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Seattle Marathon Runner Comments
Back to Seattle Marathon Information & Reviews
Course 4.1 
Organization 3.9 
Spectators 3.1
Number of comments: 182 [displaying comments 31 to 41]
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B. N. from portland
(12/5/2010)
"Nice course; listen to feedback on organization" (about: 2010)
First Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 Seattle has a great course. Weather was just below 40, with no rain and no wind. November in Seattle just doesn't get any better! What needs to be done better? 1) Pasta feed was a joke: $25 for one walk-through a line that had pasta tubes and salad. 2) Long-sleeve shirts are nice, but the logo ruined them. Really, this is Seattle, the home to the most creative people in the country. 3) "Where is my stuff again? I'm freezing...." I was surprised to see the bag drop-stuff was not moved to the other side. Additionally, there was no signage at the finish to direct you that way. Once you did find it you had to walk the stadium steps to find it. Nice job on the actual course: Water stations, first aid and GU. Great volunteers! | |
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Bill Chalk from British Columbia
(12/4/2010)
"I love the varied scenery in this course" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 6+ Seattle Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Ok, I ran the half not the full, but this comments page doesn't have an option for that. I like the Seattle Half better than the full because of the high probability of cold wet weather. I can put up with 1:38 of any weather, but being out there for a minimum of 3:35 (and maybe longer) doesn't appeal to me. What I like about the Seattle course (half or full) is the variation in scenery. You never get bored because it keeps changing - from cityscape, to freeway, to tunnel, to lake, to arboretum... and who doesn't love Interlaken? In the full you get to add the floating bridge and the "flat" lake section down to Seward Park and back. They've improved the bag check too, from the old days where you had to climb the bleachers in the stadium unless you could snag a boyscout volunteer to run up there and get your bag. And the recovery area is indoors. Things I don't like about the Seattle Marathon: Having to listen to the national anthem (twice) sung by a Mariah Carey wannabe. What happened to the old days when you just plain sang the anthem and put your hand on your heart? Oh well; American Idol seems to ruin everything good. Not much else to beef about. Well, food in the recovery area was a bit slim this year. No salty soup (long gone are the days of Ivors clam soup) and weak coffee (really? In Seattle?). And I know from previously running the marathon that even this food can disappear by the time 7,000 halfers get through with it. Maybe they save some now and don't bring it out until later. Hope so. Otherwise, the Seattle Marathon is great experience and I look forward to it every year. It's not a PR course - don't let anyone tell you it is. It's too narrow for the first 3 miles to go fast without burning up energy passing lots of other runners. The hills knock time off your pace and it's twisty in places. So don't expect a PR; just be happy with what you get, and enjoy it. | |
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C. C. from New York
(12/2/2010)
"Lovely day for a marathon in 2010" (about: 2010)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Seattle Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 4 Lucked out on the weather (only dry day of the week! and not too cold). The scenery was beautiful in the parks and the hills in the last 6 miles were tough but I guess we were warned that it would be a rolling course. My only complaint is that the ankle band for the timing chip nearly cut my foot off (a slight exaggeration of course but the material was rather rough).Pperhaps long socks would help. | |
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R. D. from Steilacoom, WA
(11/30/2010)
"Loved it, but..." (about: 2010)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Seattle Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 2 FANS: 3 I have to love this race because I ran it very well and I do believe that the course is highly PR-able. The on-course support was great in terms of plenty of aid stations and medical tents (thanks to UWMC). HOWEVER. Organizers need to revamp some details and apparently haven't been listening to criticism for years. The expo sucked - I had to wait in line for 20 minutes to get up the escalator into the ballroom. Have it somewhere bigger than a hotel. Recovery area was even worse - I finished in the top third of marathoners, and if there was more food available other than bananas and canned chicken noodle soup, it was gone by the time I came in. Bagels? Carbohydrates of some sort? Don't let spectators clear out the food that the runners NEED. Just a few ideas. Also, the first aid station was needlessly early and created a choke point. Push that one back or dispense with it altogether. | |
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S. S. from British Columbia
(11/29/2010)
"Overall OK in 2010..." (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 2 Seattle Marathons
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 3 I ran this for the first time in 2008 and the experience in 2010 was about the same, except I was 25+ minutes faster. I prepared for the rolling course that has a few rather steep sections and so was OK in that respect. The weather was great - between about 38-39 F and low to mid 40s. A few too many turns in some places for my liking but the scenery was solid. As usual, a mass of runners went out too fast at first. I started near the 3:10 pacer (and finished a bit slower than that), but was passed in the first mile by hundreds. Seemingly more than most races that I do (and it seems I spend the rest of the race passing the majority of them). Nonetheless, there were some good, flat sections, and a fair bit in wooded areas, which I liked. Crowd support was good enough for me (I'm low maintenance in this regard anyways). The expo was fair, the food at the end fair (although I can't fathom why the chocolate milk people ran out of chocolate milk so fast, considering that I finished by 11:30 a.m.). Oh wait - I got confused. This is really the Seattle HALF Marathon (over 7,610 runners starting at 7:30 a.m.) - not really the Seattle Marathon (only about 2,340 runners starting at 8:15 a.m.). Looking at the half marathon results, I can see that over 7,500 half marathoners were chowing down in the recovery area (if they went there) ahead of me. Perhaps other food vendors had packed up before the bulk of marathoners arrived? A minor annoyance, I suppose. Seattle Center is a good place to hang out if your hotel is close and you're not heading out of town immediately. | |
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D. A. from Moses Lake, WA
(11/29/2010)
"Mixed Review" (about: 2010)
4-5 previous marathons
| 1 Seattle Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 3 FANS: 2 After looking at the simplicity of the shirt design and the lack of food in the recovery area, I found this race to be very expensive for what you got. I found the course to be challenging, but a scenic way to see the various sides of Seattle. However, due to running on highways, in tunnels, alongside Lake Washington and through the arboretum, there were very few spectators. It was fitting though to see all the supporters with their coffee to go in hand. | |
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D. M. from Tacoma, WA
(11/29/2010)
"Great Course, Perfect Weather, Bad Recovery Set" (about: 2010)
3 previous marathons
| 1 Seattle Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 4 I did the 2010 Seattle Marathon, my first Seattle Marathon. Perfect weather (37 degrees at the start, 44 degress at the finish, no wind or rain). The course is fantastic along Lake Washington and the floating bridge; for an out-and-back legged course, it is very nice. It is mainly flat, with a few small inclines and declines, until (as noted before) mile 20 when the hills come into play. I was paced at 10 minutes/mile until then. Finished at 4:30. The clothing check is very easy and nicely located at the start; however, when I finished at the west end of Memorial Stadium (a nice place to finish), and followed the signs to the "Recovery Area," I expected that my clothes would be there. But they were still back at the east end, so I have to go back out to the stadium field and up the stairs to get my clothes. Not a real major thing, but still, my legs were tired after the run. I will definitely do this again. I came from Tacoma; I took the #594 bus from the Tacoma Dome at 5:30, and it let me off less than a mile from the start around 6:15. | |
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M. O. from Portland, OR
(11/28/2010)
"A good marathon" (about: 2010)
11-50 previous marathons
| 4-5 Seattle Marathons
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 2 The Seattle Marathon is a race that is easily overlooked, since it takes place on Thanksgiving weekend. I've run this race several times and like it for many reasons. First, the size of this marathon is just right. Only a couple of thousand runners. Not too large and not too small. Second, regardless of the hills, the course is scenic. Lastly, the organization is solid. From packet pick-up to race-day course support, the race experience went smoothly. This year's weather was chilly and dry, and the sun came out later in the race. Good volunteer support on the course and at the finish. The race shirt was a big improvement over last year's quality (Saucony) tech shirt - nice color and design. | |
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Tyson Poskochil from Lincoln, NE
(5/5/2010)
"Some things good, others..." (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Seattle Marathon
COURSE: 3 ORGANIZATION: 4 FANS: 3 I enjoyed the scenery of downtown Seattle and the various neighborhoods, parks, and bodies of water the course took me through. I was not ready for the series of hills at the end of the race, which is exactly when you don't need them. I did appreciate the splitting of groups into four waves of runners at the beginning, which is a good logistical strategy. Temps were bit on the cooler side, which made me keep my a jacket on for almost the entire time, so something to keep in mind for this time of year. Medal was simple but very nice, and I liked to see that half-marathoners received the same-size medal (only silver) as the marathoners. Expo also seemed a bit condensed in the given hotel space, as well as the post-race festivities at the finish. Overall, a good marathon experience, but not one I'd choose to do again. | |
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A. D. from British Columbia, Canada
(1/12/2010)
"Very enjoyable, not as hilly as expected" (about: 2009)
11-50 previous marathons
| 1 Seattle Marathon
COURSE: 4 ORGANIZATION: 5 FANS: 3 I was somewhat apprehensive going into this race with regard to (a) the hills, and (b) the potential for rain. Despite checking race reviews, course hill profiles, and talking to other runners, I just couldn't seem to get a good picture of how hilly this course really was. As it turned out, the hills were not so bad. I would estimate that a 3:30 marathoner could expect to add 5-7 minutes compared to a flat course. And the weather, fortunately, was nearly perfect marathon weather - cloudy, +10C (50F), and only a few drops of rain. The race was very well organized, had great volunteers, and a very good race expo; I actually bought some items, which is unusual for me! The race hotel was a bargain and, at the risk of starting a debate, I must say that I enjoyed downtown Seattle more than I enjoyed downtown Portland, Oregon in 2008. I will be back! |
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