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☰
Missoula Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Missoula Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.5 
Organization 4.7 
Spectators 4.2
Number of comments: 167 [displaying comments 71 to 81]
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A. T. from Chicgao
(7/16/2013)
"Absolutely wonderful" (about: 2013)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Over 16 miles of breath-taking scenery (before getting to city limits); volunteers and support STUPENDOUS (and I was a 6:20); loved the city (lots of restaurants, shops, etc.); great organization; spectators and hoses and post-race food still out even for the walkers! | |
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K. M. from NH
(8/20/2012)
"Go for it!" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I can only echo all of the positive comments. The city was wonderful, the course was great and the logistics were among the very best. This is my favorite marathon so far and I have run a few. The city is accomodating and the video clip of the course does not do it justice. The race director was very attentive and responsive to e-mails. The expo was more than adequate. The free pictures were a real bonus. This race truly has it all! The turns at the end were a little tough and my only tiny complaint was the over abundance of water stops in the last two miles, with all of the turns, they tended to clog the course a bit. There were walkers coming in from the half marathon at the same time as I was coming in and perhaps that added to the congestion. The timing mat at the half-way point was also a bit off but it was not important. I loved the race and know why this is a real destination. | |
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R. M. from New Jersey
(7/27/2012)
"Great Summer race" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 Montana was my 23rd state on my way around the 50 states. As the other runners have said, this is a terrific race. I like the fact that they had different tech shirts for marathoners and half martahoners. And it's a good-looking red shirt, while I've already got a zillion blue or white tech shirts. I also thought the free photo after the finish line was a nice touch. Not too many races do that. And this was the first time I've seen a computer and printer set up at the post-race tent where you could punch in your bib number and immediately get a small printout with your results and splits. The crowd support obviously wasn't to the level of New York or Chicago, but the folks out there were very loud and encouraging. And all the sprinklers set up were much appreciated once the temps warmed up. My training hadn't been the best leading up to the race, so I knew it would be a struggle for me. The sun and the warm temps made it even more so. This ended up being one of my slowest marathons yet. But I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. Heck, it's July, so it's bound to be warm. Other than the hill in the middle everyone is talking about, it's a flat, easy and fast course. July might not be the best time to shoot for a PR. But for anyone who wants to run in the Summer, or needs to check Montana off their list, or just run a fun race, then this is a good one to choose! | |
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J. L. from Kansas City
(7/20/2012)
"Missoula - Awesome" (about: 2012)
50+ previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This was marathon number 67 and state number 39, so I've seen a few. Missoula ranks among the best. I don't usually get on this site and post comments, but feel obligated due to the over-the-top experience. Everything, from Expo to finish, is perfectly run. Add a hard-to-beat course, as far as beauty, and you have it all. An example of their coolness - I ripped my shirt somehow on the flight home. I have no idea how, but that isn't the point. While I have a billion running shirts, this one was a keeper. I sent a mopey e-mail to the race director offering to purchase another. Most races would ignor such a crazy request. Not only did they reply, but they sent a replacement at no charge. It's a sad little story but exemplifies what a cool race this is. I would rank this up with the experiences at New York, Boston, Chicago, Big Sur, or any other that stick in my mind. Love the size of the race also - Just the right size for me. Plenty of room and plenty of people. Missoula - Thank you. | |
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R. W. from Durham, NC
(7/18/2012)
"First half if beautiful; look out for walkers" (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 This was a fun, fast race. It starts north of Missoula in beautiful farm country. Flat and fast until about mile 12, when you start up a gradual hill that gets rather steep for about half a mile around 14. At the peak, you're overlooking the river and valley below, making your effort well worth it. Descend the hill and the rest is flat through neighborhoods. Weather was quite warm this year; started around 55, but quickly warmed to near 70 once the sun popped over the mountains. Not a ton of spectators, but many of those who were present had sprinklers set up for us to run through; these were so welcome! Shuttles, water stations, directions, etc were all top notch. My only complaint was the prominence of walkers during the last 3 miles. Not runners who were tired; these were folks who walked the entire race. And unlike runners who are tired and step to the side of the road, these walkers tended to walk in clumps down the middle of the street. Candidly, I'd like to see the organizers do away with walker registrations; there are plenty of walker-only events out there. Otherwise, this was a fun race. If I ever live closer to Montana, I'd run it again. | |
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L. S. from California
(7/18/2012)
"Soaking your feet in Clark Fork after the run" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 This now is my favorite marathon. It was a bit warm at the finish, but the food in the tent (with lots of seating) was xlnt. Frozen watermelon bars and pasta salad. Superb. Absolutely loved the course & all the support personnel. Hearing my name & age announced at the finish was a nice touch. Soaking our feet & legs in the Clark Fork after was the best! Some people just sat down in it & let the river do its thing. Thanks, Missoula! | |
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Bonnie Elam from McKenzie, TN
(7/16/2012)
"Absolutely loved this race!" (about: 2012)
50+ previous marathons
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I needed a marathon in Montana for my 50 states and I picked this one because of prior comments. All were right on and then some. The DoubleTree was super, restaurant was very good, nice shirt, great medal, race organizers went beyond, course marked perfect (mile markers were where they should be), expo/start/finish were within walking distance from DoubleTree. I got race #46 for my 46th state. Anders & Vic did an excellent job. I would highly recommend this race for Montana. We rented a car & drove to Glacier Nat. Park - a must see if you are going there once. Area & course were absolutely beautiful. Thanks to everyone involved. Great marathon! | |
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J. R. from Alexandria, VA
(7/14/2012)
"What a GREAT time" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 5 I had a GREAT time in Missoula. Now, I'll start this by saying that Missoula's like some kind of planetary alignment: (1) July marathon WITH great weather, (2) extremely well-run marathon, (3) fun, small, don't-need-a-car city, (4) stunning variety of outdoorsy stuff nearby, and (5) relatively easy to reach by air. But you want to know about the race. This is a point to point, starting in Frenchtown in a valley outside the city at 6AM. The first 9 miles are flat, straight, and cool (mid-high 50s). Few spectators, but nice views of the mountains. A few turns later, and you start to climb 'the hill' at 11ish (download the youtube video). The hill climbs gently for 3 miles or so, with one sharp uptick. But easy day. From there, you'll start winding through smaller farms and suburbs until you reach the leafy Missoula neighborhoods and finally, a finish on the bridge over the Clark Fork River downtown. Logistics for this race are exceptional. Easy, compact, flawless expo outside, right downtown. Loved that there was a farmers' market going on next to the expo. Frequent aid stations- well stocked (though I'm not a Gatorade fan). Fans are few at 6AM in the countryside, but lots more in the neighborhoods- most put their sprinklers on for us. Great copper horseshoe medal at the end, too. I enjoyed so much about the Missoula experience and made a week-long vacation out of of it. Great dining options and microbreweries in town- numerous rafting, hiking, and sightseeing closeby. Three days in Missoula, then off to Glacier National Park, Idaho, and eastern Washington. Just wow. No wonder SO many said I had to run Missoula. You should, too. | |
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G. C. from California
(7/11/2012)
"A great summer race, fantastic organization" (about: 2012)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 This a very well organized race. Great communication; the race is not capped (as of 2012) so it was easy to sign up late. Bus transportation to the start was efficient despite the early morning start (6am). I thought that the best part of the course was the first 18 miles. It's rural and beautiful. However you won't get much crowd support there. After these first ~18-19 miles, it reaches suburban Missoula. Although there are more spectators there, it is not as pretty; in addition those late miles have a lot of turns. So the first ~20 miles were definitely the most enjoyable to me. The hill at mile 14 is steep but short - I lost about 20s/mi on that mile. The finish line and finish area is great. Fantastic medal; ability to print your results right away; Finally, FREE DOWNLOAD OF RACE PICTURES !! I haven't taken advantage of that because the photos are not available yet, but wow...! For those of you trying to run a fast time, there are a couple of issues with this race. The first one is that coming from sea level, I could feel the effect of the mild elevation (3,300 ft) and had to adjust my pace by 10s (6:55 ->7:05). In addition if you run a 2:40-3:30 time, you will encounter a LOT of half marathon walkers in the last few miles the race. That's because they start at the same time (6am) as the full marathoners. This can cause issues because they tend to clog the road by walking several abreast and use the tangents. Many were pretty good at leaving the road open for faster marathoners, but not all of them and I had to make space for myself multiple times. This is one of the issues generated by the success of this race and the organizers will have to deal with it in the future if the number of runners who register for the half keep increasing. Finally the timing mat at the half was misplaced (13.4 by my Garmin, confirmed by many other people) - so do not trust the half splits shown for the 2012 race. Despite these (minor) issues, this is a first class race that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone looking for a marathon in July and/or in Montana. | |
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R. W. from Winnipeg, Canada
(7/11/2012)
"Beautiful course and well organized." (about: 2012)
6-10 previous marathons
| 1 Missoula Marathon
COURSE: 5 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 The marathon is a point to point course that starts in Frenchtown and ends in Missoula. The course runs mostly through the countryside and is blessed with outstanding scenery. The crowds (as one might expect) are sparse in the country side, but what they lack in numbers they make up for in enthusiasm. Plenty of water/Gatorade stations and the three gel stations were much appreciated. The event was very well run. The expo at the park was excellent and downtown Missoula has lots to offer during marathon weekend. The course is challenging (particularly for a prairie boy like myself). A net elevation gain, one nasty hill, and it can get pretty hot on the course. Overall, a top notch event that I would certainly run again. |
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