May Chih's Staging Area

This was my second time running the San Francisco Marathon. They had made changes to the course this year because they are no longer allowed to close lanes of traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. Due to this change, the half marathon no longer runs across the bridge and the marathoners run on the pedestrian path across the bridge. I liked the change because there was less congestion on the bridge, and we got the opportunity to run along the trail under the bridge to cross over and run back to San Francisco. This course takes you around the city to see so many iconic San Francisco landmarks. The last few miles through the industrial area, in my opinion, are not as interesting. But that’s when you dig deep and work on those negative splits to get you to AT&T stadium and then to the finish chute. Decent medal, and this race is linked to several challenges if you want to earn additional bling.

Nice, relatively flat course. There is a hill when you turn off of PCH to go towards the firestation. The course also narrows there since it’s going through residential areas. Most of the course runs on PCH with views of the beach. Post-race beer garden relocated to the sand this year. Swag is nice — long sleeve tech shirt and a nice reusable shopping tote bag. Medals always has a surf board as part of it. For those who like to earn bonus medals, this race is part of the Beach Cities Challenge (along with OC Marathon and Long Beach Marathon), Double Dog Dare (in conjunction with OC marathon where you run a combination of a full and a half marathon), as well as California Dreamin Racing Cup Series (along with The San Francisco Marathon).

The Dopey Challenge is a 4-race Series where you run a 5K on Thursday, 10K on Friday, half marathon on Saturday and full marathon on Sunday. What makes this challenge even greater is that you have to be up by 2-2:30am to get prep for race day, shuttle to the start and wait 1.5-2hrs before you actually start your race. Then after your race, go back to your hotel to wash up and spend the rest of the day on your feet at the theme parks, try to get an early dinner and go to bed to repeat it all over the next day. By the 4th day you are sleep deprived and exhausted and now you get to run a full marathon which runs through each of the theme parks and their sports park. Yay! What a crazy experience, but as long as you aren’t “in it to win it”, it’s a fun experience. Need a rest break? Pull over to line up for a character photo. Some of the roads and pathways were narrow and congested. But the Cast Member, voluntEars and theme park spectator support was awesome. And the medals… ooh, the medals!!! Once you finish the marathon, you go through a tent where they verify that you completed the prior 3 races, then you are adorned with a Goofy Challenge medal for doing the “race and a half” (half+full marathon) and a Dopey Challenge medal for doing the 4 races. You also got at packet pick up a shirt for each race plus the challenge shirts. And since this year was the 25th anniversary for the marathon, finishers got commemorative Mickey ears. Swag galore!

This was my second year running this race. Thankfully, it was not as chilly as it was last year. We parked at the finish and took the shuttle to the start. It was still nice to have the hotel ballroom available for us to hang out while we waited for the start of the race. A couple big hills at the beginning, but then pretty much downhill with some mini rolling hills to the finish. We start out on the road but then transition to the trail a couple miles in which runs alongside highway 56 until Mile 11, then we get back on to Carmel Valley Road. There’s a little out and back in Sorrento Valley Road that was shortened this year due to a closed gate, so the overall course ended up a bit short. But even without it being a shorter course this year, it’s still a fast downhill race to the beach. The course can get a bit crowded on the trail. Course support is awesome. Plenty of volunteers and several areas with friends and family cheering on the runners. Swag is nice. Long sleeve hooded tech shirt and thumbholes, drawstring logo bag which included a Mylar blanket. They also had throwaway gloves available at packet pickup. Finish line Festival area had lots of vendors. This race is also part of a couple other series. I collected a second medal for also running the Craft Classic.

The Berkeley Half is put on by the same people that put on The San Francisco Marathon. It’s a smaller production with ~9,000 runners (combined total of 5K/10K/Half). Though there were 4 waves, it was still pretty crowded for a while before the crowds thinned out, but it became crowded again around mile 8 when the course overlapped with the 10K course. The volunteers were great and the course ran through many neighborhoods, so there was some crowd support. The roads need some work so you need to pick up your feet and watch your step. Swag is nice — long sleeve shirt and a decent size finisher medal. SF-Berkeley challenge medal is a nice spinner medal. They also have swag for loyalty runners.

Fun little 5k. First couple miles runs in and around a park mostly on grass. In the last quarter mile, take a dip in the lazy river before the final stretch to the finish. Shoe removal is optional. Lazy river is optional if you don’t want to get wet, but you won’t qualify for awards if you opt out.