The Dam Marathon is a very small race (maybe 120 marathoners or so) set in Oakridge, OR. I chose this event as my Oregon marathon because I wanted to see scenery, not cityscapes. It was a great match - set in a beautiful place and on a small scale. You don't run this race to get crowd support or if you need an aid station ever mile or because you like bands along the course. You run this race to see national park beauty and experience a new place. It was well organized and easy to navigate the logistics.

Packet pickup was flexible with multiple locations and times, both in Eugene and in Oakridge, including race day pickup. The shirt is a nice tech (unisex) and you could choose between a few color options. There were stickers, a small calendar, and a string satchel. Race morning was easy - I drove two miles from my motel to the Greenwaters Park. I left my rental car in the lot and boarded a school bus around 7:15am. It's about a 15 minute ride up to the start area at the dam. It was a rainy and cool morning (rain came out of no where but I always carry a thin poncho to races and was glad I had it for this one!) but not too bad once we got up to the start area (which was beautiful!). We all stood around for a few minutes while the bus went back for the last load of runners. The con to this was the one portajohn was locked. Luckily you're in the boonies and surrounded by woods so if nature called, you could still answer.

We started a few minutest late (it happens with small races with one or two people wrangling everybody...not a big deal in my book). You run across the dam and immediately have stunning views - I'm looking forward to seeing the drone footage! The course follows the lake all the way around back past the start at the dam and down the road to Greenwaters Park. It's not an easy course - there's a mix of road, gravel, and trail, and it's fairly hilly. No one hill is bad, it's a nice variation, just don't expect a flat run.

There were aid stations about every two or three miles. They had lots of flavors of Gatorade (I've never seen such variety), plus water and also bars, bananas, and oranges at most of them. Volunteers were friendly as well. My only other "complaint" is that the bathroom advertised at the halfway point was also locked (I think this was a miscommunication with the park service), but again, lots of woods from which to choose!

The last two or three miles is mostly downhill, then along a gravel road, then a dirt trail through what feels like a rainforest from another time - it was beautiful - before you finish in the park. The medal that we got was a nice quality on a nice ribbon - matches the logo and honestly for such a small race, I was especially pleased that they didn't skimp on this.

This was not one of my fastest races but it is one of my favorites for scenery alone. I took photos, saw a bald eagle, and got to experience a place that I may never get to visit again. If you run this race, soak it up and enjoy every step!