These guys really treat you like royalty.
First off, they invest in charter buses over school buses for the ride up, and the ride up is pretty short. Unlike most marathons in the area, the ride doesn't just go up the course, it takes a shortcut up the mountain. Pre-race has a complementary barn and donkey for moral support. Also, they give you actual backpacks at the packet pick up (I'll probably actually use mine) instead of drawstrings.
Sign up the day before the race for the next year for a really cheap entry.
The course has lots of aid stations and portapotties, great support and most of the course is in the mountains so it has a lot more to look at than your stereotypical Idahoan freeway. It's got a few hills, I can remember one at about mile 7 or 8 and then another one at about mile 21 or 22, nothing too scary though

Nice event. Great volunteers and well established. Second half can be long if not feeling great but finishing in the park was nice.

What a wonderful marathon! It was my favorite small race I have ever done. It was so well organized and catered to runners as well as any large, well known race. The cost of entry was reasonable, the course was gorgeous, the marathon eve buffet was the best I had experienced for the price. The post race food was tremendous as well. I can not say enough good things about it!

This was the 20th running of Pocatello.The organizers are committed to making it a small town race with the swag and support of a bigger event.They truly accomplished this. Highly recommend this race.

Small but well organized race. The expo is at the local Clarion. This race is special because you get a long-sleeve tech shirt, a duffel with you name on it AND two pounds of potatoes (yes the TSA does allow potatoes in a carry-on). The start is in a rural area on a farm with a friendly goat and donkey wandering. The first 13 miles are mostly downhill in a beautiful canyon. The walls of the canyon provided cover from the sun. Miles 13 - 26 were a prevailing up-grade on the side of a highway with no shade. Crowds were sparse to non-existent. The volunteers running the water stops were great - helpful and friendly. The finish did have food for use slower runners. There was a choice of BBQ and baked potatoes (of course). I would run this race again.

The first half of the course was fantastic and watching the sun rise at around mile 4 was amazing. There were several really severe downhills in the first half that would take a heavy toll on the quads later in the race. The first half had plenty of mountain scenery to see as we sped downhill, and there were enough twists and turns to keep things plenty interesting. At about mile 14, we turned out of the mountain scenery and onto a highway with one lane coned off for us to run on. The course continued on that highway for the next 10 miles without a single turn. We were completely exposed to the sun with 3 active lanes of fairly continuous traffic from mile 14 until mile 24. The scenery also changed from the beautiful mountain trees to blacktop highway, cars, and industrial areas. The combination of sun, vehicle exhaust, and boredom combined to make the 2nd half a long slog.