Doug Robeson's Staging Area

The distance was only 12.9 miles (confirmed by several different devices).
The pacers were wrongly spaced to start: 1:50 was in front of 1:40 and 2:00 and 2:10 were right up at the front with the others. All of the paces were within 20 feet of each other at the start of the race, causing everyone to try to get to the front at the starting line, which was a mess.
Packet pickup was a mess – There wasn’t a clear line or a clear sign saying where to start. It seemed like they cared more about what bands would be playing than streamlining packet pickup. Not once did they ever mention the parking situation at packet pickup.
No good swag – I got a bag, a shirt, and a bib. That’s it. Plus, they asked if sizes were male or female, but only had gender neutral shirts (or male shirts). What was the point of asking for female sizes???
This race cared more about have a “cool” packet pickup than putting on a good race.
I do NOT plan on doing this race again.

This has to be the most fun race in the country. There is a slight hill in the beginning and towards the end, but the rest of the race is downhill or flat. There are tons of people everywhere cheering you on and tempting you to stop for all sorts of wild and crazy shenanigans, some are well worth stopping at. My only caveat here is that this race is run at altitude.

We love running the Love Octopus (as we call it). I think my significant other and I have run it for 5 years now. We both often still wear our race shirts. The course is completely flat and fast, it’s an out and back. The only downside is that as a 10K runner trying to place, I have to try to navigate through some slower 5K runners on the way back, both sets of people running on the same course.

This is a well organized, beautiful race. The course is nice with lots of fans cheering you on. There are some hills, but nothing awful. Running along the river was great and shady. Finishing at Hayward Field is awesome. I can’t wait to travel to Eugene and do this race again.

Besides the thunderstorm delay and the gale force winds, everything else about this race was excellent! I no longer live in Florida, but I hope to get back down there to run this one again. The course is flat and very scenic.