Maranda Cimeno's Staging Area

For some reason, I went into this race with low expectations (likely the result of Yelp/Facebook reviews of previous years), but was very pleasantly surprised. I ran both the 5K (Saturday) and full marathon (Sunday). The start area for the full was the worst part of the race. I arrived via the Link from a downtown hotel, and found it difficult to navigate getting to the bathrooms, any food, and corrals. The Seattle event would have benefited from those people who wear big balloons saying INFORMATION or BATHROOMS -> or CORRALS ->, like I have seen at RnR Las Vegas. Also, I may not have seen them all, but I felt that there were only 10s of portapotties (maybe 30?) at the start area, which was not enough. Despite being in the 13th corral, I still saw massive lines for the portapotties when I began the race.

This is my recollection of the course: The 2017 year course began, as stated, at Husky Stadium, then went through the arboretum, along Lake Washington and around Seward Park, then across some neighborhoods toward CenturyLink Stadium (which was the finish line), then on Route 99/Viaduct past the Space Needle, and back to the stadium. I really enjoyed the first 10-12 miles along the Lake. I don’t remember anything particularly motivating or picturesque en route to the first pass of CenturyLink, but I did really enjoy running on the Viaduct! Running on Route 163 in the San Diego RnR Marathon is my least favorite part of the course, and I was expecting that here…but, it was an incredible view, made even more special thinking that it may no longer exist within a year! Part of this portion of the course included a tunnel, which terrified me at first, so it helped me run faster! After the tunnel, the runners come out heading toward the Space Needle. Sometime after the tunnel, the ground changed from asphalt to concrete. That was killer, especially paired with the fact that this was an incline to the highest elevation of the course! I ran this two weeks off of a PR during Mountains 2 Beach, allowing myself to enjoy the scenery and go at an easy pace. With that, I would not rate this course as challenging, despite some hills.

I visited the expo once on Friday. There was a lot of room in the CenturyLink Field Event Center, but I felt the expo was smaller than other RnR events (hard not to compare them to one another).

Other than the start line, my only complaint about this race is that they changed the course after many people had booked hotels. With that, they offered a shuttle from the expo area. I think this is standard, but it would have been better had they offered a shuttle from the downtown (hotel) area. To get to the expo area from the downtown area, one would have to take the Link in the opposite direction of the start line…which seems nonsensical (why go the opposite way when you could just ride the Link to the start?).

OVERALL: I liked the course a lot! I am curious how it will change next year if the viaduct is removed. I hope that RnR works to organize a better start area with improved transportation options.

Bay to Breakers is fun, if you let go of trying to PR and accept the fact that there will be bottleneck during the first 2 miles (even if you’re in Corral A). I have ran this race four times, and every time, until this year, I got annoyed with walkers in early corrals and drunk spectators jumping on the course. So, if you truly enjoy racing for speed/time, I would not recommend this run. If you want to experience the race- the costumes, nudity, historic course, etc; then definitely do it!

For the course: I enjoy running up Hayes Hill, and definitely like the rollers throughout Golden Gate Park. Once you enter the park, you have more space and can push the pace. People should be aware, the weather at the starting point, through the park, and at the finish line can change drastically!