Eugene Marathon Race Report – Stephanie G

eugene marathon race reportRace: Eugene Marathon

Runner: Stephanie G

Date: 4/29/2018

Location: Eugene, OR

Results: 3:14:49, 216th place, 43rd woman, 10th age group

Strava Activity Link: https://www.strava.com/activities/1539724785/overview

3 Bests – What aspects of the race did you like the most?

  1. The race somehow felt small and big at the same time – maybe that’s just “medium”? I felt like it had the perks of a big, well-organized race, but the atmosphere still felt pretty relaxed and laid back.
  2. The course was really pretty. I generally have race amnesia for specifics, but it seemed really green to me.
  3. The weather turned out to be so much better than expected. Perfect race conditions really, cool but no rain or wind.

Not so much – Aspects of the race that didn’t do it for you

  1. The bag check was a bit of a fiasco. I was in line with probably 500 other people half an hour before the race, and it wasn’t moving. Right before I resorted to some sort of plan b, a race official walked up to about 5 of us and told us everyone was being so polite, but we didn’t have to stand in line and could go drop our bag by the section marked for our race number. I was out of there in 10 seconds. I’m not sure what everyone else did.
  2. The shirts fit poorly. Not a big deal to me, but may have been for others.

Weird factor – What’s the weirdest thing about this race?

Lots of banana stops. But maybe eating bananas during a marathon is just a trend I’m not aware of.

Highlights of your race – What did you do well and enjoy about your race in particular?

  • My pacing turned out really well, which I’m very happy with. I felt very consistent the whole race, and even when it started feeling a bit harder, I was surprised to look at my watch and see that I hadn’t really slowed down.
  • I changed my watch from miles to kilometers which made me not emotionally attached to the splits (since metric conversion while racing is way out of my league ability-wise). It kept me from worrying I was going too fast, or too slow, or just right, but at a pace I couldn’t believe I could sustain. Very freeing!
  • I tried to be positive and smile throughout the race, and mostly succeeded – although some of the pictures tell a different story.

Lessons Learned – Share your pro-tips on the race to help the next runner or yourself on the next time around

Have someone bring you warm clothes for after instead of using bag check.

Most important course specific knowledge to know about the race

  • There are some quiet/lonely stretches, but they’re short-lived.
  • Hills are short and not very steep.

Organized and well run – Did it feel like a well-oiled machine or were they flying by the seat of their pants?

Overall well run.

Logistics – Anything special regarding getting to/from the race, hotels around the course, registration…?

Seemed to be lots of lodging around, and they had shuttles from some area hotels that offered free parking for the day.

Weather and typical race conditions

Perfect this year. I think they’ve changed the date around a few time in the last few years, so not sure what typical would be.

Spectators – Is this a friendly course for your friends?

It seemed like it – I saw several people more than once.

How’s the swag?

Shirt fit was off, they gave out a reusable shopping bag with snacks at the finish, and a medal.

The Overall Score – How many stars do you give this race and do you recommend that others run it?

Overall this was a great race that I would recommend.

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