Peter Fan's Staging Area

Great swag – pay the $5 upgrade to either a long sleeve or an ultra soft race shirt. You also get a pair of Goodr and recycled gloves for the chilly start.

The race is fast but the pounding will take its toll if you don’t properly train. Revel provides excellent tips on course management and how to train for a downhill course. We did multiple long runs on downhill routes to prepare.

The best thing about the Big Bear course is that it’s a continual downhill past mile 9. It becomes more gradual the last 6 miles but it’s still downhill even though it might feel like it.

About 1,000 participates in the marathon and about 3,000 for the half. The course is very scenic and peaceful as advertised but it’s not as fast as it might appear on the elevation map. Miles 8-15 is rolling hills circling the reservoir. And the 1,400 ft descent isn’t steep enough to kick your speed into high gear without effort. Also the altitude will have some impact. We all noticed we were breathing heavier than we would at sea level.

This race has great community support. All the folks at the expo and on the course were very friendly. There was even a police officer in uniform helping out at a short-handed water station. I enjoyed meeting others at this race more than any other race.

The Ogden restaurant scene are all clustured around the finish line and also within 2 blocks of most hotels. It was very convenient, never having to get in a car (other than the expo which will require a 10 min drive). The finish line festivities is also very charming with a band and many local businesses on hand.

Overall a great experience and definitely highly recommended.

The SF Marathon seems to have more challenges than most. One of them is the 52 Mile Club which is the completion of both half marathons and the full in consecutive years. The recognition reward is a hoodie. Unfortunately, you didn’t need the hoodie this year. The weather was warmer than usual and sunny (except for the Golden Gate portion which was cold, windy and foggy).

I love this race for the route that take you through many of the iconic LA landmarks and the special fan support. I ran this race for the 2nd year in a row and I was once again awed by the fan support. It truly makes it a special experience.

My day didn’t get off to a good start though. The shuttle operation in Santa Monica was a complete disaster. Lines were over an hour long despite ample number of buses. Buses were taking off less than a quarter full while there were hundreds of people still in line. I am sure there were lots of people who did not make it to the race on time. I hope they get it right next year.

Surf City is held on Super Bowl Sunday. It’s a nice way to start the day to earn the right to indulge a little watching the game. This year the weather was ideal. It was complete overcast and the temperature stayed in the 50s.

The course is basically an out-and-back with a side loop through a residential track. The only significant climb on the course is on this side loop. My Garmin registered total climb of only 164 ft for the course.

Most of the race is on Pacific Coast Highway and you have an ocean view for almost the entire race. While this may be a big draw for many, I find the course very monotonous. This view is shared with many other runners I know. However, it is a fast course given the right conditions.

The race organization is well done. The water stations are frequent and well staffed (for the most part). There are some entertainment along the way and there’s good fan support along the way and especially near the finish. At the finish you’re provided a good selection of liquids, fruits and snacks. In fact it got hard to carry all the stuff. A bag would be helpful.

Overall a nice race on a course I don’t appreciate.

Being along the ocean in Santa Monica, you might think the course is flat. It isn’t. For the first four miles, it is a gradual and continuous climb. My Garmin registered total climb of 250 feet so it isn’t steep but definitely noticeable. The positive is that the final 2+ miles is a gradual downhill, the same finish as the LA Marathon.

The race was sold out this year, likely because of the Conquer LA Challenge. As a result, the course was crowded, especially in some narrower sections of the course. Unless you move to the front (open corral so you can start where you like), there’s a lot of zig zagging around slower runners.

You can park either at the start or finish. From the map, the start and finish didn’t seem that far apart but I’d say it’s at least a mile. Next time, I’d park at the finish to utilize the dead time before the race to walk to the start instead of wasting time after the race to walk back to the car. The nice thing is that for same day pick-up, you pick up the shirt and goodie back after the race on the pier. The only thing you have to pick up pre-race is your bib.

Nice community race to celebrate Memorial Day. But beware the course is on the difficult side. It’s a net downhill to the turn at mile 8, with mile 6.5 to 8 on a 2 lane bike path down a canyon. After climbing out of the canyon, its a gradual uphill the rest of the way until a final steeper (but short) hill right before the finish.
The race organization was great. Even though you can pick up your bib the day before, you can easily pick up everything race morning. The parking is next to the start line which makes it convenient.
For those racing the 5K and 10K, be aware everyone starts at the same time so you will need to maneuver around the slower half marathoners. I recommend you should move to near the front of the corral.

My first race was the Brea 8K in 2014. Next to finishing my first race, what stood out was all the post race snack/food/drinks provided by nearby merchants. When I was disappointed to find out later was that this was the exception, not the norm. The race is advertised as SoCal’s best finish line. It’s not an understatement. This year there were over 20 booths, ranging from Slater’s (longest line for their famous burgers) to Ritas (Italian ice).

As for the course, it’s a nice and gentle 5 miler starting and ending by the Brea Mall. The inclines are in the 1H so the 2H is mostly downhill. Total elevation gain is about 250 ft. There were 3 water stops along the way and good community support along the route including many enthusiastic kids cheering us on.

The race swag was only okay. You only really get a cotton race T. No finisher medals are awarded. The bib pick-up was simple and quick.

The 10 mile and 10K are an out and back on PCH and is a great training run for those planning to do the Surf City half or full marathon. This even is much less crowded so there’s not the congestion. You can pick up your bib the day before at the expo or the morning of the race. I arrived 45 minutes prior to race and had plenty of time to pick up bib. I did notice the lines for bib pick up was quite a bit longer about 10 minute prior to the start so don’t cut it too close!

The medal is a surf board bottle opener and you get a tech T. At the finish line, you’re provided banana, chocolate milk, water and an energy bar.

The 10K course has over 400 ft of climb spread over many rolling hills and a majority of the course is in the parking lot. The tech-T and medals are nice but there’s not much else.

I preferred this end-to-end route to a out-and-back like Surf Cities. The most enjoyable is the first 10 miles or so going through beautiful neighborhoods of CDR and NB. The back half is mostly through commercial areas and along the river. There are some hills but nothing too difficult – total elevation gain of over 600 ft. Crowd support is sparse, especially the 2nd half.