I drove over to Port Angeles from Seattle on race morning. Originally we had planned to spend the night, but we ended up with an extremely busy weekend, so we decided to drive over race morning. We had ZERO traffic and made it in 2 hours.

I got dropped off at the half marathon start. Since this is a point to point race, you either have to park at the finish and take a shuttle to the start, or park at start and shuttle back at the end. Thankfully the race makes this part very easy. I got dropped off and that was easy too. The race was very well organized.

Since I drove over race morning, I missed the expo so I cannot comment on that. Bib pick up on race day was at your starting line. It was very easy & they gave you your shirt at the finish which was also really great. There were plenty of port-a-potties at the half marathon start, they also had water and gatorade if you wanted. They even brought in a huge flag for the national anthem.

The course is as beautiful as they promise. You get mountain views, views of fields, woods, and even 3 miles along the water. It was GORGEOUS! The scenery, aid stations and the finish line buffet were the highlights of the race for me.

There were 5 pretty intense hills on the course. The good news is they are short and steep, so they don't last long, but they are very steep. Leg burners for sure! It was a very hot day (not normal for this time of year) so I did a lot more walking than I normally would. Thankfully this course had plentiful aid stations. They were every few miles and they all had themes with very enthusiastic volunteers. It added such a fun element to the race. There were star wars themed stations, one wizard and the oz, along with lots of other fun themes. They had wet rags at the stations as well as squirt bottles so you could cool off. All had COLD water (which I appreciated), gatorade and some snacks. It was a VERY well supported course.

The finish line was amazing. It is right on the water, and every race participant gets their own personal volunteer to escort them across the finish. Such a kind and personal touch. The finish area is amazing, lots of water, medical aid, massages if you want one and a foam rolling section. They also had a FULL ON BUFFET of food as well as plenty of beverages.

You can see more pics of all of this in my blog post about the race --> http://sweetblondesfitlife.com/north-olympic-discovery-marathon-recap/

I HIGHLY recommend this race, and would definitely run it again.