A decent early winter race. A net downhill course with a good number of rolling hills, so it isn't quite as easy as the organizers make it out to be. The expo was average. The start was well organized with plenty of portapotties, especially if you caught the early busses. It was cool waiting around for the start, but fortunately, the forecasted rain did not materialize. Temperature warmed up quickly as the race progressed. And the spectators started showing up as the day wore on. Good aid stations but a little short so if you did not get a drink quickly you could be out of the station before you realized it. Kudos to the volunteers for their enthusiasm. Pace info at the mile markers was very useful. Apart from the soup, the food at the finish was definitely uninteresting. Dry bagels, no cream cheese! But a nice colorful medal. Downtown Sacramento is eminently forgettable. Not exciting enough a race to warrant a return. There are many more places to visit and run at.

This is a great course for serious runners and had great spectators and scenery. The mile markers were excellent (huge!) with officials at every one. The course wound through some rural areas and then through the very nice well-wooded downtown area. Spectators were everywhere, along with some bands and cheerleaders. Aid stations were frequent and well-staffed. A great race for my first marathon! A knee injury doomed my 3:40 pace at the 22-mile mark, but I still struggled to a 3:59 finish.

This is a great course for serious runners, but if you're into spectators and scenery, this is not the course for you. I found the course to be very boring.
This year runners in the 5:30-6:00 hour range had no mile markers. The markers were removed before the cut-off. Very disappointing.

Like to hitchhike? The shuttle busses were very late, causing most runners to hitch a ride.

On the bright side, the medal was very colorful and well worth it.

I'll keep it quick. Ran this to get my Boston qualifier. Mission accomplished. Race was well-managed, incredibly friendly people, aid stations out the whazoo, good expo before hand.

Course was nice, rolling hills first 15 miles, then flat-to-downhill to finish. Like the point-to-point race, more scenery and I'd have given it 5 stars. Spectators are thin, but very enthusiastic - cheer for everybody, not just friends and family.

I like the field size - elbow room without feeling isolated on the course. Again - very friendly.

Hilly and fast with a great hometown feel. This race will cater to the serious runner or 1st-timer just as long as you don't require the 30,000-people hoopla.

I ran CIM yesterday and we had a perfect day: temps. in the 40's and sunny after predictions of rain. The first 15 miles is pretty rolling, not too flat and more down than up. My quads didn't revolt until mile 16. Downhill courses are always tougher than advertised for me. I prefer flatter courses or trails where the downhills are cushioned by the dirt.

Support was great, lots of volunteers at the water stops. Just enough cheering spectators to keep you going. Clif Shot pace teams for company. I ran with the 3:30 group led by famous ultra runner Tim Twietmeyer. If you havne't heard of him, do a Google search. We started out with about 100 runners in the group and worked down to 15 at mile 22 when I ran ahead. Tim was great and did a nice job of pacing.

The host hotel was affordable and convenient. My room was only $140 and the expo was next door. The expo was small compared to L.A. and N.Y. and not too interesting to me. Same old stuff on sale. But, I didn't fly up to Sac. to go shopping; I flew up to race. It was great to have room to breathe at the finish after the experience I had at my first 2 marathons (NY and L.A.).

I found everything very well run and organized. They even offered to let us sit on the bus at the start to stay warm. They serve Campbells tomato soup at the finish and it hit the spot. I qualified for the 2006 Boston Marathon when I'll be 45 and had a great weekend. It may take me the rest of the week before I can walk without my cane. :)

Well organized. For a small city, this was a great race. Crowd support was super but not too many spectators. I've ran on other cities where the residents did not care at all even if the course was on residential streets. One negative comment is that there was no coffee, water or bread at the start. It was real cold that it's better to stay in the bus until a few minutes before the start. Downtown Sacramento on a Saturday night was also very quiet. At 6pm, only the mall was open for business. You can even count the number of people. Overall, I consider running this race again.

As a veteran of over 50 marathons (PR 2:22) & a coach of marathon runners for over 30 years; I regard this as the BEST MARATHON RACE in the United States for SERIOUS RUNNERS! The course affords challenge & the opportunity for FAST TIMES but WITHOUT the trauma to the legs of traditional downhill courses. If I want a December marathon for my runners to use as a qualifier for the TRIALS, BOSTON or just a PR - THIS IS IT!

Bill Strachan - Head Coach - AZTECH Racing Team - Phoenix, AZ.

This course has everything a marathon should have. Scenery, hills, excitement, music on almost every corner, and the greatest supportive onlookers I have ever encountered. Even the children got involved!

This race isn't catering to armies of walkers or the 15 min/mile tourist. It's a footrace, and a great one. Efficient organization, but can we please have some real food at the finish - or at least infuse some moisture into the bagels?

The course is hyped as fast. Well, it's OK but the 'rolling' hills the first 16 miles are a little bigger than you're led to believe. The up side is when it flattens out, it'll feel easier and you can really pick it up. The roads are wonderfully wide and smooth. Btw, the split timers aren't great at math, so do your own pace calculations at the mile markers.

The crowds aren't huge but surprisingly big for such a thinly populated course. Never seen so many bible verses on banners, but what counts is their enthusiasm and it's topnotch.

Bottom line: if you're a real runner this is an excellent race. If you're trying to get to Boston, even better. But real runners want healthy food before the race and that's hard to come by in Sacramento restaurants.