Tommy McElroy's Staging Area

This was my 2nd marathon and 11 minute PR. Had been aiming for a 3:12 but didn’t taper properly–lesson learned for next race!

Race production was top notch, it’s clearly put on by passionate runners. From the Rabbit race swag shirt, to the packet pickup options, to the email communication, on course support, course markings, and finishers area, just wow! They even had an Asics sponsored pizza shakeout and an optional Zoom call about two weeks out to go over the course. Now, that’s something I’d only expect from a big production big city race! Everyone was super friendly and I could see this race blowing up if they could move the Richland section which was crowded with pedestrians on the open-to-the-public bike path. The race was pretty lonely with essentially no crowd support (to be expected and appreciate those who did cheer us on), and not many running sub 3:30. Especially tough after Wade Park at mile 19 where it got very isolated. The start/finish was at a beautiful park on the Columbia.

I would totally recommend this as a first full, especially in Washington State. The Tri-Cities is a bustling small metro area after having only stopped for gas on road trips. For my 3rd full, I’d probably prefer a race with more crowd support and also, major shoutout to Runner’s Soul for putting on a great local race!

I’ve looked at running Modesto or 2 Cities down in California and I think that Run the River has major potential to grow to those sizes (medium sized rural city that draws BQers from major metros). It’s flat, low chance of rain, and low stress. I think they could grow by closing at least one of the bridge highway lanes and running on a closed surface road to increase some crowd support.

Absolutely beautiful course through the vineyards, excellent aid station volunteers, some spectators brought Gus for those who needed them which was super thoughtful.

Some negatives:
— The expo was a bit underwhelming at Sports Basement though the shakeout run at FleetFeet ended up being a mini expo which was awesome, got free snacks, socks, demoed new Hokas.
— Road camber and condition wasn’t great out in wine country, the one suburban road of 3ish miles was a nice smooth even break.
— The last 10k along the trail was rough since the trail itself was already a bit crumbly AND we converged with the 2+ hour half runners who didn’t always stay to the right on a pretty standard yet narrow multiuse bike path.
— Beer lines were way too long and Courthouse Square was way to crowded and hot to stick around much. I really hope they fix this by bringing more shade tents, seating, and maybe closing off another street for more space.

Positives:
–Beautiful pretty flat course. Only reason it’s not a 1 difficulty is the road condition and camber.
–Running through the winery was a nice pick me up
–Aid stations were absolutely fantastic as were the volunteers
–Communication, packet pickup, shakeout at Fleet Feet were great.
–In a beautiful area too, I flew down from Seattle and had fun chilling at Bodega Bay and Marin County.
–Crowd support especially near downtown was nice. Vineyards were a bit lonely though aid stations were like every 2 miles and honestly was so peaceful I went into zen mode.
–Loved the windbreaker and also ended up buying a merch shirt at the expo, really cool design, not too expensive like other race merch.

Just being super nitpicky, overall really great summer race especially if you’re already in NorCal since the SF Marathon is going through some challenges. Definitely pretty hot temp wise for the last 10 or so miles but to be expected for being away from the coast in August. If you’re looking to run fast that’s what CIM and Eugene are for.

As a local, I have ran the half on the Husky Stadium 520 bridge route and the usual (2023) Aurora I5 express lanes route. The 2023 route I thought was beautiful with awesome views of the city especially if you’re from out of town. I guess in 2022 they weren’t able to secure permits with SPD to close the roads down, changed the race date, and changed the course like 3 months out if I recall. Last year’s (2023) race was better produced though I know other folks who have complained of the chronic problems our hometown race has. CIM is a great location for a December race, Seattle though is just a bit too chilly even for racing, especially if it’s drizzly which it usually is. 2023 was a beautiful, very cold clear morning. I do like the course because it’s cool to run on Aurora and I5 highways that you obviously can’t train on otherwise. My review is harsh but there really are so many other races with a better experience out there. Seattle and SF seem to have the same production problems and similar complaints. I’d love to run both of them for the full as someone who works in schools their dates work for my schedule. No need to complain about the hills bc that’s part of the Seattle running experience. However, the merch and free shirt is atrocious (at least the past few years). I hope they get a better manufacturer with modern materials and designer for 2024. For a winter full, I’d much rather just run CIM or Eugene in the Spring. If running the full, I wish they had more frequent hydration stations too. Some positives are good crowd support, especially downtown, Gas Works, and the finish at Memorial Stadium. They also offer Huma for on course nutrition! Not a big fan of Gu. We have so much potential to make this a better race: move to Nov 1st, design overall of shirt and medal, more aid stations, and thus hopefully making this more a centerpiece race instead of a hometown, optional “i guess i’ll do it” vibe.