Rachel Ross's Staging Area

I enjoyed everything about the race except the bitterly cold wind. The expo was easy, parking was easy, race day morning easy. The race started on time. Production was great. There were spectators along the course in many areas, some with their own aid stations with choice of alcoholic or non-alcoholic fuel. I enjoyed running through the University, past Mike the tiger’s area (he was not to be seen, unfortunately), and for long stretches past lakes and large, beautiful homes. The course is mostly flat with a few hills. Police presence was strong and reassuring. At the finish the police were vigilant with dogs and also scanning from the rooftops. The race offered SIX food or drink tear offs on the bib. Soft drinks and beer were available as well as gumbo, vegetarian gumbo, jambalaya, king cake, and bananas. The live bands were very good. 5 stars for the race company. Just too bad there was a historic cold snap the weekend I did it.

This is billed as a fun beach run & it WAS when I did it in 2015. This time, the race started at 8:30 am. The idea is to start the race while the tide is out and then get back to the start before it comes all the way in. Morro Bay is a lovely location and there is ample free parking. There were almost 800 10Kers and right around 200 half marathoners participating this year. The race is run mostly along wet, firm sand to the pier at the next town. The 10K people finish there and take the shuttle back to the start. The half marathoners turn around there and run back, taking one detour through the soft, deep sand over to a paved path for a loop and then back to the dry sand, and to the wet sand for the finish to make the full 13.1 miles. Last time my feet stayed dry for the whole race. This year since it was later in the morning, the tide was already coming back and that caused areas of running water we had to try to jump over soon after the start. Most people got their feet wet in the first mile due to these areas. I saw one man fall completely in because the bank gave way as he landed on the other side. Then came the sharp, uneven, steep, slippery rocks. The advancing tide caused people to have to go over the rocks. This slowed everyone down as they tried to find a path over and I saw one woman fall twice and get all bloodied on her thigh and knees. After that an older man fell and had to be helped up. There were several of these areas. After the first one, most people (including me) opted for the safer route through ankle-deep water. Now my shoes were a soggy mess and full of piles of sand that I walked on with every step. This also caused my shoes to be heavy, slowing me more. After the turnaround, the tide was further up and since I am only 5’3″, I ended up walking through thigh deep water to avoid the rocks. After all this, the sand collected on top of my shoes when we got to the deep, dry sand, making for a difficult overall experience. To add to this, there were three aid stations on the way out, but you know the ones that are slightly off course and you have to run over to them? Yep. And the first one was manned by two ladies that were furiously trying to fill the little cups and there were two lines of at least 6-8 people in each one waiting for a little half cup. There was only water at all aid stations. The next two were fine, but you still had to run slightly off the course and there were no electrolytes offered. On the way back there was one more aid station on the side loop. A cotton tee shirt was included at packet pickup, which was cute, but ran small. I asked to trade for a larger size and they refused. Usually if they won’t trade right then, they say you can come at the end of the race and see if there are any in the size you need. I was told to write my name on a paper and they said they’d send one. Hmm. We’ll see. The finish food was two pancakes, two sausages, and one choice of fruit, plus coffee and juice. They had run out of the veggie sausages that were described on the website so I just had two pancakes and two orange slices and there was no coffee. I went back later and they had made more. The medal and the location of this race are lovely. I will be taking this race off my list and will not go back unless the start time is earlier. I just want people to know that this is not stroll along the beach. It’s more like an obstacle course. Some may like the challenge.