We stayed at the Eugene Hilton downtown as it was close to the start of the race which meant we didn't have to drive (always a plus for an out of town race). However, I do not recommend staying at that hotel. The Phoenix Inn we stayed further down the street for the Eugene Marathon was MUCH better.
We got to the packet pick-up about an hour before it was to be over. The directions around the 5th street market were not exactly easy to follow so we got a pretty good tour of the place before we had race number, goody bag, and t-shirt in hand. I usually love doing races where the shirts are awesome. This shirt was ok, not as good as I had expected considering that the race logo is pretty sweet. By the time we grabbed our shirts they were out of smalls so Dana was stuck with a medium which ran big as it was so for her bachelorette run her race shirt was a dress! Kind of a bummer when you pay $85 for a race to NOT get the size you ordered. Whatever, we had our sweet team shirts anyway.
Dana's full outfit from the front. She looked so cute and got so many compliments and words of congratulations. She was a total rockstar that day. It was perfect.
The front of our team shirts - I designed them. Pretty proud of myself for that. The bottom says, "13.1 Before the Big Day"
The Bride-to-Be in her race shirt. The perfect match to the shirt was the Skirt Sports running skirt.
Pre-race in our "team tanks" - Mother Daughter Duo Savannah and Angela before they became Half Marathoners
So needless to say, we were not overly impressed with our initial experience with the race. Although, the goody bag was a cool reusable orange zebra print bag that actually is really sturdy. Total plus!
The race started at 8:00 am so not too early but early enough to beat the heat of the day that would eventually come. About 1200 women (and some brave or stupid men depending on how you look at it) lined up at the start. Weather was sunny, a bit chilly, and absolutely perfect in my mind. Although at 0.6 miles we were stopped by a train passing through town that lasted over 8 minutes! That would have been annoying if I had a time goal in mind, however, this race was about being together as a group and having fun. Especially since this was a week after Hood to Coast. Yikes.
I won't do a play by play of the course, but in a nutshell it is amazing! I have always said that the Eugene Half is always my favorite 1/2 marathon, but this is it now. Essentially it is the reverse of the Eugene Marathon (at least the back half). Most of it is along the river and totally flat! This is the perfect course to PR on. I may try next year to go under 1:50 on it next year. The course more than made up for the somewhat disappointing packet pick-up experience. Lots of aid stations, lots of people cheering us on, plenty of room to run, it was perfect. There was a man out in his riding gear at around mile 3 and I think 7 or 8 with an amp and a mike tied to his bike and he was singing and cheering us on, it was absolutely hilarious!
The five of us all finished together which was so much fun. When we finished we were greeted by men handing out our finisher's charms (pretty cute) and So Delicious ice cream sandwiches, which I thought were in fact So Delicious! The post race booths and food were incredible. Probably the most post race goodies I have ever had. And so much food. Total plus as I was starving at this point.
All and all I would definitely do this race again. I would give it 4 1/2 stars only because their shirts were slightly disappointing and not the right sizes. Oh well, the rest totally rocked. I think this race has spawned a new tradition of girl's half marathon weekend. We are on the hunt for the next one. Maybe somewhere a bit more exciting than Eugene.
Any suggestions on women's only races for us to try next year?
Post race brunch at Keystone Cafe - Biscuits and Gravy were AMAZING! - Dana, Betsy, Savannah, and me
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