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@csa21

Walnut Creek, CA Raving since 2020 50 States hopeful/finisher Active 4 years, 1 month ago

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My Races

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Half Marathon

Marathon

Ultramarathon

(Marathon or Ultra) + Half

Marathon + Ultra

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Race Distance Location Date Paid

Past Races (1)

Race Distance Location Date Result My Raves My Performance
Marathon Leavenworth, WA Oct 3, 2015

My Raves

This race is held the first weekend of Leavenworth's Oktoberfest festival, which is a fun time. This was my first marathon after completing the half marathon in 2014. You park … MORE

This race is held the first weekend of Leavenworth’s Oktoberfest festival, which is a fun time.

This was my first marathon after completing the half marathon in 2014. You park (or get dropped off) at the finish line and then take a shuttle up to the start. The start had enough port-a-pots for people, and you had enough time to use them but not so much time you froze to death before the start. There were under 400 marathoners in 2015, so the start isn’t too crowded.

The first 10 miles are downhill, which, coming from a super flat area in Eastern Washington, I wasn’t trained for. So my quads and glutes got tired sooner than normal. There is a difficult segment where you run in soft dirt (twice, because you go over that area right before halfway and then again right before the finish), and a couple inclines that are annoying but not horrible. The halfway point goes right through the finish line, and then you run the half marathon loop, so be prepared for that mental torture of running right past your car and having 13.1 miles left to run. Fortunately, the second half isn’t too hilly.

The volunteers are great and the marathoners even got two “babysitters” (as I like to call them) on bikes who were carrying Gatorade, gummy bears, and overall making sure the marathoners had what they needed. There is quite a bit of race support from locals as well as Oktoberfest visitors. I did get a little miffed by one volunteer. Around mile 17 I asked my significant other to bring me a water bottle because I was out of water and the next aid station wasn’t for a while and I was getting pretty dehydrated. I was in the back of the pack, the winner had already won I am sure, so a little extra water was not going to give me some advantage over other runners. However, a volunteer spotted my boyfriend about to give me a water bottle and yelled, “Hey, that’s cheating!” so I declined the water and went on my way. Probably just a one-off incident but still bothered me.

The medals are awesome, although I’m not sure they change year to year. It is a big chunk of metal that acts as a bottle opener. The shirts are nothing to write home about and in fact I don’t even have mine anymore.

My *only* complaint (and it’s a small one) is that they don’t have a post-race beer. How can you have an Oktoberfest marathon and not give away beer to the finishers?! Oh well, there is tons of beer in town at the festival to partake in. Overall, it’s a nice race and I recommend it for the views and to experience Leavenworth.

DIFFICULTY
3
PRODUCTION
5
SCENERY
5
SWAG
4

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