Chris Kurose's Staging Area

I’m from San Jose, and I think this is about as good a half marathon as you could expect in San Jose. I wouldn’t travel here for it, but as a local it’s a solid race.

The course route especially was very well done – maybe a few weird turns in the Rose Garden that could have been smoothed out but not bad… Starting and ending in Cesar Chavez Plaza is a great location, and the loop they chose through downtown, Japantown, and the Rose Garden gave as good a tour of the city as you could expect. This course is much better than the Kaiser Half Marathon course that happened earlier in the year.

The race production was also solid logistically – things happened on time and turns and miles were well signed, and aid stations were well staffed. Very much appreciate all the volunteers and people who came out to cheer!

One thing that could be improved unfortunately is the “Rock’n’Roll” part, which is kind of their whole schtick but was a little cringy – There seemed to be one pretty legit band near the rose garden, but most of the music was either (a) just a DJ playing music or (b) guys in their 70’s jamming… Sorry to be a hater, but it wasn’t great, and it wasn’t motivating as a runner.

This was home turf for me living downtown SJ so I’ve run most of the route many times before. They chose a very good course overall through nice parts of San Jose. It’s almost totally flat except for highway underpasses/overpasses, with the biggest “hill” being maybe a 50 ft gain on Coleman. It could be a little more scenic/iconic SJ if they went straight through the Rose Garden without that weird loop and hit more of downtown proper – I guess they were trying to avoid a more major street closure but going down Santa Clara would have been much better than the Coleman section. Overall this was a good race to go for a PR because of the flatness and overall predictability.

The start/finish production was great. The way they took over Santana Row was awesome – great place to gather before and after the race. There were a lot of people cheering at the finish line which was cool, but supporters along the route were a lot sparser than most other more major races, so that was a little tough. I would have thought the corner of Santa Clara and Market should have been set up with a better spectator area and music since you passed it 3 times but nope. They had some live music along the way but it seemed a little randomly placed and didn’t serve as real hubs for supporters. So in terms of the fun excitement factor this race didn’t quite stack up.

This was my first half marathon (and first race of any kind) so I don’t have much to compare it to but here’s my first timer impression– overall it was a blast, with great scenery, well run, and the only downside being the weather. It felt like a friendly supportive crowd of racers – not unserious or rowdy but not too intense either. The course and scenery through the panhandle and GG park is great and makes the miles fly by and really feel like an enjoyable exhilarating run! The main downside was the weather – less the rain but the wind, which was like 18mph from the south, so when you turned onto Ocean Blvd. at mile 8 it was like hitting a wall. It felt like running uphill for 2.5 mi, going all out sprinting just to maintain my earlier warmup pace, and the lack of landmarks along Ocean Blvd also made it hard to know when it would end… But then when you turn the corner and head north again you had the wind at your back and that was of course super welcome, but overall it would have been much more enjoyable (and a more successful pace) without the wind. Obviously the race orgs can’t control the weather so no shade to them, just something to be aware of as a potential big challenge – one I was not prepared for! Overall though, great race and plan to do it again next year!