Courtney Cottrell's Staging Area

I ran the half marathon, and my biggest complaint is that the course was not well-marked. I saw several people go the wrong way and have to turn around and come back- probably the worst area was where the 5K/15K/Half marathon split coming off of Fiesta Island and there was ONE person directing traffic- also the half marathoners had to cross BACK across the 5K/15K traffic and there was no one directing people there (saw 3 people go the wrong way there). Also the course was advertised as being stroller and wheelchair friendly but there was a section that was a dirt path. No big deal for runners, but hard if you don’t have an off-road stroller.
There was also a turnaround out by Campland where there was NO volunteer- thank goodness that’s where my husband and kids were waiting to cheer me on as he said he had to redirect multiple runners who didn’t know they had to turn around and kept running down Pacific Beach Drive!
It was challenging running around Mission Bay on the public path, as there were a lot of people walking 3 and 4 wide on the path. (The worst offenders were those who had completed the 5K and were walking back to their cars- so a suggestion for the race directors might be to ask people after they’ve finished their race to NOT walk on the racecourse!) There was a lot of weaving to be done as it is already an out-and-back on a narrow path, plus public pedestrians, bikes, etc.
Some of the waterstops were also understaffed- passed one on Fiesta Island with only one volunteer. Poor thing.
If you like exciting races with lots of crowd support, this one is not for you. Even most of the volunteers along the course weren’t cheering much if at all. I did love the happy spirit of the dancers at the split at Fiesta Island, though!
Some pros though were that I thought this race was very reasonably priced and I was very happy with the SWAG we got for the price (the medal was great, loved all the snacks in the goody bag). The post-race expo was great, and I really appreciate the company’s green initiatives. It was also great that you could pick up your bib on race morning if you wanted to rather than have to drive out to packet pickup.