We are thrilled to announce that the 2010 Eugene Marathon and Half Marathon will culminate in a finish experience running fans cannot miss. Finally runners and walkers will feel the rush of entering historic Hayward Field through the arches of Powell Plaza and finish down the home stretch - where so many record breaking races have been decided.

"It has been a goal of ours since the initial planning in 2005 to finish on Hayward Field" says Richard Maher, Eugene Marathon Race Director, "We feel this is going to make it an even more momentous experience for the participants."
 
This will be the first time a major road race has finished on the country's most recognizable track and field facility since the early 1980's. Hayward Field has been host to four Olympic Trials, six USA Track Championships, nine NCAA Championships and an IAAF Diamond League event, the Prefontaine Classic.
 
As in years past, the marathon and half marathon will run on Sunday, May 2nd, taking runners and walkers through Eugene and Springfield, along city streets and several parks. The 2009 Eugene Marathon had a record year, attracting over 6,300 runners and walkers from 46 states and 8 countries.  It received the Destination Award from Travel Lane County, for recognition of its ability to draw runners and walkers to Eugene and Springfield. The Eugene Marathon truly turned into one of the country's fastest growing destination marathons, with over 30% of all registrants from out-of-state.  The Health and Fitness Expo will again be at the Hilton Eugene and Conference Center on Friday, April 30th and Saturday May 1st.
 
Proceeds from this event will benefit over 50 local charities, teams and partners.
 
2010 event sponsors include: Krusteaz, Nike, The Sports Authority, Wells Fargo, Pepsi, Gatorade, Earth2O, Nesquik, Clif, Gorilla Capital, Kool 99.1, KVAL, Register Guard, Market of Choice, Canterbury Naturals, Subway, Eugene Running Company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Beppe and Gianni's.
 
Runners can register today at www.eugenemarathon.com.

PRESS RELEASE

Eugene OR -
 
The fourth annual Eugene Marathon and Expo will take place April 30-May 2, 2010.  As in years past, the marathon and half marathon will run on Sunday, May 2nd, starting and finishing on the University of Oregon campus. The kids' run and 5K will be held on Saturday, May 1st in downtown Eugene. The Health and Fitness Expo will again be at the Hilton Eugene and Conference Center on Friday, April 30th and Saturday May 1st.
 
The 2009 event had a record year, attracting over 6,000 runners and walkers from 46 states and 8 countries.  It received the Destination Award from Travel Lane County, for recognition of its ability to draw runners and walkers to Eugene and Springfield. The Eugene Marathon truly turned into one of the country's fastest growing destination marathons, with over 30% of all registrants from out-of-state. 
 
Proceeds from this event will benefit over 50 local charities, teams and partners.
 
2010 event sponsors include: Krusteaz, Nike, The Sports Authority, Wells Fargo, Pepsi, Gatorade, Earth2O, Nesquik, Clif, Gorilla Capital, Therapeutic Associates, Kool 99.1, KVAL, Register Guard, Canterbury Naturals, Subway, Healing Spirit, Eugene Running Company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Beppe and Gianni's.
 
For more information, please go to www.eugenemarathon.com

Three More Awesome Worlds Collide

2009 Results

Official site

Full 5k Results      5k Top 100

Top 100 Marathon

Top 100 5k

RunOregon: What's your year been like since the last Eugene Marathon 5k?

Flapjack: It's been pretty crazy. Krusteaz keeps me pretty busy. I have run lots of races and been traveling all around. In fact, they are sending me to the Caribbean for a week after this race!

RunOregon: With the 5k on Saturday this year, will you be around on Sunday to cheer on the half and full marathoners?

Flapjack: Yes, I am really excited that the 5K is on Saturday. I can put all my effort into the race and then come back on Sunday to cheer the runners and eat more flapjacks!

RunOregon: Do you have a strategy this year?

Flapjack: There is tons of pressure this year. I had my picture in Runner's World and now Krusteaz has placed a bounty on me, offering up free pancakes for a year to anyone who can take me down. I've been out on the 5k course that the marathon people laid out. It is pretty flat except for one hill just before the mile. I am hoping to finish as I did last year. Let's hope for no wind, my physique isn't build to fight the wind.

RunOregon: What is your pre-race nutrition plan? What about during ... do you need any fuel?

Flapjack: My plan is always not to "eat myself out of the race." That is, I have been known to eat too many flapjacks the....

As a rule, I generally am not into 'looking back', but I couldn't resist

posting two photos, one from the Nike-OTC Marathon 1982, and then

the 2007 Where's Waldo 100K.  There has been a lot of fun in between,

and now I get to watch the Pup begin the journey.          p

For the last couple of years I have toyed wiith the idea of running a marathon.  Unfortunately, life seemed to get in the way and I continued to run my 3 - 10K's.  When I heard that a club from school was planning on going to Eugene in May to run the Eugene Marathon, I figured that it might be the right time to try it.  I'll be the first to admit that I had done too little during Winter Break and the first month of the semester to keep my fitness level up, so like the idiot I can be sometimes, I ran a 40 mile week my second week into training.  Needless to say, it didn't work, and I sidelined myself for almost a month with a severe case of shinsplints.  It got so bad, that I'd wake up at night and have a shooting pain up my leg.  After a miserable couple of weeks, I decided the best thing to do was to rest and hope the pain would subside.

Good news, bad news.  The pain was better that before I stopped running, but it still made itself known during my runs.  Problem now was, I had less than a month till the marathon, and I had shin splints and a nagging quad pain caused by changing my stride to compensate for the shin pain (its a wonder I made it through the runs).  I won't lie, I though about quitting a couple times, just shutting down and resting until there was no pain, but with everything I wsa dealing with with school and such, I knew quitting would make things worse, so I bucked it up and fought through the pain, hoping that eventually the muscles and such (I'm not convinced it was solely shin splints) would grow stronger and I'd be able run a respectable marathon.

Long story short, after probably my best weekend in a while (I didn't have to work after all), I was able to complete the marathon with my head held high.  It was a great start to my month of May, a month that I dedicated to a new beginning.  Although I'd dug myself a deep hole at school and at work, I came back from Oregon with a revitalized spirit, I was ready to take on the world again.  The van ride back from Oregon (actually the getting in and out of the vans) was a sight as we all hobbled around on broken down legs.  I figured in my condition (I had to walk the final 4-5 miles because of killer cramps in both calves and a hip pointer from trying to run through the cramps) I wouldn't be running for a least week (in hindsight, probably should have taken at least 3-4 days).  But tuesday after the marathon I laced up my shoes and went for a delicate 2 mile run, where I tried Josh's run 4 walk 1 trick (IT WORKS!!!).  I continued to run through the week and come Saturday, I was lined up at the starting line of the Sonoma County Human Race 10K.  Now, I've run this race twice in the past and actually did worse last year than I did when I ran it before (I also had not finished without walking either time).  This year, I just wanted to run and let whatever happened, happen (I actually had one goal, beat my 70 year old former track coach Daryl, the guy can still run).

I started out steady, knowing the front of the course was loaded with hills.  Kids flew by, old guys went by, but I kept my pace.  A couple of miles into it, my calves started to bark; I noticed but told myself that the pain now was nothing like that at mile 25 the weekend before, so I just kept plodding on.  At some point I realized that I pacing about a 50 minute 10K, only about 10-15 seconds of my PR for the course and a minute slower than my overall PR.  As we started coming down hill I started to pay closer attention to the mileage and pace, and at mile 5 I took off.  This isn't something I'm accustomed to doing, I generally tell myself I need to pick it up in the last stretch, but I generally wait too long, this time it just felt right.  As I crossed the finish line I gave a little fist pump (something I had wanted to do in Eugene but was too darned tired to do).  After a great weekend the week before, I figured I wouldn't come close to that feeling for a while.  But as I ran through the "hometown" crowd, it just felt right.  All my stresses and bad feelings all seemed to just fall off there at the line, like an invisible shower there to keep me on the right path.

Now, as we enter summer (final summer break of my life) I have a renewed sense of myself and my priorities.  While I need to work and need the money, its running that really keeps me going, even if I don't win the race.  I thought my next marathon would the SF Marathon in August, but, I've decided that if my legs feel good after finals week, I'm going down to San Diego and running the Rock 'N' Roll Marathon June 1st.  You only have one life to live, so you might as well do the things you like/want to do while you can because you never know what tomorrow brings.

Rock On-

Bird Legs

I ran the Eugene Marathon on May 4 in my new racing shoes, The Reds.  I found these Mizuno Wave Rider 10s on ebay and bought them because they are Red and White, my favorite running shoe colors.  I could not find the Miz Wave Rider 10s in anything but blue/yellow or blue/red for a year.  Wearing the new shoes seemed to pay off (although training had a lot to do with it).  I ended up running a 2:48:09 marathon, which was a PR by 10 minutes.  Running a marathon is a heck of a task and everyone who finished should be proud.  I was particularly proud of the group of students I brought to run from Sonoma State University.  We had 8 people finish the marathon and 6 people finish the half.  Overall, it was a great day. 

Stayed tuned from more updates and for the adventures of the "The Reds."