Napa Valley Trail Marathon

There is good and bad with this one. The bad first. When I sign up for a 'marathon', I expect to run 26.2 miles. We weren't close. The course is two segments - a 6+ mile loop that is run three times, and a 4 mile out and back run twice. According to the race director in his pre-race announcement, recent storms knocked down trees on the 6+ loop, resulting in a course change that shortened the loop. However, even if the full 6+ loop had been run, the '4 mile' out and back was at best 3.5 miles. The other bad - this was clearly done for profit by EnviroSports. The medals were cheap, the t-shirts were cotton, and there was no post-race food - just left over trail mix, cut-up Cliff bars, etc and Gatorade from the one aide station. The entry fee didn't even include a parking permit - another $8 to get into the state park for the run. I don't run marathons for the medals or the shirts, but even so... That said, it was still a great run. The course is absolutely beautiful, enough so that I was actually looking forward to the third time around the longer loop, because it looked different each time. And the races started at 15 minute intervals, with the marathoners out first, than the half and then the 10K. For me at least, it made for no congestion on the trails, which is not always the case in mixed distance events. Finally, the camaraderie among the trail runners was great. This was to be my California marathon. I'm not so sure I can count it as one. And it didn't need to be that way - adding the out and back a third time would have put us really close.

In 2011, unprecedented rain forced a last minute course change. Well organized, small event with only 20 finishers. The course was tough and hilly. We had 7 creek crossings, and at times were running up the trail that had turned into a stream coming at us. My GPS had the course at about 19 miles, but with the canyons and trees I'm not sure if I got a signal all the time.

The race has a good vibe. But it is very dangerous and has very inaccurate distances. The landscape is very beautiful when you can admire it.