Eugene Marathon: Any race reports? How was it? Better or Worse?

I was thinking of running this marathon this year. But the move to July absolutely killed it for me. I'll never run a summer marathon in Eugene.

question: is the course (M and HM) eligible for OT qualifiers?

summer is slim pickings for marathons (other than Gmas). if i were in a moderate temp. city on the west coast, i would definitely try to capitalize on being one of a handful of fast summer M/HM choices, especially during the years leading up to OT trials. guys coming off early or disappointing spring races who would like to keep their training rolling through April/May/June don't have many options to cash in on their fitness if it is there. also would be nice to get OT qualifiers out of the way in the summer so the fall/winter can be focused on training without the pressure of having to perform/throw down a time.

shockman wrote:

Great venue for a marathon, unfortunately the second half of the marathon is nearly all concrete.

What's the deal with that and WHY is the city making all new pathways concrete!? For the so-called running capital of the NW, they are really screwing up with all that concrete.

At least make it asphalt if you can't handle wood chips.

Real runners don't run on sidewalks or concrete.

J.R. wrote:

The 1979 and 1980 OTC marathons were in the 2nd week of September.

If the weather works for early Sept (have not looked at averages) this might make it a "go to" last chance for Boston Qualifier.

Even a few hundred less should be considered a step backwards for Eugene. But 4000 less, that should be considered a disaster.

Give it a few years and they'll switch it back to the April timeframe. At least that's what I hope.

I ran the Eugene half in April 2012. If the 2014 event would have been in April then that would have been my full marathon this year. Instead I opted for an October marathon instead.

Do you think they care? They did this in conjunction with World Juniors to prove they could put it on successfully. Vin has always wanted the world champs and when the Bay Area lost it bid and Stanford remodeled to a smaller stadium he left. My guess this is a dry run for their bid of the World Champs.

>"World's"

I thought they (Eugene) had pretty much every running event under the sun already and have for years. With the success of their other events, what do they have to prove here?

Agree with you 100%. Too bad they're wrecking a perfectly good event, IMHO. The Eugene Marathon and associated events should be featured, not lost in the shuffle of a large track meet.

concrete blows chunks wrote:

What's the deal with that and WHY is the city making all new pathways concrete!? For the so-called running capital of the NW, they are really screwing up with all that concrete.

At least make it asphalt if you can't handle wood chips.

Real runners don't run on sidewalks or concrete.

They make them out of concrete because it's more durable, and walkers/cyclists significantly outnumber runners in terms of daily use.