Vancouver International Marathon

A generally good marathon that could be even better with a few tweaks. First the good: I loved that the half and full were split with the half starting 1.5 hours before the full. This made the congestion manageable. Racers did an excellent job of self seeding as I did not encounter a single walker in the second corral. The course is beautiful and varied with a major, daunting hill between miles 5-7 followed by a wonderful and long downhill. The crowds were frequently loud and very supportive.The finish line was packed and loud which created a very exciting experience. The shirt and medal are both beautiful. Some things that I would change include the water stations which, especially early in the race were not long enough which created some unnecessary congestion. The course itself could have been wider, but this was less of a problem because of the excellent self seeding, and the expo was a madhouse both inside and getting to the convention center. I overall liked the race and would recommend it with those few reservations. After the race, we enjoyed great beer at Brassneck and Steamworks Brewing