I loved this small town race!

This race is a point-to-point course on the Olympic Discovery Trail (an old rail trail) on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State from Sequim to Port Angeles. There is a 5k, 10k, half, full and relay option.

They held packet pickup on Saturday from 11-6 and it was also available on race day. The expo was held at the host hotel, the Red Lion Inn, right by the waterfront. It also served as the finish line for the race.

The expo/packet pickup was located on 2 different levels. You picked up your bib and bag downstairs, then made your way upstairs to pick up your race shirt and see the vendors. There were about 12-15 local vendors at the expo. All in all, I was in and out in under 10 minutes. We received quarter zip longsleeve shirts for running the race.

Since it is a point-to-point race, they bussed runners to the start area. The half marathon that I was running didn’t start until 8:30 am, and the shuttles were running from 6:45-7:30AM. The shuttles picked up right across the street from the host hotel/finish line so everything was very conveniently located. Shuttles were very organized and on time. The race started just outside the soccer fields in Sequim. They had water, Gatorade and porta potties ready at the start. They also brought in the local fire dept and they hoisted the American flag. Totally gave me goosebumps. The local marching band played the star spangled banner and we were off! We ran down the rural road and after just one turn we were on the Olympic Discovery Trail.

It was 70 degrees and 53% humidity at the start of the race, the hottest race they have ever head. The course was partially shaded through the forest but completely exposed in other areas. We started a section of rolling hills that went off and on for the whole midpoint of the race. Some hills were quite steep. The last 3 miles were flat and followed the shoreline, offering great views.

There was plenty of water and Gatorade, roughly every 2 miles along the course. There were little markers along the way for each mile. The finish area, which was rather congested, was all along the waterfront. There was fruit, chips and salsa, fig newtons, bread, the most amazing yogurt parfaits with half frozen fruit (so refreshing!), ramen noodles, popsicles and coffee, lemonade an iced tea. Your race entry also gets you a free beer in the beer garden from a local brewery. However, that was very hard to get to, you had to walk all the way around, through the hotel restaurant and back out on the lawn of the hotel.

I only have 2 suggestions for improvement – I would move the start time up if possible, it really was quite late and made it more difficult to run in the heat. Secondly, I didn’t receive any pre-race communications at all. I started to second guess if they even had me on the list.
All in all, this was a very well organized, small town race with great scenery. If you have the chance to take advantage of it in the future, I highly recommend it!