I thought the Oregon Half Marathon was a great course to run. It was a little hilly in parts especially towards the end from what I noticed, but there was a good downhill or slight elevation portion for most of the course, which I loved! The course was beautiful. We ran through farmland as well as through the Gallon House Bridge, the oldest covered bridge in Oregon. I thought overall, that it was a well organized race. It was organized by Uberthons. This was my first Uberthons race. They had many water and electrolyte stations. I think it was almost every two miles. At a few stations, I saw they were handing out energy gels. I heard there was a watermelon station, but I guess I did not notice since I was focused on my running :P. The volunteers were great and cheered us on.

It was a really early start for me. I woke up around 4:20 am since I wanted to eat and do my business by 5 am. I was carpooling with some great gals from Moms Run This Town and had to meet and leave by 5:15 am. For breakfast I had half of a wheat bagel and a Mama Chia pouch.

We arrived around 6:40 am at Mt. Angel and got VIP parking. This was nice and in the first row. Moms Run This Town won the contest for the most signups for a team so we got VIP. 🙂

The picture below is of the Festhalle building where gear check and restrooms were located. Not having a VIP bathroom was a little disappointing, but the bathroom wait wasn’t too bad. I decided to take a serving of the sample of EnergyBits I got for this race around 7:10 am. The race was scheduled to start at 7:30 am. We were told to go outside around 7:15 am to get by our corrals according to bib number.

Marathoners start entryway.

Below is a pic of fellow Moms Run this Town gal, Angela, and I before the race.

The National Anthem being sung.

Once outside and in corrals, half marathoners were directed to go to their start line since the marathoners start line was different from half marathoners. We lined up along the sides by the half marathon start line. It was pretty cool since we were going to cheer the marathoners on as they ran through the corridor. The marathoners started around 7:30 am and then the start of the half marathon followed pretty quickly.

Below is a pic of the Oregon Half start line.

Pic with more members of Moms Run this town. Angela, Me, Mariah, and Sarah.

Marathoners have started and running through the corridor.

Here are pics I took while running along the race:

Pics of the Gallon House Bridge:I ended up using two Gu gels during the race.  I even ran with my Simple Hydration Bottle for the first time to chase down the gels with water.

More course pics:

The finish line.We finished!! Happy to be done! Below is a pic with Angela and Mariah. I love the medal! I heard all Uberthons medals are big and nice like these. I can’t wait to do more Uberthons races.

There were free massages being given at the end in the yellow tent. There was a sign up sheet and I was told the wait was around a half hour. Right next to the massage tent was the VIP tent. It didn’t seem like much of a VIP area but I liked being in shade and having chairs to sit. They did have cold towels but were not brought out right away. Also, it was kind of weird that our gear check bags were just laying on the chairs where anyone could take them.

There was watermelon, bananas, and Lara Bars available. There was also popcorn.

I enjoyed many slices of watermelon and had a banana. I also took Beachbody’s P90X Results and Recovery formula. It helps reduce my muscle soreness.  It has the four parts carbs to one part protein, which ensures speedy muscle repair after intense workouts.

Me by the finish line.

Moms Run This Town gals crossing the Finsh line. I loved their outfits!

Here’s a pic of the Bearded Runner. I saw him while waiting for our shuttle.

I thought the Oregon Half Marathon was a great race especially since I PR’d. 🙂 I like how there was timing tickets at the end. They had computers by the finish line where you input your bib number and it prints out your race time and other info. Here’s my ticket below.

Here are my splits from my Garmin:

I thought I was doing pretty good until after mile 11. There was a nice hill and my legs were getting tired. They felt heavy and sluggish. I was glad to be getting close to the end.

Also, it was cool that if you PR’ed or ran your first race they gave these out:

After the race you could stay for Oktoberfest. It wasn’t communicated well but there was a package you could pick up afterwards which included coupons for free drinks and food. Overall, I was happy with the Oregon Half Marathon. I think Uberthons put on a great event. I can’t wait until my next Uberthons race, Halloweenathon. You can check out the events by Uberthons here: http://uberthons.com/.

What’s your next race?