judith kahn quan's Staging Area

The race had great e-mail communication and was very marked and had folks directing traffic. It was not their fault the first five miles on the highway had heavy rain and 25 mile winds that you had to run in but running out of medals for runners coming in after 3 hours is not acceptable and running out of Mylar blankets for 3 hour half marathon and 3 hour marathons was even worse . I took my off and gave to a marathoner. Don’t advertise women shirt and then give unisex shirt and for these distances a cotton shirt. This race was point to point and I kept hearing flying pirates in April would be the race to run if you wanted to one in outer banks. I would have enjoyed the great post race party if I was not so cold

If you can survive the first few miles of up hill and wondering why you signed up, you will be rewarded with the most downhill I have ever run in a race. The weather was great – no winds this year. Aid stations were supported by boys and girls club who were very motivating. They did not run out of gu or bananas. The course was well marked and it was very peaceful to run and enjoy the quiet of just runners shoes. Great medal but didn’t care for the shirt- shirt had too much of the front. After party was good was free beer but also water and chocolate milk and cookies ! No corrals but had someone from local high school play the national anthem on her flute. That set the tone for enjoying this race

This race was a lot of fun I picked up a great long sleeve race shirt in blue with name of race on front and nothing on the back Thank you race sponsors for that On your bib you got three drink tickets and parking validation good for race day And four return trips yo the mall I was glad I allowed plenty of time on race day to get to the parking lot as it took 20 minutes to turn right They did need more pot a potties at the start of the race That would be my only complaint The race course was great It was flat the weather was perfect and you got a chance to see the highlights of Cambridge If you middle of the packer like me there were some sections when you were on the bike path where it was hard to pass but you couldn’t change that There was a great medal and the post celebration took two floors of the defunct sears store So you were inside after the race Great selection of drinks and food It was one of the better post race events They also went all out if you came as team So try and find 20 running buddies to do this race

This was my third year running it – I lived in San Diego as a kid and moved away but i love to run this race and see how the city has changed. The course changed over the previous year and it was easier this year. A lot of folks come out to watch the race and cheer the runners on… I was running with a buddy who had not trained and so we took it slow and I stopped to take pictures and have fun.. The ice cold shot of tequila offered at mile 3 was fun… No one else stopped but I was running this race to have fun. I loved the flags and the folks holding them . I was told the shirts have been blue and red to remember our fallen soliders. The race is big but the streets can handle them. I never had to run in or around runners. If you run the Rock N roll in Los Angeles, you will pay the $15 for parking. That is just the way it is unless you know the city and are willing to walk. I like the Rock N Roll expos because Brooks and Toyota are big sponsers so we got to test drive a Prius and have our gait checked for correct shoes. Brooks also had special potties at the start if you spent $100 which was easy. There were short lines. I got my shoes on sale and would do the Brooks potties line again.

This is billed as a family race and it held up to it’s name with up to four hours to finish the half. I liked that they also had an 8K for those who wanted to move up from running the 5k. I was warned about the parking and got there downtown as 6:00 with no problems with the parking. There were seperate starts for the half and the full although we did meet up at the end. Mostly flat course – highlights was the beer at mile 8 and at this point they had water stations every mile. Plently of folks cheering and a few with snacks to choose from. Would have wanted to run along the James River but we did the city streets. The race ended at historic Tredegar which was beautiful and nice to look at while you relaxed with Sierra Nevada beer. I received a nicely designed long-sleeve T-shirt, nice medal, a very cool finishers blanket and a cap. Nice touch when you got you bottle of water at the finish line, they switched the cap open so you did not have to struggle with – liked the bagel but the bananas were raw, trail mix was good but the question of the day – who thought of having pizza at the end of the race? This was only eatten by those runners under 30. It was a fun race overall and coming from Los Angeles, I was grateful to run somewhere that was under 60 degrees!

Long beach had record heat this week and I was so happy to hear that they would allow the half marathons to start with the marathoners as it was already hot at 5:30 and I think they learned from the Los Angeles marathon this past March that had record heat too. This is my fourth time running the race as it is flat and there are wide lanes to run most if the race so you do not have to weave in and out of runners. There is great volunteer and fac support so there are folks cheering you along the way. Registration is easy and they have a great expo although this year there seemed to be less vendors. I recommend spending the night in long beach so you do not have to fight the crowds. Great grassy areas to relax after the race and when you do the race three times you become beach bum which means better beer and quiet place to relax after the race with your own not stinky potapotty. Also get coupon for the aquarium so you have something to do with the kids after the race. There are about 20,000 plus participants and it is a good race if you are Boston bound. I did my personal worse in the race. Too hot to run and it is usually in the 60’s with a nice ocean prize. Lots of great photo ops.

They need to improve registration. It was one if the worst. The signs for the bibs so you know what line to wait on were at waist level which meant that they could not be seen. You waited in line for 40 minutes hot and cranky. Need to do something different next year. Also the shirt was cute but we expect a tech shirt that is dri fit. Disappointed and do not know when I will wear it. Highlights. Fitbit was there and I now run with this. I also liked kicking horse coffee who was at the start of the race giving free coffee to runners who had to get there an hour early. Also want to do a shout out to lucid media who took great photos and show special of 19.99. Lots of space at the park to do wine tasting. And because the race starts uphill you lose the slow walkers right away and I did not have to weave in and out of folks on the race. Ps. I am not that fast but… I do recommend the race and make hotel reservations early