Positives:
1. Volunteers are always amazing including my sister and niece on garbage patrol!
2 The spectators standing in the rain for hours!
3. Bands, especially the drums at the start!
4. The rain actually increased comraderie among runners near me! Runners love to commiserate!
5. Water stations were often and well organized. Volunteers kept the way clear.
Negatives:
1. Lack of signage for corrals.
2. Plastic cups at aide stations. What is up with that again this year?
3. The course change in the first 3 miles. More corners made it hard to run tangents and trying to run tangent led to more puddles.
4. Normally, I love the out and back for watching the other runners. This year it was treacherous due to the rain and slippery tracks.
Overall:
I love the Portland Marathon. The organization is superb in most areas. The volunteers and spectator make up for any lack in organization. When I do another marathon, Portland will be near the top of my list. The size is great with lots of people to run, but not so many that you can't get room to move.
2 comments:
As you know, I am planning on running it next year. I will have to improve my cross-training to make a real go at it, but I think that 12 months will get me there. Maybe we can convince ERG to forgo Boston and run Portland instead.
I've never been to Portland before! I'll have to put this one on my list... and bring a rain slicker :)
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