I think the biggest disappointment with this marathon was learning that so little of the money was going to the cause attached to it (maybe the children's hospital?). Otherwise the course was okay. I liked the challenge of the hills, but one hill was so brutal that everyone stopped to walk (I stupidly didn't). I grew up in the Seattle area and I know it's beautiful and thought this course lacked imagination. There were way too many out-and-backs. I felt the marathon could have showed off the city much better. I also didn't feel like it was good bang for the buck.

I did the half-marathon. It rained like hell, and was chilly, but it was a fun run. It being my first race, I didn't know that finding a pacer at the start with a finish time would be a good idea, so I started near the back and was hopelessly stuck in a herd of slow runners. Lesson learned.

The mile markers were not well posted - some were low to the ground, and some might have been non-existent.... The chip didn't give me a halfway split, which is too bad because I know I had a better second half when the crowds thinned out.

The finish line is a mess. Not enough space, and then you have to walk up 50 stairs or something to get your belongings. The medal was ugly and the tech shirt was boring.

It's a beautiful course though, and goes quickly due to the diversity of the sights.

This was my first Seattle Marathon. I thought the weather was perfect, if not a little too warm from where I'm used to training (but I wasn't complaining!). There may not be as many fans as other large races, but the volunteer support was fantastic. The course was pretty - I actually liked the out-and-back on the bridge and the lake path, and the foggy weather made it all the more beautiful. Of course, the hills at the end were tough, but that's where a lot of the fans were lined up and they really helped pull us through. Thanks to all of the folks from Bastyr who volunteered at the race finish to look over injuries.

Only two complaints: (1) The clothing drop-off bags were at the top of the stadium steps, which seemed like brutal punishment after 26.2 miles. Maybe the organizers wanted to help us keep those muscles moving for recovery, but I had to have a death grip on the railing to get back down the stadium stairs after picking up my bag, and it seemed a little unsafe. (2) What's up with the finisher shirts? The fabric was high quality, but the design was terrible. It was simply a white shirt with "Amica Insurance Seattle Marathon" printed in green just below the collar on the front. Weird. You would think they could design something more attractive and interesting? It's not a cheap race, after all.

All in all, it's a good race. Seattle has a lot of people and a lot of runners. I was surprised that this race didn't have more participants.

The Weather: The temperature was great - I didn't wear gloves and ran with one layer the entire time. As a Seattle native, I can say Seattle's rain isn't as prolific as the rumors would have you believe - usually it's just overcast and gray.

The Course: I think the course's reputation for being hilly is overrated. The only real hill you need to watch out for is in the 20-21 mile area. The course was well staffed with enthusiastic volunteers. The out-and-back section to Seward Park and on the I90 bridge came to be tedious, but were nice in the way it allowed you to see the elite runners up front. I also thought that the halfway point was about a quarter of a mile too soon. Dodging all the walkers, especially toward the end of the marathon, was a pain.

The Goodies: The shirt, while nice rather plain (white). The finisher's medal was nice, but simple compared to other big marathons - but we don't do marathons for the goodies, right?

The course had a good balance between few spectators on the land bridge and Seward Park and plenty on the actual streets. The pacers were not consistent as I stayed with the 4:45 group (4:00 was the next one up), and then they swapped pacers around the halfway mark. The fresh pacers then ran faster (perhaps to compensate for the hills towards the end). Also, I wasn't able to find details and meet the pacers beforehand at the expo even though it was listed as an event. Throughout the race there weren't enough portable toilets (e.g. 15 people standing in front of 1 toilet), and there were no GU gels leftover for the slower racers on both locations where there should've been.

This is the second time I have done this race. It is the only major race I have done, so maybe they are all this way and I am too picky. The race started in a very crowded intersection. I was warming up and headed to the starting area 10 minutes before the start. I could not get up to the start area and had to shove through spectators and climb a barrier to get onto the race route. Shortly after the start, I found myself dodging walkers while running the race. The rest of the race was fine; I had no complaints until the finish. I had to fight a crowd of finishers and spectators and walk uphill to the recovery area. In the recovery area, there was no place to sit; in the approximately 50 chairs that were set up, there were several non-running family members relaxing. It was hot and stuffy (not the race's fault - it was a balmy day) with no place to sit, and as soon as I grabbed a banana and a chocolate milk, I booked it out of there. I have run 10K's with 500 finishers that have a better recovery area, which was a little disappointing for our city.

Overall, it is a good run. If you are not concerned about the "accoutrements" of the race and arrive early for the start, you will have a good race.

It is a "hilly" race; I don't think "rolling" is quite the right term.

I've set a goal of running 50 marathons in 50 states. This marathon was state number 5 and number 8 total for me. The course was great, though hilly at the end. The volunteers were helpful. My only complaint was that the first water station was out of cups - probably due to the fact that there were staggered starts for the half-marathon run and walk, and the marathon walk. Other than that, I had a great time running this marathon.

Overall, this was a very nice marathon. We lucked out with good weather, especially considering the time of the year it is held.

The runner's expo was nice, but several of those staffing it, including at the information booth, did not know where some of the basic contacts were, including the pace team members.

I finally found someone to talk about the pace team, but they weren't able to answer why there were so few involved, and why the time spreads were so great, in my estimation. I understand the pacers were based on Boston Marathon qualifying times, but it would have been helpful just to have a few more.

I posed a similar question about the pace team via e-mail and telephone directly to the marathon office. While cordial, they were unable to provide much of an explanation for so few pacers involved.

As for the race: it was well organized, considering all of the different races and participants. However, one sizable challenge was dealing with the walkers who set out before us. Many would cover a lot of the road, which at times was fairly narrow. It left longer distance runners to have to bob and weave through the masses, taking precious energy away from the main objective.

I imagine those used to hills would be fairly comfortable during the last 10K, but this flat-lander really suffered (beware of going up Galer in particular).

One hiccup included no cups at the very first aid station. (People were drinking out of the pitchers.) Fortunately, all of the other aid stations were well stocked and had very supportive people.

The participation T-shirts were well made but bland, just like the finisher's medal.

On the positive side, the crowd that turned out was somewhat small but energetic, and the stadium finish was cool. Also, participants are able to get a printout of their race, which is a very detailed, three-page report!

I thought the event was very well run and worth doing, despite the issues noted.

This race was my 6th marathon event and by far the worst from an organizational standpoint. The starting area was not clearly marked as far as the location of the baggage check and even the start line. There was one speaker being used to announce which group was starting when and it clearly was not loud enough for everyone to hear. There were herds of people with no pace signs to line up with. As I started the 1/2 marathon I was running with 1/2 marathon and full marathon walkers. It is very frustrating to be in the start of a race and not have any clear organization.

The course: the course for this race is very beautiful. It is fairly hilly but that is something most people research before running. There are too many areas that bottleneck with people and also flow into traffic. The last thing a marathoner wants is to have to stop for 30 seconds for cars to go through.

Spectators: This is not a race to run if you are looking for constant cheering. Everyone that was out there was fabulous, but there is definitely a lack of people for what is supposed to be a major city! It would be fun to get the city of Seattle more involved in the race as far as teaming up with local companies, etc.

This was my first full marathon and it was great. The course is indeed tough, but I had practiced on the hills from mile 20 on, and that really helped when it came time to run the actual race. The weather was PERFECT for running, although I agree that the fog obscured a lot of the scenery (it made running across I-90 really cool though!). I didn't have any major issues with the organization, the course, or the walkers. The expo was great and I am really glad I chose my hometown marathon as my first one. :) The volunteers and spectators were amazing!