I have been wanting to run Pints to Pasta for a long time; its actually been one of my bucket list races. I have not been training on the 10K distance for a long time so I was not expecting much. But I actually beat my goal on a really tough course.

Pros-
Packet Pick Up/Packets: I did the early packet pick up and was in and out quite quickly. The T-Shirts had been nice, and you got a small backpack filled with sponsor goodies including beef jerky (my personal favorite)

Scenic Course: This course is quite tough, (will address this in a second) but it gives you some really great views of what makes Portland so special

Post race pasta: I love a good meal right after the race, and this lived up to its expectations. You had your choice of pasta, salad and two drinks.

Cons-
Shuttles: The race directors had been ill prepared for the long advertised I-5 Shutdown. They delayed the start of the 10K over 15 mins and then even as we started they still had shuttles dropping off people. There also had been a large handful of runners who got held back from running the event because of the shuttle issues.

Parking: I didn't catch this because I am a mass transit rider, but many friends had issues finding decent parking.

Lack of course marking: There had been two mile markers on the course, one at mile 1 and another at mile 5. And there did not seem to be any mile markers for the half.

Course toughness: This has to be the toughest 10K course in Portland. The first three miles are gradual and have a couple steep hills, but once you get around mile 4.5 you are in for a rude wake up call. There is one constant climb with two huge steep downhills after.

10K Start Line: You could not hear any announcement from the 10K start. We ended up playing the game of telephone to get word back and forth about the delay.
Lack of course support: There was very little support in terms of course marshaling and the water stations tended to be really lacking in support. What we had as great, but if you compare it to the other races in town. There also didn't seem to be an electrolyte, which for those who did the half would be bad.

Post Race Party- The post race party was congested. I ended up taking my meal and eating it (pasta and salad) while I was walking. They tried to squish too many people in a very small space.

It was great to get a bucket list race off my list, but I had hoped for so much more with this race. It had some great moments but I highly doubt I will return to this race or any of the Better Race Series events.