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☰
City of Trees Marathon Runner Comments
Back to City of Trees Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.1 
Organization 4.1 
Spectators 3.2
Number of comments: 112 [displaying comments 11 to 21]
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J. L. from Fairbanks, Alaska
(10/14/2011)
"Beautiful but needs a couple of easy fixes" (about: 2011)
2 previous marathons
| 1 City of Trees Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 4 Thanks to the organizers and the wonderful volunteers. They were a great help for some of us slower runners. It was a beautiful lap around Boise with great weather. My suggestions should be easy to fix: 1.- The map was marginal and could be made better by a savvy person with google maps. Also the hand written instruction could be replaced with printed instructions as they were hard to read. 2.-There needs to be some improvements in marking. Colored chalk would help and also having a volunteer at critical corners would help. I was one of the people that went on a 1 mile diverson at Ann Morrison park. Apparently (reports from park employees)some people moved the corner marker as a prank and that is why a number of us had an extension to our run. This was a tough blow at mile 21.5 for a tired Marathoner. 3. Additionally the entrance to Ann Morrison Park is a high traffic area and would benefit from a road guard. My final comment is that to caution anyone running 11:00 miles and slower that you may be running alone for a large portion of this marathon. It would pay to have pacers or a buddy in this course to help you out. Over all this was a great return to marathon running after 16 years and I appreciated the volunteer, cheer leaders, and positive community support. | |
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Michael McDonald from Lubbock, Texas
(10/14/2011)
"A small wonderful marathon" (about: 2011)
1 previous marathon
| 1 City of Trees Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 This was my first ever marathon and I'm glad I ran it in beautiful Boise, Idaho. Not only did I visit my 2 sisters there, my son and daughter drove up from Reno, Nevada to visit and provide support to their old man. Wonderful weather, good organization, and a supportive populous made my first marathon a success. I can't believe some of the runners had 'problems' following the course; I'm 63 years old, from Texas, and I had no problems at all. When you're a runner, you need to know the course. There were plenty of course maps available at the packet pick up. Next time, pick one up, study it, know where you're going! Thanks Jeff, keep up the good work ! Mike McDonald, Lubbock, Texas | |
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k. L. from Seattle, WA
(10/13/2011)
"Fresh air, perfect weather, great small race" (about: 2011)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 City of Trees Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I have run 7 marathons before and so far this has been the smallest. I would say it is definitly worth your time to run it. Pros: Pretty, air smelled like pine trees, volunteers were super nice, path took us through nice areas I didn't know existed in Boise. Plenty of toilets, water and volunteers. Cons: Small race (200 marathoners this year)so if you're slow, you'll be on your own for a majority of the race (I ducked into a potty then came out and all the racers were gone, I was by myself for a mile before I saw the racers again!)..bring your confidence! Suggestions: 1. A couple of cones through long stretches just to show that runners are still on course would help with the mental aspect of it. 2. More advertisement throughout town so locals know a race is going on..one driver yelled at a volunteer for stopping traffic, poor girl..maybe Boise isn't into running as much as other places? 3. Make BIG mile marker signs...I mean BIG...like go to Kinko's and have some poster board sized mile markers made. It helps psychologically :) 4. See if race directors can get someone to donate walkie talkies for volunteers near the 19-25 mile markers. I'm a slow runner and when I got to a crucial confusing turning point near the very end the volunteer asked if there was anyone behind me..then said she was supposed to go home an hour ago, but didn't want to leave anyone stranded..What a great lady to stay for us slow pokes!! All in all, this was a great little race and I would recommend it for everyone, although the faster runners might like it more :) | |
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P. J. from Layton, UT
(10/11/2011)
"Excellent marathon" (about: 2011)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 City of Trees Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I participated in the 2011 City of Trees marathon, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We stayed at the host hotel just a block & a half from the start, and the finish. That's ultra convenient. The course was entertaining w/scenic views of Boise and its neighborhoods. If you're interested in a marathon with less than 500 participants I strongly recommend the City of Tree event. The course volunteers were excellent. Way to go team. | |
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M. J. from Idaho
(10/11/2011)
"Fun Race!" (about: 2011)
1 previous marathon
| 1 City of Trees Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 For my first marathon I had a great time. The course was good and people were out to cheer. Only negative was not enough food stops with waters stops. Overall had a great time. | |
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D. E. from West Coast
(11/28/2010)
"Nice race, but missing directions at the end" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 City of Trees Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 At about mile 21, there were no arrows to point the right directions, meaning that my small group of runners turned the wrong way and ended up doing almost a whole mile extra. During the second part of the race there were very few volunteers, and I ended up having to wait for traffic lights at a couple of places. Perhaps there were police officers there earlier to stop traffic for runners, but there were none when I ran by. | |
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K. P. from Colorado
(11/10/2010)
"Disappointed - poorly marked/monitored course" (about: 2010)
50+ previous marathons
| 2 City of Trees Marathons
COURSE: 2 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 1 Disappointed. Having run 250-plus marathons, this has to be one of the worst-marked/monitored road courses I have ever run. Because of the limited number of marathon runners, you had to concentrate on looking for course markings to guide you through parking lots, paved trails, etc. Unfortunately I veered off course, costing me about two minutes. This could have easily been avoided with a 50-cent orange cone or a volunteer. Upon finishing the race, I spoke with at least 6 other runners who had gone off the course at different points between miles 18 - 24. There were also a number of places on the course that could have easily been "shortcut" by runners and more timing checkpoints/mats should have been strategically placed and/or better monitoring. I had run this race in 2005, which was a much better/different course. Boise is a great, small town that deserves a marathon to match! | |
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S. W. from Northwest
(11/5/2010)
"Nice race... but" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
| 4-5 City of Trees Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 2 It needs much more community support. This is the 4th time I have run this race. The route has been changed from a few years back. Federal Way has a great view of the city and then down Capital Blvd. to the bike path and then through the North End and then up on the bench. I thought it was a "fast" course, but it needs more spectators. Just a thought: rather than the run around Ann Morrison Park, what about a lap around the track at Bronco Stadium by the Blue Turf? | |
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M. R. from Minneapolis
(10/23/2010)
"Well organized race" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 City of Trees Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 This is a small race, with fewer than 300 marathoners, and 500 in the half. But it is very well organized and reminds me of a lot well organized, smaller, local 10Ks/half marathons that I've run. Definitely not a major event. But a marathon is a marathon and it's about running. The course is great. The first lap for the marathon takes an outside loop of the city and the sunrise was a pleasant distraction. (No sun in the eyes for the marathon, which starts 1 hour before the half). It was a bit hot this year, but the second loop follows city streets through neighborhoods and offers plenty of shade in the "City of Trees.' A nice feature of this race has to be the hotel location. The race host Double Tree and the Springhill Suites, where I stayed, are a block from the start and finish. This is a huge advantage. Warming up and stretching out in my hotel until 10 minutes before the start was great. Possible Improvements: eliminate the short out-and-back during mile 23, get volunteers at the major turns, and try to rally a bit more community crowd support. People around town were coincidentally out and about but seemed surprised that marathoners were running by. | |
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D. E. from Santa Clara, CA
(10/19/2010)
"Nice course, but easy to get lost" (about: 2010)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 City of Trees Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 When I got to the second loop of the full marathon course, some volunteers had already started packing up the water stations, which would have been a problem if I hadn't carried my own electrolyte drink. After mile 15, there were no more volunteers showing the way and stopping traffic, so I ended up having to follow the not-always-easy-to-find arrows on the ground and having to stop a stoplights in a couple of places. That worked okay until mile 21.5, where there was absolutely no markings when coming down the hill. Because I didn't know which way to go, I ended up going the wrong way before I decided that I MUST be going the wrong way and went back towards the greenway, where I found the course again. I can only imagine what would have happened to the course navigation if rain had erased the flour arrows... The volunteers were really friendly, but there were not a lot of spectators. The course was nice and not too hard, but running an extra 0.8 miles because of the wrong turn was a downer. I recommend this race to people who are fast enough to get volunteer help all the way. :-) The race organizer puts on a very nice race, but having to fight traffic and wait for the traffic lights to turn felt "un-race-like." |
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