K L's Staging Area

My personal experience was very poor with this marathon. Mostly due to getting lost which ruined the whole experience being that finishing the race was my primary reason for being there. Otherwise it would have been a decent race. It was easy enough to follow the course for the first loop, but I got lost around mile 19.5 as the fatigue set in and it was hard to follow the unclear signage and there were so many loops and turns. Runners in every direction. Some turns lacked arrows and had tiny flags and turtle signs as the only reference to the route. There were several times I had to stop and think through where to go, but ultimately I still made a wrong turn. I’ve ran many races and this is the first time this has happened.

Aside from that, the course is fast and flat which made it even more discouraging for me since I was on track for a PR by 45 minutes! I was cruisin. However there is about 4 miles total of sand. Not hard packed, so it did make my feet sore and slowed me down.

I thought the lunch was kind of gross, but maybe that is a personal opinion. My stomach can’t handle that kind of food after a race. It would have been nice to have chips, fruit, granola bars, or little snacky things as additional options. Suggestion: Putting drink and food tickets on bibs to tear off. This system has worked great at past races.

Now I was very confused with the advertising. We were told through multiple emails that there were going to have heated tents. But they didn’t have any and nothing was said to us about that. Good thing I brought warm clothes so I was mostly warm enough.

Also I love Brooks so I hope this wasn’t a Brooks mistake, but there were multiple fliers about the shake out run and after party at The Bank. We did get the free drink but there didn’t really seem to be any organized event for the after party or giveaways and prizes as advertised. I wouldn’t have been disappointed if my expectations weren’t being set so high. I have been to Brooks events that did follow through with these things and turned out to be exciting and fun, so I was expecting something else.

Now for the good things! The other runners and volunteers were so kind and fun to talk to. It was a very social race which helped lift my spirits despite the disappointing circumstances. The pasta dinner the night before had great food. Overall, this was a learning experience and not every race can go perfectly.

I have ran many half marathons, this one was my favorite so far. This was my first time seeing Redwoods so running through the gorgeous trees was like nothing else. I was sure the rolling hills would slow me down, but they weren’t so bad for me. The one bigger hill towards the end did slow my pace some though. However, I got a PR and felt amazing at the end! One thing I will say is I remember the traffic arriving to the race and leaving took some time so be sure to arrive earlier and be prepared for traffic when leaving. Overall, it is a race well worth signing up for!