The race begins in the park across the highway from the beach. It is a down and back course that is part boardwalk, part pavement and mostly flat. The boardwalk … MORE
The race begins in the park across the highway from the beach. It is a down and back course that is part boardwalk, part pavement and mostly flat. The boardwalk sections are somewhat narrow, but running across the lake was nice. Other than that, there isn’t much scenery to enjoy. I can’t speak too much about Pre-race and Post-race events because it was a torrential downpour the entire race, so we left very quickly afterwards. The shirt and medal were Safari animal themed, but a little too cartoonish for my taste.
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Safari 7K
The race begins in the park across the highway from the beach. It is a down and back course that is part boardwalk, part pavement and mostly flat. The boardwalk … MORE
The race begins in the park across the highway from the beach. It is a down and back course that is part boardwalk, part pavement and mostly flat. The boardwalk sections are somewhat narrow, but running across the lake was nice. Other than that, there isn’t much scenery to enjoy. I can’t speak too much about Pre-race and Post-race events because it was a torrential downpour the entire race, so we left very quickly afterwards. The shirt and medal were Safari animal themed, but a little too cartoonish for my taste.
Run through AL coastal park
This small run is almost entirely in a state park so scenery consists of southeastern coastal scrub bushes. It’s okay … just not much variation in scenery. It is also … MORE
This small run is almost entirely in a state park so scenery consists of southeastern coastal scrub bushes. It’s okay … just not much variation in scenery. It is also not spectator friendly for the first 11 miles. Well organized though and flat,flat,flat except for the cruel bridge at mile 11.5-ish. I had my 2nd best time ever (with my PR being 9 years ago & pretty unattainable for me now).
Hidden Gem for running Alabama
We chose this race as it was driving distance for us and we could knock out a new state. So glad we did. The race was well organized, great communication. … MORE
We chose this race as it was driving distance for us and we could knock out a new state. So glad we did. The race was well organized, great communication. Lots of lodging options walking distance to the start/finish. Enjoyed the course. Lots of boardwalk running which I love. Because it has rained, they were a little slippery but they were nice and wide. Gentle elevation thru the State Park with one short climb up the pedestrian bridge in Mile 11. Nice afterparty. I loved that you could use real restrooms at The Hangout and stay inside to keep warm. Great food after the race, including Gumbo. Would definitely recommend this race and do it again!
Nice marathon
Scenery is cool, the race start and finish by the beach was very nice as well. Organization was excellent. You get free race photos (or let us say included in … MORE
Scenery is cool, the race start and finish by the beach was very nice as well.
Organization was excellent. You get free race photos (or let us say included in the race price). The food post run was very good: taste, variety, and healthy.
The start waiting in the Hangout was cozy. Same with the party post race.
Ceremony awards was fun and well organized.
So if you are looking for a marathon to have fun without the stress/complications of a huge crowd, and enjoy a touristic location, then the Big Beach Marathon must be on the list.
Big Beach Marathon-flat and great views
Overall is a great race. The organizers kept everyone informed with the events of weekend. There was plenty of water stations. While there was alot of running on the boardwalks, … MORE
Overall is a great race. The organizers kept everyone informed with the events of weekend. There was plenty of water stations. While there was alot of running on the boardwalks, the scenery was amazing.
Won't go down as my favorite — read on
I want to be fair … So, first, the good parts: Law enforcement officers were cordial, friendly, and professional. Most of the volunteers were friendly and very helpful. Most of … MORE
I want to be fair …
So, first, the good parts: Law enforcement officers were cordial, friendly, and professional. Most of the volunteers were friendly and very helpful. Most of the first half of the race was beautiful — it was really nice to run in the woods. The medal is very attractive! And, you get to run on parts of the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail, named by USA Today as the best recreational trail in the country for 2023.
Then, the other parts: The race name is for the locale, not the view! If you want to see the beach and the gulf, rent a motel room on the beach front, or go down the coast and run the Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon in December. The only time you see the Gulf and the beach on this marathon course is at the very start, and during the final 1/4 mile of the course.
Navigating the course became a huge problem. At the water stop before Mile 4, there was a sharp left turn in the course but, unfortunately, the darlin’s manning the water stop were dancing around in front of the turn arrows, blocking the arrows from our view; therefore, at least five of us (maybe more, I don’t know) missed the turn and ran straight ahead to the next arrow we could see (it was actually a further-along part of the course). Nobody at the water stop stopped us or redirected us — they just let us go on the wrong way! A mile down the path, a woman angel on a bicycle who must have realized what had happened caught up with at least three groups of us and told us we’d missed the turn. We had to turn around and go back, adding an extra two miles to our course, and turning it into an inadvertent Ultra. Then later, in Mile 24, on the boardwalk over the wetlands, there was a very confusing junction — we knew we had to go over a wooden pedestrian bridge, of which we knew there were two. Was this the one, or was our bridge further along? There had been a cardboard directional sign — we could see that the wind had blown it down into the wetlands, face down. Three of us spent four or five minutes standing there scratching our heads trying to figure it out, until finally a person came along who happened to be carrying a map. We studied it, took our best guess, and the guess turned out to be correct.
And, the race is not spectator friendly for anyone unfamiliar with the area. We managed to find a map that indicated spectator zones, but the map didn’t indicate how to get to most of them, nor where the course actually was even if one could get there. My wife (my cheering section) could only find the actual course trail twice out of multiple attempts.
At the post-race party, I handed the bartender my beer ticket, asking him for “something malty.” He dug into his cooler, pulled out the beer, opened it and handed it to me — an IPA. Oh well, I’d finished the course and got the medal (again, a very attractive one).
Overall great race!
Beautiful run over boardwalks! Highly recommend. Also start and stop at the Hangout super fun!! Get more beer so marathon finishers get more options…. By the time we finished there … MORE
Beautiful run over boardwalks! Highly recommend. Also start and stop at the Hangout super fun!! Get more beer so marathon finishers get more options…. By the time we finished there were only a few IPA beers left. Overall a great race!
Nice Small Race
This is a nicely run small race. It starts and ends at The Hangout. Pre-race you can wait inside if it’s chilly (it was). Most of this race is on … MORE
This is a nicely run small race. It starts and ends at The Hangout. Pre-race you can wait inside if it’s chilly (it was).
Most of this race is on paved trail, with quite a bit of boardwalk, which is slippery if wet. It’s tough to run tangents for the first seven miles because of the narrow path plus mix of half and full runners. After the half splits off then it becomes much more open.
Water stops were up to two miles apart at times. I carried a hand held bottle.
At about 1.5 miles to go you have to climb up a ramp to cross over the road. After that woe be to you if it’s windy, I slowed significantly for that last stretch thanks to the head wind.
As with all small races I’ve done, the medal is large. In fact I had to take it off after the race because I felt it dragging me down. Also there were sandwiches after the race.
My wife and I really enjoyed the town too, we’d consider coming back.
Flat course mostly through State Park
Spots were slippery on the boardwalk from the recent rain. Nice paved trails and boardwalks, not alot of scenic views though (mostly trees). Good pacers - some offered intervals. Decent … MORE
Spots were slippery on the boardwalk from the recent rain. Nice paved trails and boardwalks, not alot of scenic views though (mostly trees). Good pacers – some offered intervals. Decent support at water stops. Fun atmosphere at finish line. I wish they provided spectator info for us out-of-towners.
Hidden gem!
I am trying to run a marathon in all 50 states and so was not sure what to expect from this race in Alabama - what a hidden gem! It … MORE
I am trying to run a marathon in all 50 states and so was not sure what to expect from this race in Alabama – what a hidden gem! It is a flat course (a few slight hills) and it is almost all through a nice wide bike trail in the woods. The temperature was perfect and the aid stations were plentiful.
If you were hoping to qualify for Boston, this would be a great race to consider.
They also had some of the best marathon signs up – such as – “if marathons were easy, they’d be named after your mother!” (hello!) and “Pain is just French for bread”…
Super pleasantly surprised, highly, highly recommend!
This Race is a Winner!
We came in on Thursday and did the Dolphin Challenge. It rained like crazy on Saturday, but that’s part of racing. The half was one of the best races I’ve … MORE
We came in on Thursday and did the Dolphin Challenge. It rained like crazy on Saturday, but that’s part of racing.
The half was one of the best races I’ve done. You could hear the announcer, people were friendly, aid stations were great, and the course was flat for this Southern Indiana runner! The after race party was a great experience and value! The attention to detail on this race make it top notch!
Fun Weekend
I completed the dolphin challenge which was the 7k on Sat and the Half on Saturday. Well organized race except for the challenge race check in on Saturday. They did … MORE
I completed the dolphin challenge which was the 7k on Sat and the Half on Saturday. Well organized race except for the challenge race check in on Saturday. They did not pre-assign numbers for those doing both races and the process was really slow. But other than that, great races. The Hangout was a fun place to finish in Sunday. Food and beer were amazing. The course was really pretty and ran through the state park for most of it. Good support. I recommend staying at the host hotel if you can. Great rates and such a pretty place along the beach. It made for a fun weekend.
Big Beach! Big Fun
Great pre race communication Expo was good and super easy Staff and volunteers were very helpful Great course, did have some hills Very nice medal and long sleeve dri-fit shirt … MORE
Great pre race communication
Expo was good and super easy
Staff and volunteers were very helpful
Great course, did have some hills
Very nice medal and long sleeve dri-fit shirt
Post race snacks included a wrap with chips and cookies and gumbo
1st time running the marathon, I had ran the half marathon a couple of years ago. I definitely would recommend this race.
More Like Big Swamp
I was initially planning to do this race last year but my flight got canceled and I couldn't make it. This race company is excellent and very runner friendly and … MORE
I was initially planning to do this race last year but my flight got canceled and I couldn’t make it. This race company is excellent and very runner friendly and I wrote to them about my flight getting canceled and they let me defer to this year even though it was way past the deferral deadline. The host hotel the Lodge also let me cancel my reservation the day of the reservation because of the canceled flight. Because of that alone I would highly recommend this race and the host hotel. It was also a very good race. Last year I attempted to fly into Pensacola Florida which is the closest airport but there are so few flights from Rochester to Pensacola that I wasn’t able to find a Saturday morning flight last year and had to cancel the trip all together. Therefore this year I decided to fly into New Orleans so there would more options if my flight got canceled. New Orleans is about a 3 hour drive to Gulf Shores but it’s always fun to stop in New Orleans and get some vegan food. I took Friday off and flew into New Orleans in the morning, ate lunch there and arrived at the Lodge around the time of hotel check in. The hotel is very nice and a good deal with the race discount. I was doing the Dolphin Challenge (7K + Half marathon) and picked up my packet Friday evening. You can also do Saturday packet pick-up if you arrive late Friday night. Packet pick-up was relatively quick with just a short line. You got a short sleeve tech shirt for the 7K and a long sleeve tech shirt for the half or full marathon. You also got a bag with some pamphlet, coupons and a few smaller swag items. There is also an expo Saturday. I didn’t have time to go to the expo as I had plans in the afternoon. I stopped by at the end but most of the booths were shut down. There was a section to buy race stuff but the lines were long and I had everything I needed. The half marathon is on Sunday and starts at 7:30. I paid extra to take a shuttle from the Lodge. The start is about 1 mile away. There are hotel options closer to the half than the Lodge but the shuttle worked well. The start is at a bar called the Hangout right by the beach. It is a great place to start. There is both an indoor area and an outdoor area right by the beach. I was worried as it looked like rain was predicted. Luckily the rain held off for the race but if it was raining you could hang out inside and you could also warm out outside by the beach. Weather was pretty great race day though a touch hotter and more humid than perfect for me. There were plenty of porta potties outside along with some bathrooms inside. The start was relatively well organized. There was about 1000 participants in both the half and full. There were pacers which helped people line up by pace. There was no marked corrals and it was a mass start. The beginning of the race is on a street and wide so it was not an issue. I lined up a bit before the 3 hour pacer. I knew this was the kind of course I am fastest at and I was determined to get back to an under 3 hour half marathon. The first about mile is on a half closed street and the next 10 miles or so is in Gulf State Park. While it starts on the beach, pretty much none of the race is on the beach and almost all of it is in the state park so I’m not sure Big Beach is the right name for the race. The state park though is quite scenic and swampy with lots of cool vegetation. The course was very well marked. Most of it was on pavement with some on boardwalk. There were a few occasionally crowded part but for the most part runners were much more spread out and even the sections that shared with the marathon I hardly had any issues passing people. There are a lot of back of packers so I was almost always running with people. As it is mostly on more remote areas of the park there aren’t a ton of spectators but there are pockets of spectators at a few sections. The elevation profile is perfect in my opinion. There are no hills but its mostly minor inclines and declines which is generally the fastest type of course for me. I did run-walk intervals and was able to keep the pace I needed for my goal the entire race. There were lots of aid stations with water and Gatorade. They used reusable cups which was a nice environmentally friendly idea. One had gels. I did notice they were low on gels so not sure if everyone got one. The last mile is on a coned off road along the street. I was very excited because I realized I would be making my goal of under 3 hours by a few minutes. I did not find the course to be short and my GPS said 13.2 miles so I assume the distance was correct although one reviewer said the course was short. The finish line was nice and you get a really nice beach medal. I was really happy I was back to under 3 hours. For doing the dolphin challenge you get an additional medal to clip on. It does not have a separate ribbon you clip it on the Big Beach medal. There was water bottle and fruit at the finish line. Inside at the Hangout they had boxed lunches with wraps, chips and a cookie. I was happy they had veggie wraps which I believe were vegan. One minor critique would be I would have liked a non-alcoholic drink option besides water. Overall this was a great race. It was between a 4 and 5 sneaker race but given how great the company was about my flight getting canceled, I was definitely rounding up. This is a race I would definitely recommend for Alabama and would consider doing again.
Short but Nice Course
Well done and well organized race. My biggest (maybe only) complaint is that the course was only 13M. I was worried about running on "boardwalk" but it was not slippery … MORE
Well done and well organized race. My biggest (maybe only) complaint is that the course was only 13M.
I was worried about running on “boardwalk” but it was not slippery and not difficult to navigate. Course was well marked and supported with water. I did see one station that had gels but didn’t see what kind. I was also very pleasantly surprised to see them using reusable cups on the course.
Post-race party was nice. Bananas and oranges and water immediately at the finish line and then inside the courtyard was 3 different wrap options, including a veggie wrap, with chips and a cookie. Free beer but they ran out so I feel bad for people doing the full, unless you were in the leadpack you probably missed out on beer.
Overall a nice, smaller race.
Nice easy race
The 7K is a nice easy race, good warm up if you are doing the half marathon or Marathon the next day. They reward you for doing both races too! MORE
The 7K is a nice easy race, good warm up if you are doing the half marathon or Marathon the next day. They reward you for doing both races too!
Great venue.. great running surfaces.
Paved pathways, some road / sidewalk and some board walk. Some Water stations started to run out of water, no food on course. Course was marked well and manned well. MORE
Paved pathways, some road / sidewalk and some board walk. Some
Water stations started to run out of water, no food on course. Course was marked well and manned well.
Big Beach was Big Fun!! Well Organized!
We came in on Friday and Stayed at Luxury RV Resort a few blocks from The Hang Out - everything was in walking distance. We rode our bikes to packet … MORE
We came in on Friday and Stayed at Luxury RV Resort a few blocks from The Hang Out – everything was in walking distance. We rode our bikes to packet pick up. Very impressed with the shirts – We did the Dolphin Challenge – 7K on Saturday Short Sleeve Shirt and Half Marathon on Sunday Long Sleeve Shirt. We received 3 Medals for the Challenge. 7K was out and back on the Gopher Tortoise Trail and The Half ran through the Gulf Shores State Park – Beautiful. The after party was loads of fun at The Hang Out – Great Food, Entertainment and Band! Kudo’s to The Beast Pacers they did an Amazing Job!
Great flat race!
Fairly flat race! The best part were the aid stations having blue Gatorade!! Easy parking for the race, great restroom facilities, awesome post race area! We also lucked out with … MORE
Fairly flat race! The best part were the aid stations having blue Gatorade!! Easy parking for the race, great restroom facilities, awesome post race area! We also lucked out with some fabulous weather!!
Beautiful Race
I read everywhere about how this course is flat. I have to disagree with this statement. There is a steep incline around mile 10 and I feel as if I … MORE
I read everywhere about how this course is flat. I have to disagree with this statement. There is a steep incline around mile 10 and I feel as if I could of been better prepared for this if I hadn’t expected flat. I enjoyed the race. The expo was small but fun. As others stated, I also showed a distance of 13 miles. I would repeat this race for the scenery, the generosity of everyone there and of course for the beach!