Portland Marathon

The all new Portland Oregon marathon is fantastic. Everything about it is a huge upgrade from the old days. Fantastic course. Great Swag. FREE Photos. No getting ripped off and gouged. Great finish area festivities on Portland's waterfront. JOIN ME FOR 2020! I've run over 190 marathons. This is in the top ten.

2016 was my third time running the Portland Marathon... and my last. As mentioned by others, the expo is in a parking garage... come on. There's no bag check at the race, frustrating when it rains on race day. The organizers will say 'well it likely won't rain, so no need for bag check'... but that doesn't help when it does rain. It poured race day and when I crossed the finish line, I was so cold and asked the first aid booth for any type of blanket, hand warmers, something to help me warm up. They told me to keep walking... really helpful. The 2016 course, going up through north Portland was great, a portion I know they've removed since then... too bad, as that was my favorite part of the race (fantastic spectators and views). Out and back courses aren't a great way to show off your city, especially along an industrial highway (the current course). Let's also not forget to mention the fact that they took us off course at the beginning of the 2016 race, adding 0.5 miles to the total length of the marathon, but the race organizers never took responsibility. The race organizers rarely respond to questions via email or social media... really frustrating to those traveling for a race. There are so many other fall races, don't bother with this one... find another. Run on!

INTRODUCTION: I am a race-walker with a median marathon completion time of 5:18:47. The Portland Marathon was my forty-sixth 26.2-miler accomplished. COURSE: It was a perfect day for a marathon: weather at the start line was 48 degrees, 93 percent relative humidity, calm and partly cloudy. Unique to marathon events, it was we who sang The Star-Spangled Banner prior to race start in downtown Portland. Two blocks in, our mostly out-and-back course turned north on Northwest Naito Parkway / Northwest Front Avenue, alongside the Willamette River, for the first three miles. Backtracking south to Northwest Nicolai Street, but for a slight detour, we headed west until rounding north on Northwest Saint Helens Road at mile 5. At mile 6, we parted ways with the half-marathoners and our course narrowed down to one lane for marathoners travelling both outbound and return. Prior to mile 9, we encountered our biggest ascent, about a 100 foot climb which culminated at the crest of the Saint John's Bridge approximately one mile later. At this point, looking right we had our best view of downtown skyline. On the other side of the bridge, we spent most of our time on North Willamette Boulevard, passing by University of Portland, and further along, on a bluff overlooking the Willamette River, giving us another glimpse of Portland. We turned around halfway between miles 13 and 14 at North Jessup Street and mostly retraced our steps back to the start line on Southwest Salmon Street between Southwest 2nd Avenue and Southwest 3rd Avenue. Finish line temperature was 59 degrees, 60 percent relative humidity, calm with few clouds. ORGANIZATION: Well executed. Packet pickup at the Hilton Portland Downtown was efficient; included in our premium was an event poster. Superb course support, and although no gels were given, crews handed out cups full of gummy bears and pretzels. Beginning with congratulations by the race director at the finish line, we receive not only our medal, but a coin and pendant bearing the same design, a rose, a tree seedling, and a long-sleeve finisher shirt. Excellent food and drink assortment as well, including, rare to find in marathon finishes, chocolate milk. SPECTATORS: Typical fan support for a marathon of this size. The most excellent and diverse assortment of musical ensembles seen anywhere to date, including in the first mile, a drum corps whose sound was amplified by the Morrison Bridge, which they were positioned underneath. CONCLUSION: A lot has been written about the difficulty surrounding this year's marathon. Fortunately, none of this was in evidence during the event weekend. The organizers did a magnificent job pulling this one off. Yes, it may be disappointing a more scenic marathon course was not used, but given the choice between the course we traversed and no course at all, one should be grateful to the residents of this city to be able to continue the tradition. Well done, Portland. POSTSCRIPT: Race-walkers are few and far between in events such as these, and rarer still is to find one of similar ability. It was a pleasure to share the course with Judy between miles 2 and 3, and later on between miles 13 and 18.