Napa 2008 was one of my favorite courses. The scenery is beautiful and we had a perfect weather day - 40 at the start and high 60's at the finish. The CHP did a great job of keeping cars off the course. Volunteers and water stops were plentiful with water, Gatorade, oranges and other stuff. Appreciated the GU! The course is mostly flat with a few hills at miles 1.5, 5 and 19, but downhill from 20.5. Course is easy to spectate - my husband saw me at the start, four places during the race and still made it to the finish. It's not like the Twin Cities, but the spectators that are out there are great and you get to enjoy the scenery.

Best goody bag - a nice canvas duffel bag perfect for taking to the gym! T-shirt is a quality Asics long-sleeve technical. Medal is a heavy spinner - really pretty.

Downers - packet pickup was crowded and a little disorganized. Give it its own place out of the expo. There were lots of porta-potties at the start but too close to everyone lining up - need to move them back.

Highly recommend the Napa Marathon!!

This was my 8th marathon; the course was lovely. For the 1st 13 miles, the curves and slanting roads made it a bit difficult consistently to find level sections to run. This made for a challenging 1st half. The bananas at the rest stations were awesome. I generally find they are quick and easy-to-digest source of potassium. Even though it was a small marathon, chip timing would have been nice for those of us who like looking at splits. The number of people was just the right amount. I never felt alone. The start of the marathon was weak - no national anthem, and if I had not been near the front, I would not have been able to hear whoever called out, "Go!" (if that was even what they called out).

All in all, the run was very pleasant... along with the post-race food and the lovely music. The beautiful sunshine was great, even though that's not something the race directors can control. It sure helps to have great weather.

The way we started was bad for my time. By the time I was able to get in front at the starting point, I had lost about 10 to 15 minutes.

This was my 5th marathon, and 4th since October. I've run a large international race (Las Vegas '96), and 3 smaller ones (Sacramento-Cowtown '07, Santa Clarita '07, and Redding '08). This one was larger than the last 3, as it reached the 2,300 person limit. If you're into vineyards, the course is all you could ask for, as it runs the entire length of the Silverado Trail. Nine out of 10 years, there is great weather for this race. It was windy, but more tailwind than anything else - catastrophe averted! The expo on Saturday was small, but fun. The pasta feed was the best I've experienced so far (5 choices of pasta of which I had 4), although having wine and beer at pre-race festivities is just mean. :) There were rolling hills, and although I wouldn't describe it as a PR course, it does lose over 200 feet in elevation. There were 2 or 3 uphills of notice, and4-5 downhills... the rest was pretty gentle. Crowd support was sporadic, but enthusiastic! The finish area was adequate, although a little short on the type of calorie-dense foods I was craving after the race. Stretching and massage were both available, and your sweat bag is actually an Asics gym bag with the race logo (in additional to a long-sleeve Asics tech tee).

Overall, a great experience, and since I'm new at this long stuff, I did manage a 2:42:10 PR! This was my favorite of the 5 marathons I've done, but that may have just as much to do with the fact that we went wine tasting for the next two days as the race itself. I will be back in the future if the fates allow.

What an awesome run! From the pasta dinner the night before with Joan Benoit Samuelson as featured speaker, to the jazz band at the finish, everything was great. The hills were short and over before you knew it, and the tailwind was a big help. It seemed to pick up just as I was heading up a hill! I would highly recommend this marathon and will return.

This is my second NVM and I can't say enough about how well the race is organized and how much I enjoy the course. Because of the self-imposed size limite, we rarely get such a great course and sophisticated organization with a race of this size. If you have friends or family with you, and they have a car, they can find you at a number of points along the way.

This race is a must-do. It was my 23rd marathon and one of my all-time favorites. The attention to detail by the race director is amazing and he and his team present an event that puts the runners FIRST. Good expo, great race t-shirt, AWESOME goody bag (got your choice of an Asics duffel bag or an Asics backpack!), wonderful course, great medals, and to top it all off: perfect weather and an insane tailwind! The only thing that I was concerned about was that they didn't have chip timing. However, runner limit is 2300 so it's relatively small and it wasn't a big deal.

I will be back and I will bring a bunch of friends! Can't wait.

This is a great marathon event. It is a gorgeous landscape in the Valley, and going there for a marathon, you get to experience it first hand. Race Director David Hill put on a superb event, with lots of help from volunteers, and a great job by law enforcement too.

The expo was kind of crowded, but when you have 2300 folks to get through packet pickup, it is understandable. There was Calistoga juice to sample, and Napa wine tasting too. The shirt was the moisture-wicking type, with a rather ordinary vineyard design on it. But every runner got a high quality, heavy-duty duffel bag (some got a back pack instead) with "Napa Valley Marathon" and a bunch of grapes embroidered on it. Talk about class!

We all met at Vintage High School (home of the Crushers!) in the morning (though some got rides from their hotels). From there we boarded buses and were transported to the starting line in Calistoga, 26 miles north of Napa. It started to get light around 6:30 and the race started at 7:00. In Napa, the temperature was 52, but Calistoga felt 10 degrees cooler, and the wind was blowing really hard - but in the right direction. Many runners were cold while waiting for the start, but what are you going to do? I was cold too, but warmed up during the first mile. Warm-up clothes were transported back to the finish area.

The course was the back road from Calistoga to Napa, with some turns at the end to make the mileage work out. There were 2 hills at mile 2-3 and another more significant hill around mile 6. The rest was more gentle ups and downs, but it was still generally downhill.

Fan support was great, but since the road was closed most of the way, the fans had to move ahead to specific intersections to cheer on the runners. Still the fans were enthusiastic and an inspiration to us.

The water/aid station volunteers were outstanding. Water and Gatorade throughout the race, with GU, pretzels, oranges, and bananas in the second half. Very well done.

The finish line workers were organized and on top of their game too, handing out medals with an inside part that spins in the outer frame. And in the cafeteria the food workers served up more fruit and hot soup and kaiser rolls. Hot showers were available too.

A couple of things seemed unusual to me. No timing chips were used. That is okay, but it is a big job to hand-record 2300 runners. The other thing is that this race had a hard cut-off at 6 hours. The 6-hour limit was advertised as such, but my experience has been that usually race directors let those who are close continue to run. Being a 5 to 6 hour marathon runner, I was concerned. I made it okay, but if someone was slowed down by an injury - cramps, a blister, etc., and did not make 6 hours, by only a few seconds, it would be a huge disappointment.

I ran Napa this year in 3:33, a slight PR and my 6th marathon. I've outlined my thoughts below:
1) Pre-race: I stayed at the Marriott, where the expo and pasta dinner are held. It is a nice hotel with friendly staff, a central location right across from a Target/Whole Foods/Trader Joe's, and definitely the hub of marathon weekend's activities. It was great to be able to settle in to one location and to fully relax in the days before the race. The expo is very small - one small ballroom space with not a lot for sale. Packet pickup is smooth and pleasant and the bag and shirt you receive are both very high quality. The pasta dinner was also good - two seatings, 200 people each, interesting speakers, and very good food for $25.
2) Rules: They say no iPods. Every marathon I've done says this, but Napa really means it. I saw only one on the course.
3) Course: Lovely, as all posts here describe. Beautiful sunrise, and the wind was at our backs for most of the course. Very good spectator support given how inaccessible the valley is and how small the marathon is (2300 runners). The aid stations were well-run and well-supplied by kind, efficient volunteers. The local community (residents, businesses, wineries) definitely supports this race. The course was HILLIER than I expected - I didn't feel it was mostly downhill. I also wore my Garmin and it measured long - 26.39 miles - which I hope is a glitch in my watch. Finally, I found the roads very uneven - either the sides were much lower than the middle or the road was quite steeply sloped left to right or right to left. I ended up with excruciating blisters, a first for me, and I know it's because I was running strangely on my feet due to the uneven road.
4) Transportation: I took a bus at 5:30 a.m. from the Marriott to the start. We arrived at the start around 6 a.m. and runners were able to wait on the bus until the very last minute. I got off at 6:18, walked to the bathroom, and hung out at the start from 6:40 until 7 a.m., when the race started.

The organizers of this race really LOVE it... it has a very high rate of return runners, the course is stunning, the weather is often perfect, and it is a unique marathon experience. It is a small marathon, which means fewer crowds and fewer amenities/services, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well-thought out many aspects of this marathon were.

As always, a very well organized event with attention to detail. Lots of enthusiastic volunteers and spectators. Somehow my wife managed to cheer me on 4 times on the course and still catch me at the finish. I will recommend this marathon to anyone - especially first-timers - and will return myself.

The weather was beyond perfect.