Pat Spettel's Staging Area

Gorgeous out-and-back course. The weather in 2021 was immaculate, 75 degree high and sunny (can’t guarantee the weather will always be this nice… they get a lot of rain up here!). This is a “low key” marathon… the entire course is run on Douglas island, across from Juneau’s downtown. If you’re used to large crowds cheering you on, this race will not have that (although the people I did see on the course gave some BIG cheers! The locals here are very friendly).

My one critique – the start and finish area was very sparse, just “start / finish” spray painted on the ground next to the timing clock. I finished the race, then walked over and picked up my medal from a box in the back of a pick-up truck. I was one of the last people on the course, so maybe they had packed up and left at that point, but it was a little lackluster. If you’re looking for a big finish line celebration (like for your first marathon), this might not be the race for you.

That said, Dave the race Director was SUPER helpful – he stayed in constant contacts with emails leading up to the race which was helpful with the on-going COVID situation. All the volunteers were amazing, the water stations were well stocked (water / gatorade / some had pretzels and other “snack” type things) and there were enough stations out on the course. There were multiple early starts (6am walkers / 7am slow pokes like me 🙂 ) for the marathon which was helpful. Everyone was super friendly and helpful. The swag was nice – a cool t-shirt and nice medal. The course itself was truly breathtaking, especially towards the northern part of Douglas island where you can see the Mendenhall glacier across the water. If you’re looking for an Alaska marathon for your journey on the 50 states, I would recommend checking this one out!