Erin Wade's Staging Area

I really enjoyed this flat and fast course along PCH with the beautiful Pacific Ocean beside us the whole way! It was well-organized and well-supported with excellent volunteers! It was, however, quite a bit too long at 10.27 miles. The turn-around was placed too far. With Garmins as good as they are, there is no excuse for such a big error. Additionally, while I was not in need of a pace group, several pace groups were running too fast. Specifically, the 8:30 pace group. They were running consistently at 8:15. When I mentioned to them they might want to check their Garmins, they said they were “banking for the hill”. There is no hill! This is an essentially flat course with a few insignificant rollers that do not require any compensation. In my (unprofessional) opinion, a pace group’s job is to hold a specific pace for those seeking to meet that mark. If the pacer is running too fast, it’s just discouraging for those runners trying to utilize them. I even heard other runners asking them if they were really running at 8:30 because it felt too fast. Just not cool. If you want to race, then don’t pace!