Wonderful: the volunteers; the course control/police assist; the medals; the shirts; the finish locale, food,complimentary finish photos, winners medals; sufficient water/gummybears!/sportsdrink. The kinks for me: the Liberty Lake 7 miles, the miles along roadsides when the Centennial Trail is so gorgeous; the awkward and overlengthy bus transport; expo could be bigger; 'host' hotels did not provide fridges or microwaves; downtown host hotels had a booming parade beneath them til the wee hours; unclear bus shuttle info ahead of time; and let us know about the gravel section so we can wear gaitors please.

Ran the half last year and the full this year and i LOVE it. Wonderful course and great volunteers. Plenty of water stations and course marshals. And good events afterwords. Love it. Couple of challenging hills but definitely manageable. And the scenic route makes for a beautiful 26.2 mi journey

A great point to point marathon. The course is spectacular running along side the river for a majority of the time.

I really enjoyed this race. This was my first marathon and I picked it specifically for the flat course.

Race Expo
Perfect. Small, quick and easy to get your bib and shirt and get out without having all the hassle of having to push your way through a crowded expo.

Shuttle to Start
This went fairly smooth. I caught the bus around 5:45 and despite the fact the bus driver had been given bad instructions to the half marathon start, we made it to the start of the marathon right around 6:30. This was great - time to hit up a porta potty but no need to stand around forever.

Start Line
It wasn't clear if there was going to be a drop bag service so I just wore an old t-shirt with the intent of tossing it at the start. It turns out there was a drop bag service so I didn't have to lose a shirt!

Race Course
I loved that the race course was along a small path for most of the race. With only a few hundred people running, it kept you close to other participants but not so crowded you were bumping elbows. There weren't a ton of spectators but those that were there were great! Also, with the race being on a mult-use path, most of the other people out and about on bikes, walking or running would offer encouragement as well.

Finish Line
I got my medal and some water and left so I can't really speak to this too much.

Pros:
1) This was a flat, fast course where you can definitely PR, 2) Nice shirt and medal; the medal was given to you by uniformed US Marines, a nice touch, 3) There were kiosks at the finish where you could immediately check your results, 4) Ample amounts of water, heed, and gel availabe. I ran the 1/2 and they offered gel at 3 different water stations.

Cons:
1) Limited crowd support, 2) Small expo, 3) Post race food was limited to bananas, oranges, soup and chicken (random), 4) At times the volunteers seemed in the dark about how to help people, 5) A few mile markers for the 1/2 were MIA. Difficult to keep pace.

Overall, I'd do the race again. With a few minor tweaks, this race will be much better.

Overall, this is a wonderful event. The organizers have done a great job developing this race over the past few years. The course is gorgeous except a few miles toward the end.

The aid stations were adequate and well stocked. The volunteers were great and enthusiastic.

I have run many, many marathons and this easily ranks in the top 5. It goes to show that sometimes the best races are the low-key, local ones.

Ran in 2010 and 2011. For a first time marathoner, this is a sweet event. Great finisher medals. Terrible shirts...really, let's improve this, please!

Maybe I was paranoid, but I carried my own water bottles. Aid stations seemed too sparse for my needs, but they were always helpful to refill my bottles.

Great run. Beautiful.

Distance and train issues fixed by 2011.

Loved the course. Plentiful aid stations, very nice finishers medal and abundant post race food. No complaints. Thanks for a great marathon.

The race was much better organized than last year. The race started on time and the distance issue from last year was fixed. The weather was hot (60 at the start and mid 70's at the finish) and there was a strong tail wind, but there were plenty of add stations. Also the course looses 150+ ft of elevation with only a minor climb. The spectators are sparse but encouraging. Also the run along the river is nice.

It's been a little over a week since finishing the 2011 version of this race. Despite having a bummer of a race personally I really like this course and would recommend the race to anyone looking for a nice pretty flat course.
I also have to say the RD's did a great job with picking host hotels. The hotel provided a shuttle to the race transportation in the morning starting bright and early at 5:30 and they were at the finish line to help bring us back...even though it was less than 1/2 a mile a way to walk, it felt like a God send to take that shuttle.
The aid stations were well stocked and had great helpful volunteers, I especially liked the Hawaiian themed station that was around mile 22-23. It was a good distraction at that time. My only suggestion for future aid stations is to have water and Heed on the same sides or front-back of stations through each station so you could go right to the one you wanted.
There aren't a lot of spectators along the course but the ones that were there were very supportive. Personally I'm more concerned about the scenery along the way and that was beautiful along the river.
The finishers medals are very cool but the shirts aren't the greatest. Apparently their supplier thinks everyone has very short arms. The volunteers were apologetic about this. The expo was actually bigger than I expected for a race this size but the venue was crowded and it was a little confusing on where to find actual check in, not many signs to lead you up to 2nd floor where it was located, but volunteers again were very helpful.
Overall I would definitely do this race again.