistic I think). I was hoping for a Boston qualifier, but Seattle would have none of that.

Time aside... I honestly cannot say enough good things about my experience in Seattle. The spectators were very warm, as were the people of Seattle ? very nice. At the fluid stations the water flowed like wine. Though I will say the stations could be a little tight. You did have to know what was where ? water first, Powerade last. But, after the first stop all was apparent. Running through the downtown shopping district was great fun... eye candy all around ? Christmas decorations, ornate buildings, lots of cheering fans, and more than a few of the faithful waving signs. The pillars of the Monorail overhead were great fun to weave in and out of... not so fun to run into. Picking myself up post-incident added at least a minute or two to the chip time and lump or two to the old forehead. Outside of the embarrassment of colliding with a 20-ton concrete pillar at mile half-ish and the pain of a side stitch at mile 16 (both of which are fairly avoidable, the first being more so), Seattle is a fantastic place to run a THON.

However, do come into this race realizing a cakewalk, it is not ? it can be windy along the lake and pack a carabineer and twine for that mountain at 20. But it is certainly one to do. My end goal of all these marathons (outside of qualifying for Boston) is to run one in every state. And this is the one to run in Washington. Best of luck to those running it next year and no messing with those Mono-rail pillars... I?m serious.

This is the benchmark of how a marathon should be run. They probably had a hand in the great weather as well. The spectators and volunteers were the best.

I really liked the course layout and how well documented it was. I can't say enough about it, but thank you.

This was my first marathon. I found the course quite scenic and interesting but beware: the hills at the end are tough! This is not a fast course. My favorite part of the course was the run around Seward Park and the first mile through downtown Seattle (I liked running under the Monrail and between the tall buildings over the first mile).

The course has tougher hills than what I anticipated based on my pre-race examination of the topo map. I ran the first 19 miles at a 6:41 average mile pace then got into big trouble after mile 20. I hit the ?wall? pretty bad and my brain bonked the last 3.2 miles (took me 29 minutes to run this section). I have never felt so lost and hungry before. Over the last 7 miles of the course, the first important uphill section occurs on McGilvra Blvd (it?s a short section, not too bad) at about the 19.5 mile mark. After you get up this short hill, the course levels off. When you take a left onto E. Galier Street things get nasty. E. Galier Street is a short section of the course but the hill is steep! The incline reminds me of the hills in San Francisco. My legs could feel the lactic acid build-up. You then take a left onto E. Madison where the uphill continues about half-way down this street (though the slope is not as bad as E. Galier). Half-way down E. Madison the hill peaks and its then downhill to Lake Washington Blvd. Most of Lake Washington Blvd and E. Interlachen Blvd, including the run through the park (lots of turns) has a slight uphill. After you leave the park the course goes downhill slightly until you hit Mercer Street where there is a slight uphill section, then you take a left into the stadium.

The weather in Seattle for the race was wonderful. It was clear and temperature at the start of the race must have been in the high 30?s or low 40?s. The wind was blowing pretty well (from the NE) during the race. During the run out to Mercer Island on the floating bridging the wind was really in your face. This was the only part of the course I did not like. Also, during the run north along Lake Washington the wind was hitting you pretty hard. The fans along the course I thought were great. The cellist playing at mile marker 22 (I think it was mile 22... hard to remember the brain was bonking) made me smile. Also, some of the area residents brought out a tray of doughnuts which I should have sampled. It might have done something to ease the hunger pains.

The post-race food I thought was good. I really liked the slurpies. There should have been bagels or muffins though. Maybe the race directors will take care of this next year. The one thing I really would have liked were more chairs in the recovery area. After running 26.2 miles, a person needs a place to park their fanny.

Overall, I had a great time in Seattle. The race organizers I thought did a wonderful job. I will definitely consider running this course again next year. I want a rematch with those hills at the end!

Perfect combination of scenery, water stations and fans. I'm doing this one again.

The course for this marathon is varied, interesting and - on a clear sunny day - quite beautiful. Several times, snow-capped mountains seemed to appear out of nowhere, particularly toward the middle of the course. There are two challenges to keep in mind: first, the headwind on the floating bridge out to Mercer Island and returning from Seward Park, and, second, the hills around miles 18-22. While the overall elevation gain is modest, the gradual ascent through the Washington Park Arboretum is a challenge so late in the race. The hills and winds are certainly something to consider when choosing a pace for the first half.

The many spectators were very encouraging. At one intersection around mile 20, a cellist serenaded us as we reached the top of a hill! Water/Powerade stations were ample. There were two well-stocked Gu stations. The recovery food included smoothies, crackers, clam chowder and fruit. The volunteers serving food were all very encouraging. In fact, the spirit throughout the event was very positive and invigorating. I was a bit disappointed to find that there were no bread slices or bagels. I found myself really craving such things at the end of the race, and I'd assumed that they were standard post-marathon fare. Next time, I'll be sure to stash some bread in my backpack, just in case.

All in all, the Seattle Marathon was a terrific experience--I even qualified for Boston during this, my first marathon. I'm eagerly anticipating my next marathon in the spring, and my next Seattle next fall.

The weather was perfect. The volunteers were great... you cannot do a marathon without them. I cannot thank them enough. Only negative was that the soup was gone before I finished, but I guess I have to run faster...

This was my second marathon. Although I had to empty my poor college-student bank account to travel to Seattle to run this thing, it was worth every penny. The organization was among the best I've seen in any race, and volunteer and fan support were awesome. It felt like people were genuinely cheering for you. I also enjoyed that after the turn-around we passed people farther back in the race and got to cheer for each other. The only lonely stretches of the course were during the last few miles through a park or something. People complain about the weather being poor, but I find that the cloudiness of every single day in Seattle is perfect for racing. If there's one thing you can count on in Seattle, it's consistent weather.

Although the course was very scenic and beautiful, I did not like that we spent so much time running on concrete. Over a 26.2-mile distance, you can really feel how much harder concrete is than asphalt, and since many of those miles were on the expressway there was no option of finding anything softer.

Overall it was an excellent marathon. I plan to keep coming back for more, and I highly recommend it to both experienced and beginner marathoners.

The course is through downtown, then across Lake Washington (with great views of Cascade volcanoes, weather permitting), then along a very pretty lakefront road to and around Seward Park, then back up the lake to a tough 1/2 mile hill and then through the Arboretum. Then it winds along a country road in the middle of the city, and finally breaks out into views of the Space Needle and Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. We had a spectacular day and the organization was perfect. 2,325 runners made it uncrowded but with plenty of people to run with. I loved it! Hard course to PR on, though, with hills late in the course.

Maybe the weather in 2002 was an anomaly (see earlier comments). If so, then we're getting a string of anomalies here! The weather was FANTASTIC! The sun was out, the air was crisp, and the sky was absolutely clear. In short, it was gorgeous! It was a perfect day for a marathon.

I'm not much for the course (the best course I've run in Seattle was in the Goodwill Games marathon open to the public in '90... a great tour of the city). This course was okay. There weren't many spectators out in Seattle on a cold, late fall Sunday morning, but if your looking for a good off-season marathon in the Pacific Northwest to work off all that turkey you ate, this is a great one.