Holly Murphy's Staging Area

I did the full marathon last year and had a less than stellar experience as a back of the pack runner but obviously not so much to cause me to not return. This year did the 5k and half as part of the Geau Big challenge. I loved the 5k! Such a pretty course and great crowds for a 5k. I really enjoyed the half as well. I loved that I was never alone on the course since the marathoners were out too. The Blu Gold mile was awesome this time. The expo was also better this year in my opinion. Crowd support in general was great and just the whole atmosphere in town for the weekend too. I will be back next year!

I signed up for this as probably my first and only marathon. I am well aware that I am very back of back but they indicated that they did not pull people off the course and everyone would be allowed to finish and get their medal. They also indicated people on bikes would be checking on the stragglers. Although I did finish and get my medal it was made more difficult than it needed to be. They took down directional signs very early and even water stops closed before the 6 hour cutoff. I saw someone taking down the flag for mile 23 and that was basically the last sign I saw. The last people on bikes I saw was probably mile 18 or 19. The finish goes through downtown with many turns and I had no idea where to go. It was raining and made it difficult to check the map on their app even if I could have understood it at that point. I was lost between mile 23&24 and wasted time trying to figure out which way to go and even asking random people on street corners if they knew how to get to where I knew the finish was. I had been approximately 30 minutes ahead of the sweeper but wasted time and when I was about to give up I turned around and the sweeper and final person were coming down the street. Never have I been so happy to see the sweeper. Aubrey was amazing and got us to the finish and to her I am grateful. Although I don’t have a “finish line” picture and missed all the festivities there were people waiting for us and gave us the space blankets and food and chocolate milk and congratulated us. Someone did take a picture of the three of us and ended with a hug from Aubrey. So the end was happy but I was legitimately scared for a while. Everything pre race was great including the communication and nutrition classes offered. The expo was well organized and swag was nice. I would recommend the race if you are faster than about a 5 or 5.5 hour finisher but if you are far back of pack I would look at other options.