Silverton Alpine Marathon

Great marathon. Organizers did a fantastic job. I will summarize the positive and negatives below: Pos: -Plenty of food/drink every 4 miles or so -Tough course! I liked it, but just note that you will be briskly hiking from about miles 13-17 -Beautiful scenery. Old mines and mountains in the background, but you can see the red rivers full or iron or something from mine run-off. Brought a camera and wasn't disappointed the views from the top of the mountain (about mile 17) were breathtaking - Really good after race food especially for a $40 entry fee. I have paid $100 for pretty much nothing at other marathons. I probably ate $20 worth of food along the trail - Nice t-shirt that fits well and sweet pint glass at the end! I have a desk full of medals that I never use. I used the pint glass that night! Cons: -Tough course (not really a con for me, but I realize it is for some people). We are from Dallas, so the elevation I wasn't really prepared for. I thought the tough course was fun, but if you haven't done much trail or hill/mountain running just be prepared to walk a lot - No food after mile 18 or so. We were warned of this, but I somehow forgot. It would be nice to have a sign at the last food station just to remind us (again totally my fault). - Not truly a 'trail' marathon in the sense that you aren't really running through the forest. You run along an old mining road. Its still pretty and all loose gravel, but just bear in mind you aren't jogging through thick forest or anything. Overall a great race. It reaches almost 13,000 feet, so just be aware of that. I didn't think the elevation would be that bad (I have run others at up to 9,000), but this was tougher. The race directors were great. Very small marathon (maybe 50 in the marathon), but these are the types of marathons I love. If you want miles of concrete, spectators galore, and want to get ripped off, do one of those Rock'n Roll things. This was a great price for those of us that like trail/smaller marathons. Silverton is also a nice little town. It wasn't too difficult to get to for an out of stater like me. Flew into Durango and drove up to Silverton.