Holy Hills! If you do this race, be prepared to do some hills. Usually the first weekend in October, it hit Sept 30 this year with the Spokane Marathon next weekend. Race started at 8 AM and is just north of Spokane.

Bib Pick up: at Colbert Elementary school on race morning, no expo, as it's a small race

Price: $40 includes a shirt and medal, $25 without a shirt, long sleeved this year. Jealous because it was sweatshirts last year

Course: Hills. Be prepared for them. At mile 2, a hill appears and goes up at a good 45 to 60 degrees incline for at least 0.8 miles. There were areas that were flat and then once you think you're in the clear, you get some more hills. It essentially became a forced hill work out for me. Scenic course, on pavement and gravel. Wasn't a fan of mile 6 where you went downhill on gravel side roads in Colbert, I felt like I was going to fall on my face the entire time. Miles were marked with smaller markers on the ground. Race was a loop course with the start and finish just in front of the Elementary school. Water stations were every 2 miles or so with water, but no gatorade.

Finish: timer was visible and you got your medal fairly quick. Water and gatorade were available, as were apples and that was it.

Overall, don't know that I'll come back for this one. I needed a race to help with marathon training and this one was local. Hills were crazy, too many types of surfaces that we were running on (gravel, pavement, sidewalk), on active roads and no electrolytes on course. I get it's a small race and on the cheaper side, but a little more to eat after the race would have been appreciated.

Yes, there is a town in Oregon called Boring and yes they call their race the Boring Marathon, the Half Boring Half Marathon and the Continuously Boring 8K. I was in Portland for a Conference and actually ran a half the day before, so this was half #2 of the weekend. Race is about 35 minutes from downtown PDX, so I woke up bright and early and drove in for the race. This year was an odd one because Vancouver USA and 2 other races cancelled so there was an influx of people trying to register. I registered latish, but there was still 2 spots in the half marathon. The marathon had a second chance option where you got a shirt/medal from a prior year since shirts/medals had already been ordered.

Packet Pick up was Friday and Saturday throughout the day and race morning as well. I stuck with race morning packet pick up and it was painless. I was stuck with a men'sXL shirt initially because that was the only option when I signed up, but after the race, there were left over shirts and the organizers were nice enough to let me switch to a women's small

Swag: glass, t shirt and other freebies from race sponsors

Race Start Times: 630 AM for the Full marathon, 7 AM for the half, 730 AM for the 8K

The course: relatively flat with some gentle, hardly noticeable incline for the half. The elevation map looked worse than it really was. Course was out and back along one of the running trails in town. Really didn't have to worry about cars on course, though there were a few intersections on the half course to worry about crossing with cars coming both directions, but traffic was minimal. Water stations with water, gatorade and snacks every 2 miles or so (give or take).

Post race: medals, water, snacks and some things do (apparently there were goats, I missed them). Food truck was also there with burgers, etc.

Overall: you could say the race lived up to it's name of 'boring', not a whole lot to see and plenty of time to get into your own head. However, it's a small race with the funds, etc benefiting the area HS and Middle school cross country and track teams, so that I'm all for. If you're in the area, definitely search out this race. the one thing that needs worked on is the website. The home page is a bit of a hot mess and needs a little bit of organization to it, but minor details

First year for this race and it was small! (16 people had finished the half by 2 hrs and 15 min with not a whole lot more on the course). NE of Spokane by 90 min or so, I drove out Saturday and spent the night at one of the maybe 3-4 hotels in the city. If you were local, you could pick up your bibs Thursday or Friday. No bib pick up Saturday, but you could on Sunday from 6-7 AM prior to the start of the race. Between the 10k and Half Marathon, there were maybe 50 people total?

Race Start: 7 AM

Expo: Not so much since it was a small race put on by the area fitness center, but you could pick up bibs Thursday/Friday or race morning from 6-7 AM

Parking: in the start/finish area in front of the Ft. Colville Grange

Course: out and back. Not as flat as I thought, definitely hills. If you're calling it flat, I shouldn't have huge dips on elevation map when I finish the race. Water/Gatorade every 2 miles with the turn around for the half 6.55 miles in. We were running on the shoulder of the road essentially with active traffic, though it wasn't horribly busy. Some of the turns on the course made it difficult to see if anyone was coming due to trees. They did have a course vehicle that drove the course the entire race, which was good.

Finish: at the start. Had water, gatorade, oranges and bananas. You could also check your times on the printed out results that provided. You got a medal at the finish as well.

Swag: Shirt and medal essentially. I like the idea of going local for the shirts, but a small is ridiculously small and I actually don't want to wash it because I'm pretty sure the logo is going to peel off when I do.

Overall, a good first running of the race, but could do better with the shirts. Could also do some more advertising because I'm sure people from Spokane would come up if they knew about the race

I signed up for the Bridge of The Goddess after Vancouver USA got cancelled this year. Normally, the race is held in the Columbia River Gorge in the Cascades, however, with the PNW fires, it got moved to Vancouver, WA. Major props to race organizers for keeping the race going this year and coming up with a plan for the race to go on despite the fires.

Packet Pick Up: Portland Running Company. I went to the downtown location and was in and out. Doesn't hurt that the story was doing 50% off stuff as well! There were opportunities for sign up at the packet pick up.

Race Time: 8 AM on Saturday Sept 16.

Course: Started at Ester Short Park. Bathrooms were available, but long lines. Tents and such with vendors set up were there pre/post race. The half marathon went out to Ft. Vancouver and back towards the start and then down to the Columbia River and along it for a bit before going along the streets of Vancouver and back. The course itself was relatively flat, though some hills in the Ft Vancouver area. Water stations were set up and easily visible, as were mile markers. No major intersections to stop at, though at one point around the 10k mark of the half where you went through a hotel parking lot. Things were overall well marked

Post race: had the chance to pick between a neckless or a medal. I went neckless. Food was available, but the line was long so I bailed on that. Plenty of vendors and a farmers market close by

At some point, I'd like to do the course in the Gorge when the PNW is not on Fire. Great race regardless and something to run if you're in Oregon