I ran the Avenue for the first time last May (and it was my first HM also). I loved it. I made the hotel reservations a little late and ended up staying in Eureka - 40 miles north. But it's still an easy drive down to Weott on race morning. And the race has a nice late start so even if you stay a ways away, you aren't having to get up super early.

The weather is almost always perfect. Since most of the race is in the Redwoods, the weather conditions are fairly predictable. For the May race, shorts and a short sleeve are appropriate. The May race attracts a larger field than the one in October (in October it's called the Humboldt Redwoods Marathon). You get a lot of "team in training" participants and a lot of walkers, so it gets a little more bunched up for that first mile, but then things start to thin out. What I didn't care for about the Avenue of the Giants is the half-marathoners are not actually running on "The Avenue of the Giants" - you are running on Bull Creek Road - which is not as smooth of a surface as The Avenue. The roadway along Bull Creek Rd has alot more bumps and divets from tree roots, etc. So, it made for a dodgy race, as you are often zigzagging around on the road to avoid stepping on uneven surfaces. It is still absolutely beautiful though - it's very majestic and almost meditative running through these wonderfully old trees. Because this is a remote area, you will not have the crowd support, music, etc. like you do other marathons, but that is part of it's beauty - the relative silence of that many runners in the canopy of trees. The town of Weott really embraces this marathon - the town puts on a wonderful spaghetti dinner for all the participants the night before - it's very much a hometown rural feel.

With that said, I went back in October 07 and ran the Humboldt HM. (that's how much I enjoyed it despite the bumpy roadway that I wasn't really fond of). I knew I had a better time in me than what I did in May and wanted to prove it. The marathon in October is basically a reverse of what they do in May - everyone starts out on The Avenue and then the full marathoners do their 2nd out and back along Bull Creek Road (oh, I probably forgot to mention that the HM for the Avenue in May is an out and back along Bull Creek Road and then the full marathoners do that first part and then an out and back along the Avenue). I enjoyed the run along The Avenue so much more - much smoother and better maintained roadway. Perhaps I'm making Bull Creek Road sound horrendous and it's not REAL bad, but you do need to keep your eye on the road much of the time to avoid the uneven surfaces.

for May, I made my reservations earlier and stayed at the Comfort Inn in Fortuna - nice hotel and only 20 miles north of the start of the race. The fall marathon though doesn't attract as much of a crowd, since the Team in Training isn't there. it's a smaller field which also alleviated any of the crowding issues at the start of the race.

If you are able to work this race into your travel plans, I highly recommend it. This is an absolutely beautiful race course and I think it's well organized (you don't get all the race goodies like other marathons - it's very simple in that respect).

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Tamalina[/URL" target="_blank">

If you can go in May, I highly recommend it. And you will not be last! Just pull up last years results and you can get an idea of how large the field is and the huge difference in fast/slow times. Because there are alot of walkers in the May race, it's a guarantee you won't be last. There will be lots of walkers coming in behind you. Plus, you are doing the half, you will still an entire field of full marathoners coming in after you.

when I raced in May, my time was 2:11. I trained pretty hard over the summer and kept increasing my speed in subsequent races all summer long, so I knew I could go faster in a HM just based on my training and the improvements I had made as a runner. Prior to May, I was only putting in an average of about 50 miles a month. It wasn't until June that I started increasing my training mileage and typically doing around 85-100 miles a month. My time in the Oct HM was 1:54. I think the big decrease in time was mostly due to my training, but I'm sure a smoother surface and less crowding and fewer walkers to dodge around helped as well.

In May, I only booked my room about 8 wks out and that's why I had to be so far away. I would recommend booking now (Fortuna is a good location - near enough to the race area, but also in a town so you have the conveniences of restaurants, stores, etc.). Since this is a fairly rural area, hotels are not super abundant and the May race attracts more people, so rooms book up quicker than they do in Oct. You can book something now on orbitz or travelocity, get a decent rate and it's not costing you anything to do it now so if plans change, you can cancel and it's no biggie. You aren't out any money, but at least you know you have your hotel room.

As far as the iPod rule - well, they do say it's against the rules to wear one and I suppose they carry to right to snag it from you. However, I typically see some people still using iPods though. One advantage on The Avenue is you don't have traffic to deal with, which is one of the big reasons races don't want people to wear ipods - you never know what stupid drivers will do. It's a non-issue at the Avenue as the roads are closed to traffic.

Have you raced before? or will this be your first race? When I'm training and running on a TM, I wear my ipod, but in a race, I've never worn one and don't even feel the need to in respect to having the music help you pass time, etc. If you haven't been in a race before, I am going to strongly recommend leaving your iPod at home. The atmosphere of the race and energy that you get from all the other runners around you, really is enough to carry you. I think by wearing an iPod you are blocking out too much and are not soaking in all the wonderful elements of a marathon. And I don't just mean, blocking out sound because of the volume of your music. Even with the music on low, I know you'd be able to hear sounds around you, but there is so much more to the comraderie found amongst all the runners in a marathon than just being able to hear someone say "I'm coming up on your left" or whatever. I often find myself running near someone for a distance and we are keeping the same pace, so we might chat briefly about "how you feeling? where are you from?, etc." It's those brief encounters with others that make for the best memories of a marathon. I will forever remember the wonderful older gentleman that flew out from England that I chatted with as we would pass by each other a few times during The Avenue. Had I been wearing music, we would not have chatted. Or just soaking in the nature sounds that one can only hear deep the heart of the Redwoods. It's really a wonderful experience and I'd hate for you to spend the time and money to fly out to such a magnificent location and not truly absorb all there is because you had music playing in the background. Ultimately, of course, it's your choice and I imagine you'd be able to wear your iPod (it's not like they are frisking everyone prior to the race to see if they are wired up or not), but it's such a great experience not to run with one that I recommend you try it.

good luck to you and I apologize for my probably too lengthy responses! LOL

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Tamalina[/URL" target="_blank">

Yes.... Tammy is right..... we do camp and extend our stay into a long weekend. The campground is on Ave of the Giants and the second loop of the marathon. Most of the campers are running in one of the races. We've met a few that had flown into Eureka and rented a small Class C RV and stayed at Burlington Campground.

If it's a hotel, Tammy has good suggestions..... hopefully more people will respond on good places to stay. I know last year Hup (one of the Boomer moderators) stayed at the Miranda Gardens Resort[/URL" target="_blank">. Not sure of the cost, but it looks like a great place to stay..... right in the redwoods and not far from the race. The Avenue of the Giants Marathon[/URL" target="_blank"> has a list of a number of other places to stay on their web site.

You were also wondering about ipods..... I know they haven't enforced it in the past and doubt if they would this year.

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned is that the first 6.5 miles to the turnaround are slightly up hill ..... I think its about a 300 ft elevation change...... it's not bad ...nothing real steep but it does slow your pace a little.... the good thing is that the return to the start/finish is virtually all downhill!

Last year we did get a great turnout from the Boomer Forum.....I think there were at least 15 or 20 of us..... it made for a great weekend of racing and putting some faces on screen names I haven't meet before. Hopefully we'll get another good turnout this coming year.

Here's a picture from the race....... a section of the course on Bull Creek Road



you have to look real close, but there are runners in the picture..... the redwoods are truly Giants.

http://This message has been edited by SLOjim (edited Dec-04-2007).

Personally, I didn't even notice the grade change that SLO is referring to. I live in So. Oregon and I do train a little bit on some hills and I do some hillwork on a TM also, but for the most part, I do train on a fairly flat level surfaces.

If you are currently running (or jogging as you refer to it) in a 12-13 min/mile range, you'll find yourself going a bit faster in a race atmosphere w/o even feeling like you are going faster. It's just inevitable that your adrenaline will kick in and you won't feel the extra effort. This really is an ideal race for your first one if there is any concern or anxiety about falling towards the back of the pack with your pace. The large contingent of TNT walkers practically guarantee you'll finish around the 2/3rd's mark of the pack with your pace.