As word about this event “gets out,” you’re going to be left behind. I don’t know what the capacity limit for this course is, but you want to run it now so that when it is a regular sell-out and everyone is raving about it YOU can say, “I ran that race back in the day before it was ‘discovered.'”

Woodland, WA is about 45 minutes north of Portland (depending on where you start and when you drive) and 2 to 2.5 hours from Seattle. You could probably drive from Seattle on race day morning, but it costs $20 for day-of-race packet pickup and you’d miss the entire expo.

The brand-new Woodland High School hosted the Blooms to Brews expo. There was plenty of parking, as well as two days to pick up your packet. The expo was small but mighty. Packet pickup had no line on Saturday afternoon, and it was still possible to register for the 10k, half marathon, marathon, or marathon relay at that time. In addition to Blooms to Brews logo merchandise, there were about 8-10 vendors, including a cool wraparound sports skirt company, Sweet Spot Skirts (neat design fits a variety of sizes, stays put, and covers what you might want to cover–made in USA!). A few race companies were there, and the Woodland Rotary was selling some delicious coffee as a fundraiser to support building a local sport park for the youth and teens of Woodland. One thing I really liked about the expo is that each of the tables was manned by a person who really cared about that table’s goods/services. There were no hired guns. Everyone was really friendly.

I opted to be pre-race lazy and drive, in part because there is a drive-through coffee shop right before you turn into the parking area. (I’m not going to lie, one of the things I really, really miss about living in the Pacific NW: drive-through coffee.) Parking was plentiful.

Starting line amenities included a bag check, water, snacks, music, and a post-race party that was ready to start. I took a few minutes to walk around and look at the amenities, since I still had plenty of time to spare. There was a school bus food truck that sold pizzas and other tasty food, right next to the BBQ. At the end there was a BBQ sandwich for each runner, with a vegetarian alternative for those of us who are not meat-eaters (AS PROMISED there was tofurky on a bun, warmed with vegetarian baked beans. Score!)

The starting line had the usual platformed trusses and a banner. When I read that the marathon started at 7:30 and the half at 7:40 I was like, “um, corrals? Is that enough time?” No, no corrals. Just as they should, runners self-seeded (with a little help from the well-spaced pacers) and the entire marathon group took off without any incident. In addition to various Marathon Maniacs (and Double Agents), I saw a man dressed up like…bacon?? He must have been with one of the four-person relay teams. One of the cool things about Blooms to Brews Marathon was the option for a FOUR person relay team. That means you only needed to be able to run about 6.5 miles to join in the marathon–a very cool opportunity, as many marathons don’t offer a relay, and others only offer a 2-person relay. Several of the spunky folks running the second and third legs whizzed right past me on my run, too! (Fresh legs, they had fresh legs. Or at least that is what I kept telling myself.) The relay medal was very cool–four magnetic pieces that fit together to form a key with tulips on top!

As promised,FLAT course. The most insignificant not-flat parts: one, leading up to a railroad crossing; two, leading down from the road to the beginning of the unpaved section (not sure if that was technically a dike, since the Horseshoe isn’t connected to a river?); three, coming off of the unpaved section and returning to paved road. Each of these was extremely brief–measured in feet, not yards. The marathon follows a separate course from the half marathon, but starts in the same manner and re-joins for the last few miles. As a marathoner, I love it when I’m not “just” running two loops of the half marathon course. (Personally, I hate passing the finish line before I get to cross it!) The relay teams all seemed to be having a great time–some dressed in matching costumes, others had a theme going, still others dressed like I do for a run (if it passed the sniff test, it’s good to go).

It’s fairly rare, in my experience, that a course that says it is flat is really, really flat. This one is, I promise. (Well, I can’t opine as to the looped portions of the marathon since I didn’t run them, but the half is like a pancake baby.) Since the vast majority of the race was rural, there were no “unofficial aid stations” or sponsored cheering stations. There were, however, plenty of well-stocked and cheerfully staffed aid stations! At least two of the aid stations had gummy bears–they were hiding in Dixie Cups–but there were no other foodstuffs served on course. (But again, that was NOT in the promises the race made, so I had packed some Glukos chews and Honey Stinger chews, and I was just fine. Yet another reason why you should actually read the race website and the emails from the race director, even if you run races all the time and figure you know everything there is to know.)

Still, the course was flat (hooray!), green (hooray!), and reminded me of all the reasons why I love the Pacific NW. The tulip fields were set back from the road, and as we passed I could see stripes of red, yellow, white, and other colors in addition to the non-blooming fields closer to the road.

As I rounded the corner to the very last piece, the home stretch, I noticed the final not-flat piece of the course: a very slight downhill to the finish line! Hey, I’ll take ANY downhill to the finish line, no matter how slight.

Post-race amenities included bottled water Opal apple cider (non-alcoholic), donuts, the aforementioned BBQ sandwich, and beer served from an antique fire truck! You could also buy pizza and other goodies from the food truck. The VIP area had a separate bar with the beers plus Washington State wine, and mimosas. VIP also had a spread of bananas, nuts, KIND bars, chips, and other assorted food. There was a complimentary massage station too. I was also happy to huddle under a heater (like the kind you find at outdoor/patio seating at restaurants). It wasn't exactly cold, but I was chilly after running.

For an expanded review and photos:
http://www.trainwithbain.com/blooms2brews/